How long did it take you to get saved?

I went to a Catholic church for twenty years, but I never heard the gospel there, that is I never hear how to be saved. I was saved on the campus of a university when a couple of students asked me:
1. If I believed the Bible. I was a good Catholic. Of course I believed the Bible, why wouldn't I.
2. Do you know for sure if you were to die right now if you would go to heaven? ANS. No. How could I know that. Suppose I had unconfessed mortal sin (like missing mass on Sunday, was hit by a truck, and a priest didn't get there in time for extreme unction??)
3. Can I show you from the Bible how you can know for sure that you can go to Heaven? I said yes, why not. That was the first time I heard the gospel--that Christ died for me, took my place on the cross. I trusted Him as my Saviour that night, and things have never been the same.
DHK

 

Hi peaches,

We all wrestle with God initially. Don't worry about the time thing. God will give you all the time you need. He knows what you have been through, He knows what you need to find the truth, He loves you, and He will not leave you without the help and understanding you need. So please don't panic.

The first thing you really need to do is simply read the Bible. Find out what God Hiimself says about Himself. A good place to start is with the Gospel of John. And I personally love Paul's letter to the Philippians, too.

We have two Bible studies going above. Please, although not many people post with comments, we know from emails that a lot of people read them. You are free to comment or ask questions any time you like. One thing I used to tell my students when I was teaching is that if just one of you is brave enough to ask a question you think is stupid, please know that the same question is in the minds of others who aren't as brave as you!

So whatever questions you might have, please know others have the same questions and you are never, NEVER stupid to ask them or even to challenge anything anyone says, if that helps you to learn.

God bless you. Hang in there. It's a private thing, I know, but we can hang around and cheer for you, OK?

 

I don't know what you have been dealing with so forgive me if I sound insensitive but STOP LOOKING AT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES! Most of the time it is through my darkest moments that I feel closest to my Savior. You said you want to be saved-that is the Holy Spirit convicting you. Jesus is calling you. He wants to help you through whatever you are facing. Let Him! I didn't get saved until I was 32. People kept telling me I needed to get saved but no one told me how. Guess none of them were Baptist Anyway He had to bring me to my knees before I would find out myself. The Lord led me to a great soul winning church. The Pastor offered to pray with me and I jumped at the chance. I have had a peace ever since that I can't describe. Let us know what you decide.

 

Hey Peaches,

Don't give up. Everybody comes from different circumstances so it's pretty rare that any two people take the same path to Christ.

For me, I was born and raised in a quasi-religious (although not necessarily "Christian") family and attended Catholic schools where the Gospel was clearly laid out on a regular basis but still didn't become a Christian until my mid twenties.

Just because you're not where you think you ought to be doesn't mean you not in the right place for this stage of your life.

 

When I was growing up I went to church only a few times, a couple to catholic church and a few to a baptist church. I didn't understand anything. I had never heard the gospel as an adult. I was brought up believeing in God, and Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus had dies for my sins, or how any of it applied to me. After 10 years of bad marriage we started going to church after the kids had been on the bus a month or so. 6 Sundays later I was saved. It was the first time I ever actually heard the gospel.

 

I was 18 when I was saved. Soon after about 1 year or so I strayed away. For a couple years I didnt even set foot in a church. Then I was diagnosed with a deadly disease and given only two yrs to live. So I was in church the next Sunday. ( Funny how that happens )Anyway make long story short, Gave my life back to God, He healed, and called me to preach. Amen God is good.

Peace,
OD

[ August 12, 2002, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: OvrDose ]

 

I was raised in Baptist churches, and was baptised for the first time at 6, I think. I wasn't saved, though - it was what I was "supposed" to do. I was saved in middle school, and baptised again. So, it took a while. But, that's not bad, necessarily. I could have gone on thinking I was saved because I'd been baptised . . . .

 

I was raised a Catholic; and when I married, my evangelical husband joined the Catholic church. We basically "did religion" for the first 15 years of our marriage. In about 1994, I began to experience a great spiritual hunger, and thought that there must be more than just "doing religion." I eventually began to read the bible, and was saved in 1996. Shortly after that, my husband and I left the Catholic church and began attending a local Baptist church, where we continue to worship.

