greetings all. my name is tony. came across the site through the website of someone i used to attend church with and used to call a friend. been reading a lot of the material and a lot of it rings true to me. by that i mean to say that it is consistent with what i hear coming through the spirit. don't know how y'all expect by way of introduction so i will give some information about me but not too much... i hope.
born on the southside of chicago, raised catholic but fell away at the ripe old age of 14. too much just didn't seem right about it. couldn't really put my finger on it, but i saw too much that went contrary to what i thought i knew about right and wrong. a few years later, driven by some experiences, i started to question whether or not a loving God existed. a few more years down the road, i was "touched" by another experience that convinced me that God was real and for some reason had an interest in me. move down some more years and i was introduced to the worldwide church of God, started attending and was baptized. started studying the scriptures with a critical eye, prayin' and meditatin' on things. move us down a ways further and here i am, livin' away from every thing i know and love, not attending the worldwide any more, nor any other organized religious institute, but finding my relationship/awareness/understanding with/of God changing/growing/continuing.
i asked to be given a login id to the forums as i would like to contribute to the dialogue. i believe it would be good for me.
want to know more, feel free to ask. not much to hide.
tony
Hi Tony,
I noticed that I haven't been welcoming Newcomers lately, just neglectful in that area, Well, I'll begin with you and go down the Introductory Page. Part of My mindset, a realistic serious type Person that I am, thinks that many individuals have entered this Forum without mostly reading the material and not agreeing with enough of it first and quickly disappearing after initially joining, so I guess that I don't take the initial joining of someone as something too lasting. Of course, this is not a judgement or specifically directed towards you Tony & only God knows the outcome, you just happen to be my first welcome to someone so early in the Morning, when my thoughts are usually at their best.
Welcome to the Forum, hope you appreciate the material found here and some overall pretty good association(Hebrews. 10:23-26). You are not expected to agree with everything taught By Ray Smith by anyone, certainly not by Me, but to merely respect & honor the Forum Rules. So, just as a friendly reminder, I would suggest you fully examine these rules and your stay will be a mostly pleasant one for sure.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with Catholicism & the WWCOG, two experiences of extreme legalism for sure. My experience of Evil to work towards humbling Me was CAUSED by the Watchtower Organization(JW'S), I could write a dramatic Book about those experiences, but I won't, the other Forum Members appreciate that.
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Hope you are enlightened by this experience(BT Forum), Samson.