[redleghunter]

. There was no going back. I had done it, and there was nothing I could do to change that. I still remember lying there in pain in my apartment near Paris, when all of a sudden the quarter dropped; it made sense: “That” is why Jesus had to die:…me. He who knew no sin became sin on my behalf, so that in Him I might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). He took upon himself the penalty that I deserved, so that in God’s justice, my sins would be forgiven freely, by grace as a gift, rather than by my righteous deeds or religious rituals. He died so that I may live. So I accepted the whole thing: I placed my trust in Jesus, and asked Him to forgive me in the way the New Testament promised He would.

[lee martell]

What would Voltaire have said about that, being the proud atheist he was? Sacre Bleu!

[imardmd1]

Read it through just now. Thanks for a captivating account, glad you spotted it.

May you have an especially blessed day today!

[YHAOS]

Rejoice!
He has come to be among us!

Now and forever!

[sphinx]

bttt

[Lee N. Field]

But of course, if I was going to refute Christianity, I first needed to know what exactly it affirmed. So I picked up a Bible to figure it out.

Always a dangerous thing, to actually read.

[mrobisr]

Luke 15:10 New International Version (NIV)

10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

[boatbums]

I figured there was at least one experiment that could be carried out to dis-confirm the belief that God exists: I thought “if any of this is true, then there is a God who exists right now and presumably cares greatly about this project of mine”, so I started to pray in the air as an atheist “If there is a God, then here I am, I’m looking into this, why don’t you go ahead and reveal yourself to me. I’m open.” Well, I wasn’t, really, but I figured that shouldn’t stop God if He existed. So I read in the gospels about this Jesus of Nazareth.

It's amazing how many people relate the same kind of experience in coming to faith in Christ. I was a cradle Roman Catholic who always had "doubts" - a sense of things not being exactly how I was being told they were. I was fifteen years old and walking home from Mass one Sunday. I remember praying, "God, if you are real, if there is any such thing as truth, I want to know it." Within six months, I was sitting in a Southern Baptist Sunday school at my grandparent's church and a teacher opened the Bible and asked me to read it. It was John 10:27-30

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

The Holy Spirit turned on the light and I knew God had answered my prayer. I received Jesus Christ as my Savior and the rest is, as they say, history. Yes, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

[Vision Thing]

On this day when we celebrate Jesus’ birth, this article asks an important question:

Why did Jesus have to die?

The author’s answer is profound, not just for him but for each of us.

Jesus had to die because of me.