 

I was raised in a home where my father was a non-practicing Catholic and my mother was LDS. Because of the wide variance in belief in these two religions my parents agreed that neither would attend their respective religions. Any other religion could be and there was no fuss! I attended the Luthern church for five years.....it was a good beginning to my religious training.....then I attended Vacation Bible School at the Baptist Church.....there I learned to know the Books of the Bible for which I have been grateful.....and then I met some friends in jr high school that invited me to attend some youth activities at their church, the beginning of the end of my search! They were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as "Mormons" because of The Book of Mormon, a volume of scripture revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the course of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth, in it's fulness, and which he translated from a record written on gold plates that were common to the age in which they were written.....yes, I thought this a little strange at first, and then as I questioned and learned more I asked myself, why not? Prophets were common throughout biblical history why not in our own times?
This being saved question has always intrigued me! Saved from what? The grave? You are now saved from the grave....all will be resurrected because of the sacrifice of the Savior! We must take the scriptural account of the Garden of Eden serious and learn from it, for herein is the need created for the Savior's mission! Agency was established in the giving of two commandments.....multiply and replenish the earth, and not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil with the promised consequence of death.....physical and spiritual! Being cast out of the presence of the Father is known as the spiritual death! The physical condition of being in the grave was conquered by the Savior for ALL mankind! He provided the way for US to conquer the spiritual separation from our Father in Heaven! The gospel was taught to Adam, as a beginning point of Christianity to come with the advent of the Savior's birth. The law of sacrifice was introduced as a symbolism of Christ's future sacrifice.....so we learn in the OT, it was a form of receiving forgiveness for sin then. The NT or new covenant ushered in by the Savior was baptism for the remission of sins! Faith in Jesus Christ being a prerequisite, as well as repentance! The gift of the Holy Ghost was given by the laying on of hands, by those with proper authority, to be a constant companion to all candidates for baptism. Living and keeping the commandments of God overcomes the spiritual death, and His Spirit can guide and direct us as we are in tune with His Spirit and teachings......being saved is a process not an event! The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ brings together all of the fragments of truth and then some, ever known to man, by revelation from God and Jesus Christ! Yes, I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints......and no, my father was not pleased in the beginning! But as he saw what the Church did for me.....his perceptions changed! And, for forty-nine years I have been content and never doubted my decision, and my thirst for knowledge and understanding will never let me rest in my pursuit of truth wherever it may be found!

 

Warm southern greetings, peaches! While my testimony is already posted on another thread, I will tell you that the Lord convicted me at an early age...I knew it the moment it happened & ran to find my teacher to ask her about it. It was not a hard decision for me. I never even considered giving myself some time to "think it over" & I've never regretted making the best decision of my life.

Satan will use every opportunity to deceive the lost against salvation-2Corinthians 4:3-4(KJB).

There are those who try to twist the Scriptures-2Peter 3:16-17(KJB)& many try to "complicate" salvation, but the Scriptures tell us 'simplicity is in Christ' 2Corinthians 11:3(KJBible)

"If your funeral were tomorrow,
I'm sure you'd be right there;
So, since you don't know when 'twill be,
You might as well prepare;
For some day, you know not when,
You'll hear the summon call;
'Twill come to you, to me, we know
It will one day come to all."

 

I am very familiar with the Toledo area and am curious as to which church are you attending. Perhaps send me a private message. Maybe I can help.

 

Peaches, no offense taken! Many respond to the LDS faith much like you do because of the "traditions of their fathers." That is o.k. What a marvelous thing it is when people understand the full context of the doctrine you made reference to.......it is a far more greater blessing when the fulness of the doctrine is understood......Hebrews gives a glimpse into what promises were made.....and even states we are the "offspring" of Diety......we call God, our Father in Heaven.......there is a Divine heritage we all posess.....but some of us refuse to acknowledge that Divine nature within.....yet it is a truth! And tithing is a true principle practiced in the "Original Church of Jesus Christ!" Not many traditional christians today practice it......it's is a hard doctrine to some......and requires an exercise in faith.......in Malachi the Lord promised the "windows of heaven" would be opened up to those who so followed this principle! And worthiness before the Lord, is required to enter His house, where in we can stand in Holy Places and receive further enlightenment of truths that are given to the faithful......faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel! Without it we will never come to a knowledge of truth! I am not trying to convert anyone .....It is my wish that the sincere seeker will sense something in what I say, as being true and seek for themselves a greater understanding by their own search for truth before casting it aside because of perhaps inaccurate perceptions and understanding.......it is certainly not to be considered traditional christianity.....and rightfully so, for we are a restoration, not a protest against any one religion, we Joseph did not create the situation that caused him and his family and those that joined the Church, to suffer greatly at the hands of mobs and murderers.....christians of the day......not unlike the unbelievers who mocked and scourged the Savior and caused Him great suffering......yet He succeeded in His mission to redeem the world.....and so it will be......the restoration will accomplish it's mission, and that is to prepare the earth for the Second Coming of the Savior...........again no offense is taken and hopefully no offense intended ever in what I try to say.......

 

It took me quite a while, but that is because I was
born into, and chose to continue in, a church that
I now recognize as a cult. This caused a lot of
confusion, but I am thankful that my Lord still
called me. I had/have a lot to learn ad to unlearn,
but our God is So Good!

 

I was 39 when I got saved. I rejected salvation for over 20 years.