Post by Rick Redner on Apr 26, 2013 10:54:21 GMT -5
For the first 25 years of my life I was hostile to the idea that Jesus was who He said he was. While I married a Christian woman, her faith and my lack of faith did not not clash until our first son Ryan was born. At some point in his infancy, my wife announced she intended to take our son to Church and have him grow up with the teaching that Jesus was Lord and Savior. I didn't consider that to be teaching I considered it to be brain-washing. My response to my wife was to shout it a very loud voice (to make the point stick) "The name Jesus will not be spoken in my house now or ever." I seriously considered moving to Canada to protect my son from my wife's attempt to have a Church brain-wash my son.
In my formative years my parents were not religious, but we identified ourselves as being Jewish. We had a Christian neighbor who told me Jesus. I remember going home and asking my mother "Who is Jesus?" A look of horror came upon her face and the next I knew I was enrolled in Hebrew School for the next 5 years. My mother never answered the question, but being sentenced to 5 years of Hebrew school taught me never to mention Jesus name again, in fear of what other punishment my parents would devise. I once asked my grandmother who Jesus was, and her reaction was to spit 3 times. It became a game with me, each time I'd say "Jesus" my grandmother would spit 3 times. I never received an answer to my question, not in the 5 years I spend in Hebrew School, not from my parents and certainly not from my grandmother, whose response I preferred over the decision to send me to Hebrew School.
When I reached 13 years of age my parents insisted I have a Bar Mitzvah. I didn't want this because it no religious meaning to me or my parents. It was more for a show. My parents wanted to impress friends and family with an expensive party they couldn't afford. They told me they intended to seize all my presents to help pay for a party I didn't want to be part of. I warned them if they forced me to do this, as an adult I'd never set foot in a Temple to worship again. They insisted I have my Bar Mitzvah and I kept my vow. I never set foot in a Temple to worship ever again. I took the attitude there was no God, and religion was the opium of the people, a statement attributed to Karl Marx.
I always maintained that I'd believe in God only when I personally witnessed a miracle. When questioned what that miracle might be, I said "If my van levitates before my eyes, I'll believe in God" Little did I know I'd witness a far greater miracle than that.
I have the privilege of being my wife's birthing coach, so I was present when Ryan our first son was born. As I witnessed the process of his birth, I knew I'd witnessed a miracle. The idea that human life evolved from a single cell became ridiculous to me. Immediately I understood the stories such as the Exodus story really happened, just like the Bible said it did and there was a God in Heaven. I didn't know at the time, my coming to believe in the God of Torah in a few short years lead me to consider abandoning my wife and moving Ryan to Canada. I discovered who Jesus was on my own. I thought He was a fraud, and delusional man who considered Himself to be God. I certainly didn't want my son to believe I was on my way to hell because I didn't believe in a words of a liar and a fraud.
No one would be as shocked as I was when I learned the truth about Jesus. When I did, I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.
I found Jesus in the Jewish writings about the Messiah. In fact His birth, His birth place, His mission, the way He'd teach, the new covenant he'd make, the fact that Gentiles would believe in Him, His betrayal for 30 pieces of silver, the lashes He'd receive, that He silent before His accusers, that He be hated with cause and rejected by His people, His death on the cross, the fact that soldiers would gamble for His clothing, that He' pierced by a sword, that He'd rise again. All of this an more were written thousands of years before his birth.
You can't make this up. In fact here's a link to 351 verses written before Jesus birth, that he fulfilled. Unlike most people, I was not happy to learn that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact I was so sad that the Messiah came and that my fellow Jews missed in back then and now, I became seriously depressed. I prayed that I'd was mistaken and discover that Jesus was a fraud.
However the more I studied the issue the more obvious it became. Don't believe me, study this chart for yourself and draw your conclusions:
www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html
What the odds this could happen randomly?
Jesus fulfills 352 of the prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament. The odds of just 8 of the major prophecies being fulfilled by one person is 1 in 10 to the 17th power, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. And this is only 8 of them! For me this took very little faith. It took an objective investigation combined with common sense to break down my resistance and accept the evidence before my eyes, that Jesus was who He said He was.
My life and who I've become has never been the same since that day I accepted Jesus and both Lord and Savior. The reason my wife and I wrote our book and the reason I've spent thousands of hours creating our pre and post surgery forums came from a God given desire to help others cope with prostate cancer.
