.
|
|
 |
|
"After travelling part of the world and not finding inner peace, I ended up in South Africa, where I met my future wife..."
|
|
|
|
I became a Christian three years ago in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and I would like to share with you, how the Lord moved in my life and saved me.
I had been someone who was very satisfied that I was living a fairly good life (compared to Hitler, Stalin etc). Now and then the big questions - why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am I going to? – stirred up a spiritual need which was soon put back in its box, as the questions were too huge and at that time in my life I could not find answers to them. My Catholic upbringing did not come close to giving meaningful answers to the questions mentioned. It gave me a belief in God, which was very basic. The God I believed in was at times good, but mostly cruel i.e. famines, wars, sickness, especially my dad’s chronic illness.
I blamed God for all the evil in the world and couldn’t make the connection with the God the priests went on about. If I had been asked what the Bible was, I would have said the Bible is a very large fictional history book of really over the top stories about people doing unbelievable things: seas parting, killing giants with stones, walking on water. I believed Jesus was a man in history who had the same style and impact as Ghandi or the Dali Lama. At one time I tried to read the Bible but due to the text being in old English I soon decided that it was not for me.
After travelling part of the world and not finding inner peace, I ended up in South Africa, where I met my future wife. It was here that I first met a real Christian. He tried to share the Gospel with me. It seemed to me at the time that he was going on about religion – a word in my mind associated with wars, Northern Ireland and corruption – so I didn’t pay much attention. However I was envious that he could believe in something so strongly that he was giving up his good job to go into full-time ministry. That stuck in my mind.
Shortly after we returned to Ireland, Karen, my wife was reading a book on the Dead Sea Scrolls by Barbara Thiering. By a controversial dating process and translation, the book explained Jesus and his miracles away. It was at this point that we saw a lecture advertised in Clonmel on the Dead Sea Scrolls. We decided to investigate. It was interesting hearing someone talking, who knew a fair bit about the scrolls, and kept our interest with some fascinating illustrations. As his argument developed we realised he believed that, far from making nonsense of Christianity, in several ways the Scrolls supported the Bible’s testimony. Once we began to ask questions, it was clear that the speaker believed that Jesus was the Son of God, and the Bible was in a special sense God’s message to us today.
We spoke to him afterwards, and he introduced us to the local organisers. We chatted with John Mullaney, one of the elders of Clonmel Evangelical Church, who invited us to attend some of their meetings.
Karen was more quickly convinced than I was, although my interest had been sparked. Over the followings months we attended the church on Sundays and in the week, and through the sermons and Bible studies began to understand more about the Christian message. We came to a growing realisation of who God was and what he had done for us through Jesus. I was also helped personally by reading the gospel of John and a book written about it in a straightforward way.
Six months later my job took me back to Cork. The pastor of Clonmel Evangelical Church, Matthew Brennan, whose teaching had been a great help, referred us to Carrigaline Baptist Church. Soon after moving there we both did a short course with Pastor Philip Brown, called Christianity Explained. Over six nights the basic truths of Christianity as laid out in the Bible was explained. It was now clearer than ever what Jesus had done for me – that he had taken my place on the cross at Calvary, to bear my sins, and make things right between God and me.
That changed my life completely. It made sense of the things going on in the world. It made Jesus real to me. I now began to talk things over with Him in prayer and to turn to Him for all my needs, as well as thanking Him for all He had done for me. I now have the assurance that beyond death I will go to be with Christ. Being a Christian has made us both less materialistic, and less selfish, and has improved our marriage. The Bible has given us guidance too as parents.
Read Next story >>
Ordinary people in Ireland with Real life Experiences with God
Contact us by eMailing:info4YOU
|
|
|
|
|
