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[Nano]

Hello friends,

I’m new (though I’ve been lurking for quite some time and I feel connected to so many of you already!) and I thought I’d introduce myself.

I grew up Southern Baptist and made my “profession of faith” at 9.  It was a combo of doing what I was conditioned I was supposed to do and fear of hell.  It always perplexed me that it wasn’t this earth shattering moment for me.  I just did it and life went on.  No biggie.  When I told a friend the next day at school what I had done, she asked “why would you want to do that?”.  I never had a good answer for her other than “I don’t want to go to hell!”.  She just laughed.

Growing up, I would occasionally have questions about things taught in church that just weren’t sitting well with me.  I got a lot of “who are we to question God”, “you just don’t have enough faith”, and “that just makes for a bigger God”.  What a frustrating load of crap. 

I had a string of bad youth pastors that drove me further and further away from God – though I now realize it was religion I was running from and not God.  I would look around me and see that no one was any different from anyone else – the hypocrisy was overwhelming.  I begin to fear I wasn’t really saved though I had heard my whole life “once saved, always saved”.  Then one day someone added “unless you were never really saved in the first place”.  Whaaaaaaaaaa?!  How can you ever know?

I moved away for college and never went back to church despite constant nagging and guilt trips from my Mom.  I had accepted my fate – I just knew I was going to be in the “depart from me I never knew you” crowd.

My husband and I began dating when I was 18 and married when I was 22.  He was “saved” too, but was never big on church after some bad experiences growing up as well.  But we had a lot of friends that were quite religious, and they kept trying to bring us back in.  We visited a few churches with them, but nothing seemed right for us.  A big debate among our group had become Calvinism/predestination vs free will.  My thinking growing up had always been free will, but when the predestination verses were pointed out I just couldn’t think of a logical argument.  There it was – God was choosing some to save and most to punish for all eternity and we had no control.  It was horribly cruel, but it was what the Bible said.  This point really got to my husband – and we just avoided church like the plague.

In 2005, our daughter was born.  Everything seemed fine at first, but we soon realized something was wrong with her.  I won’t go into all the details here, but she has severe epilepsy and development delay (among many other problems).  I have sat by her hospital bed on more than one occasion thinking I was holding her hand and talking to her for the last time.  Her condition really made me reexamine things.  She can never understand or invite Jesus into her heart.  So I was just supposed to be ok with the fact that if God hadn’t “chosen” her not only would her life on earth be grossly unfair, she would also burn in hell for all eternity?  I think not.  I just couldn’t accept or love a God that could be that unfair and cruel (and thankfully he is the polar opposite of that!!).

What finally sent me to the sandy shore was YouTube video a friend posted on Facebook.  How crazy does that sound??  This video was a scary video all about the 7 trumpets of Revelation.  It thoroughly freaked me out.  I was always very fearful about “the end of the world”.  Quite honestly, I didn’t want Christ to come back because everything I knew about the end was bad….really, really bad.   So I called up a good friend of mine.  I always thought of her as being one of the most Godly women I knew. ..and I asked her if she thought “we” would be “raptured up” before all the bad stuff started happening or if would we have go through it.  I guess somehow I thought if she said we wouldn’t have to go through it I could rest easy that we’d be ok.  (As I type all this I can’t help but chuckle at the silliness of it all).  And she gave me a very non committal answer, as usual.  It was something along the lines of “I’d like to think we won’t be here and the Bible seems to suggest that in one place, but in another it indicates we will definitely be here – I’m just not sure.  And I can’t find all this right now but I know its in there somewhere”.  Wow.

That’s when I began reading and researching.  I just knew the answers were in there and somehow man must be overcomplicating things.  On my own I began to think that hell just didn’t seem to fit and annihilation actually seemed more biblically correct, though still horrendous.  I scoured the internet and my bible for answers and actually became a 7th day Adventist for like 5 minutes…ha!  The Sabbath keeping tradition got me to researching what the early church believed.  That’s where I came across Origen and the concept of universal reconciliation.  It literally blew my mind.  I couldn’t believe that had never crossed my mind.  Almost instantly all my fear was gone and replaced by JOY. 

I continued researching early church beliefs, ancient history, language/word meanings/origins, and Egyptian/Greek mythology.  When I realized there was no such thing as an “immortal soul” I knew I had to unlearn everything I’d ever been taught.  It’s still an ongoing process.

Eventually I came across the BT site.  Everything I read just clicked and only clarified things that I wasn’t too sure on.  Coming to the realization that I was the beast was HUGE…I had already been thinking in that direction – the words just hadn’t  formed yet.  When I read Ray’s words I thought, “yes, yes I am”.     
The truth really does set you free.  I know I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface but I look forward to continued growth and knowledge with all of you.  I’m so incredibly thankful we have this resource to connect with others who aren’t blinded to the truth.  BTW, my friend that I always thought was so “Godly” did not take well to my new found revelations.  We are still friends, but she said some pretty horrible things to me.  One of her favorite things to talk about was always the LOF – she absolutely DELIGHTS in the wicked and unbelievers getting what they finally deserve.  It is both sick and sad at the same time but I do not blame her – she simply cannot see.  I’ve planted the seed and that’s all that can be done.  God will take care of the rest.

