Posted by
Bob Siegel on Thursday, February 07, 2008 3:45:24 AM
On one hand, my conversion to Christianity seemed so sudden,
a fantastic answer to a quick, desperate prayer. But it was also the
culmination of an unconscious search that had been going on in my life for
quite some time, especially the year before.
“.. he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
I’m convinced that when people say they are looking for
love, joy, peace or truth, they are really looking for God without realizing
it. They are trying to fill an empty vacuum in their lives. They may hate
organized religion. They may have grown up in the church, bored to death with
the services and long sermons, taking the beliefs for granted and refusing to
question them until some college professor explained “what nonsense it was”. Or they
may be understandably disenchanted with the many Christian hypocrites
they had met. Despite such
handicaps, these very same people are
still looking for the real God. Indeed,
one who grows up amongst the religious may be farther from God than the most
cynical of atheists!
Since I did not grow up in the church, it was difficult to
imagine Christianity playing much of a role in my life, even after my fantastic
spiritual experience. In fact, even
while Roger and Jim were talking to me before the big ephiphany, I threw out three test statements, just to
see their reactions: I said, “Even if I
were to buy into all of this and invite Jesus into my heart, there are three
things you will never catch me doing.
First of all, I will never set foot in a church because the day I do
that, my dad will disown me. Second, I
will not spend time reading the Bible because I’ve read parts of it
before. I found it confusing and boring. And third, I will never, EVER do what you too
are doing right now, going around telling people about Jesus. Because I believe
people should keep their religion to themselves.”
They smiled and spoke some practical words, “Well, Bob,
let’s not put the cart before the horse. Right now, just concentrate on meeting
Jesus. Why not accept Him into your
heart first and just see what happens?”
I saw what happened, all right. By the end of that week, I
couldn’t put the Bible down, I couldn’t get enough of Christian fellowship and
I talked so much about Jesus, I made a woman cry in one of my English classes.
They weren’t tears of joy.either. She got upset in reaction to a new zealous
guy who never seemed to shut up about his newfound discovery and had no idea
how idiotic he was coming across. I had
all the tact of a rhino trying to put out campfires. In fact, my English
teacher made an unprecedented deal with me.
No college student in history has ever been offered this deal. She
promised that if I would quit coming to class for two whole weeks, she would
not lower my grade!
But I wasn’t just talking about Jesus in class. I was talking about him everywhere,
including, the campus halls and the out door quads. My voice tends to project much louder than I
am aware (a trait I still have to this day)
I would think I was merely talking to one person about Jesus. All at once I would look around and see a
small crowd of individuals frozen dead in their tracks, listening.
Now, my parents weren’t too overwhelmed by this
decision. When my dad discovered my
conversion, I was disowned, I was pronounced dead, and I was asked to leave
home.
Read the details of Bob’s disinheritance from his parents in
Part Five of his testimony, to be posted soon.
All Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE
New International Version
NIV
Copyright 1973, 1979,
1984 by International Bible Society
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
All rights reserved.
Note: On Dec, 3,
2007, The 700 Club
broadcast a dramatic reenactment of this story. It was somewhat fictionalized
but true to the spirit of what happened and the essential details of the
incident.
Note: This
article is part of a series. For your convenience, the entire series is linked
below:
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part One
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Two
How
A Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Three
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Four
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Five
Other posts about the Bible and Christianity, its
relationship to other religions and its relationship to today’s culture
Does the Bible Really Speak About the Future?
My Brief Time In the Occult
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 9:34 AM
How a Reformed Jew Became An Evangelical Christian Part
One Posted at 1:17:45 PM on Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Part Two: How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian
How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian: Part 3
Does The Bible Teach An Age of Accountability?
Christianity, Judaism and Islam: Comparison Posted at 2:33:20 AM on Sunday, January 20, 2008
Subsiding All The Passion Over "The Passion"
Friday, January 11, 2008 11:29 PM
Peace In The Middle East? I
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Was Jesus Gay? Posted at 1:40:29 PM on Friday,
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24, 2007
What is the Unforgivable Sin and How Do I Know If I've
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Was Jesus A False Prophet? Posted at 11:43:45 AM on Friday, December 21, 2007
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