You have a choice, you can become angry with God because you have cancer or you can allow God to use your experiences with cancer to transform you in a such a way you'll become more caring, more loving, more considerate and concerned with the welfare of others. I've experienced this transformation and so can you. Accept Jesus death on the cross as the payment for your sins. Ask Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior. Your life will never be the same if you make this decision.
In my formative years my parents were not religious, but we identified ourselves as being Jewish. We had a Christian neighbor who told me Jesus. I remember going home and asking my mother "Who is Jesus?" A look of horror came upon her face and the next I knew I was enrolled in Hebrew School for the next 5 years. My mother never answered the question, but being sentenced to 5 years of Hebrew school taught me never to mention Jesus name again, in fear of what other punishment my parents would devise. I once asked my grandmother who Jesus was, and her reaction was to spit 3 times. It became a game with me, each time I'd say "Jesus" my grandmother would spit 3 times. I never received an answer to my question, not in the 5 years I spend in Hebrew School, not from my parents and certainly not from my grandmother, whose response I preferred over the decision to send me to Hebrew School.
When I reached 13 years of age my parents insisted I have a Bar Mitzvah. I didn't want this because it no religious meaning to me or my parents. It was more for a show. My parents wanted to impress friends and family with an expensive party they couldn't afford. They told me they intended to seize all my presents to help pay for a party I didn't want to be part of. I warned them if they forced me to do this, as an adult I'd never set foot in a Temple to worship again. They insisted I have my Bar Mitzvah and I kept my vow. I never set foot in a Temple to worship ever again. I took the attitude there was no God, and religion was the opium of the people, a statement attributed to Karl Marx.
I always maintained that I'd believe in God only when I personally witnessed a miracle. When questioned what that miracle might be, I said "If my van levitates before my eyes, I'll believe in God" Little did I know I'd witness a far greater miracle than that.
I have the privilege of being my wife's birthing coach, so I was present when Ryan our first son was born. As I witnessed the process of his birth, I knew I'd witnessed a miracle. The idea that human life evolved from a single cell became ridiculous to me. Immediately I understood the stories such as the Exodus story really happened, just like the Bible said it did and there was a God in Heaven. I didn't know at the time, my coming to believe in the God of Torah in a few short years lead me to consider abandoning my wife and moving Ryan to Canada. I discovered who Jesus was on my own. I thought He was a fraud, and delusional man who considered Himself to be God. I certainly didn't want my son to believe I was on my way to hell because I didn't believe in a words of a liar and a fraud.
No one would be as shocked as I was when I learned the truth about Jesus. When I did, I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.
I found Jesus in the Jewish writings about the Messiah. In fact His birth, His birth place, His mission, the way He'd teach, the new covenant he'd make, the fact that Gentiles would believe in Him, His betrayal for 30 pieces of silver, the lashes He'd receive, that He silent before His accusers, that He be hated with cause and rejected by His people, His death on the cross, the fact that soldiers would gamble for His clothing, that He' pierced by a sword, that He'd rise again. All of this an more were written thousands of years before his birth.
You can't make this up. In fact here's a link to 351 verses written before Jesus birth, that he fulfilled. Unlike most people, I was not happy to learn that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact I was so sad that the Messiah came and that my fellow Jews missed in back then and now, I became seriously depressed. I prayed that I'd was mistaken and discover that Jesus was a fraud.
However the more I studied the issue the more obvious it became. Don't believe me, study this chart for yourself and draw your conclusions:
www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html
What the odds this could happen randomly?
Jesus fulfills 352 of the prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament. The odds of just 8 of the major prophecies being fulfilled by one person is 1 in 10 to the 17th power, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. And this is only 8 of them! For me this took very little faith. It took an objective investigation combined with common sense to break down my resistance and accept the evidence before my eyes, that Jesus was who He said He was.
My life and who I've become has never been the same since that day I accepted Jesus and both Lord and Savior. The reason my wife and I wrote our book and the reason I've spent thousands of hours creating our pre and post surgery forums came from a God given desire to help others cope with prostate cancer.
You have a choice, you can become angry with God because you have cancer or you can allow God to use your experiences with cancer to transform you in a such a way you'll become more caring, more loving, more considerate and concerned with the welfare of others. I've experienced this transformation and so can you. Accept Jesus death on the cross as the payment for your sins. Ask Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior. Your life will never be the same if you make this decision.