Much love to you all,
Nano

[AwesomeSavior]

Hi Nano:

I too am a former southern baptist, and can pretty much relate to everything you mentioned. They all think I am involved with a cult because I don't believe in the trinity anymore. They don't realize that they are the ones in the cult. So ironic, isn't it? Speaking of the beast, I watch a lot of sports on TV, and many times they will mention that "so and so" went into "beast mode". They too don't realize that EVERYONE is in beast mode until the spirit of God says otherwise. <wink>

God Bless.

Dean

[Kat]

Hi Nano,

I'm glad you have joined us 

It is such a wonderful feeling when our eyes are finally opened and we can see that God is not the horrible monster that the church teach that He is, but He's the most loving, caring and well perfect in all His ways God. So I hope you will join in the discussions or ask a question, there's plenty that can help with a sticking point. It is indeed good to be among like minded people.

Here are the links to extra info we have here on the forum, this is besides what's on the main BT's main body of articles.
Forum Rules- General info
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3.0.html
Topic- Questions and Truth 
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4558.0.html
Topic- How this Forum is Moderated
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3614.0.html

General discussion board- to ask questions and discuss what is presented at the Bible-truths.com site.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,3.0.html

Child board- FAQ (most frequently asked questions)- above General discussion board
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,23.0.html

Forum Indexes & Info.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,14.0.html

Ray's Videos
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,8227.0.html

Ray's Audios 
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2641.0.html

Ray's 2008 Audios
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,8256.0.html

Transcripts of Audios
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,12.0.html

Off Topic board- to discuss things that may not directly relate to BT, you will find a good bit of humor
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,4.0.html

child board- Inspirationals, Writings, Poems, Etc.- above Off Topic board
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,15.0.html

Testimonies / Prayer Requests / Fellowship board- mostly for personal posts
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,5.0.html

Child boards- Who Am I? (only available to members)- above Testimonies board, members pics and other stuff
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,16.0.html

Members Recipes- for sharing recipes and food tips
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,22.0.html

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Dave in Tenn]

Hello again, Nano.  I'm ex-southern baptist as well.  My goodness, how I can relate to what you've shared.  It's good to meet you.

[friendofJC]

Hi Nano,

Welcome to the forum, glad you are here.  Sounds like the spirit is at work and keep on cause it sets us free of deception!

Nice to meet you,
Jason 

[thewatchman]

Welcome nano,

I just love how you were led that entire journey to arrive here. It truly shows God is in charge and you'll be a better woman for the journey and the dealings. If you think back, you will notice something has changed in your character. That's how our Father changes us. Through his dealings. Congratulations on starting the true narrow way.

 

[Nano]

Speaking of the beast, I watch a lot of sports on TV, and many times they will mention that "so and so" went into "beast mode". They too don't realize that EVERYONE is in beast mode until the spirit of God says otherwise. <wink>

I'm a big sports fan too (its a religion here in the south!)...I never really thought about that! Now I will when I hear it!

Nano

[Rhys 🕊]

Thanks for sharing and being so open

Amazing how all the church ways and beliefs and everything the do all involves fear yet there is no fear in Him, yet they continue to put on fear in all there ways and you never experience freedom

Glad you experience that freedom now and may you know more of that.

Truth sets you free and I realised that more this week going to a funeral at one of my old churches. It was more like a normal service and they even had an alter call to get saved which I of course did as didn't want to miss out on that  But I sensed that bondage and fear during the service and was glad I was not part of it anymore.

The path now has challenges but the freedom makes it more worthwhile than words can say.

Your friends won't get it and some will hate you but rejoice as you are discovering the life you need to find.

Welcome to the forum

Rhys

[indianabob]

Hi Nano,

Sounds as if you have had a lot of experiences and a lot to share with us on the forum.
Looking forward to comparing notes and increasing my own understanding with you.

Welcome to the BT forum, Indiana Bob
Plymouth, IN

[Loverly]

Welcome Nano!

Made me giggle when you said you became a SDA for 5 minutes. lol  Also, like you things weren't settling in my head either after so much searching and Scripture studying so when I started to read stuff here on the this site I knew the very first page Ray was right! I knew all of the verses he used to prove his points and it all just clicked for me and my 16 year old daughter.  It was immediate peace for us as well...just this past Dec
Don't feel bad about your friends blasting you to hell.  They will be the ones in it not you!  Had 2 people block me on my FB account recently from the fundamental childhood church.  So taking on more friends that don't think I'm "negative"

So glad God lead you to us!

Hugs!
Loverly

[virginiabm]

             Hi Nano, Welcome to the family.

              Virginia Miller