Hello,
My name is Mariano, I am a 45 years old man from Buenos Aires, Argentina. My mother language is Spanish and I've never learned English formally, so please forgive any error that could appear in my writing.
Why am I here? Such a long story! I'll try to be succinct...
As most of Argentinian people, I come from a Catholic background, but never was religious in my behaviour. However, since childhood, I've always felt attracted to Jesus Christ, his words, his deeds, his life, his death and his resurrection. When I was 13 I bought a Protestant Bible (I knew not what the difference was regarding a Catholic one) just to read those passages I had so much enjoyed in a film by Zeffirelli, "Jesus of Nazareth", which I watched everytime I could. Now, I found out that reading the Bible wasn't like watching a movie. So I left the book alone, almost untouched, into my night stand and completely forgot about it. By that time, I entered what I would call my "wild years"...
Now, some ten years later, I was into a somewhat problematic and cruel love affair with a Jewish girl. Both of us were quite "intellectual" and zero religious at first. But after a period of distance between us, when we had got together again, she was "converted" to an Orthodox Judaistic mindset by an uncle of hers linked to Chabad Luvabitch. So she begun to make me feel that our relationship was somehow called to be doomed. This saddened me the most, because I really loved her and felt she also loved me... Finally, we distanced from each other again for almost a year.
While reading some Dostoevsky's romans, I went to my little Bible in my bed table and began to read: "En el comienzo, Dios creó los cielos y la tierra..." It was like a tour de force: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshuah, Judges, and so forth... When I got to Isaiah I was a total believer in the God of the Bible and his son Jesus Christ!!!
Now, one night in May 1993, I was with my girlfriend drinking a beer in a bar on a corner. It was a rare hot Autumn night and we were thirsty. I can't remember why, but our talk revolved around Jesus. I said: "He IS the son of God"; she said: "He wasn't". Suddenly, I began to quote from the Law of Moses, from the Prophets and from the Psalms (I wasn't reading the Bible for some months), quoting by heart scriptures which bare witness about Jesus. How was I able to do just that! I didn't know, nor knew my girlfriend... Finally, I was led in my mind to the moment in Gethsemane, when Jesus asked the Father not to drink of the cup He was to drink of in a few hours... Suddenly I began to declare the love of God the Father in Jesus Christ and both my girlfriend, the waiter who just brought another beer to our table and I myself felt some glorious presence over the place. In fact, the words left my mouth and I received them as if spoken by somebody else... My girlfriend couldn't bear the words I was uttering and put her hands on her ears!!! Anyway, finally I left her in her home with a cab and went ---in that same cab--- to my own home. Suddenly, while on the cab, I felt again that same glorious presence and experienced with all the fibers of my body and heart a peace impossible to be described.
When I got home, I went to my Bible and opened it in Luke 16, the prodigal son parable. I begun to cry as never in my life, with grief and joy at the same time. I went to Isaiah 53 and read it through the tears flowing from my eyes. I knew I myself had pierced Jesus on the cross, and that all is of God and that ---somehow--- every man and woman ever born would be one day reconciled to Him. Some three or four hours passed, and I was still reading, crying and feeling that presence all over the house. When I woke up in the morning, I knew I had been called by God and that nothing ever would be the same for me. It was May 25th 1993.
Now, for brevity's sake, let me just tell you that it wasn't until 1996 that I submitted myself to the teachings of men (I did that because of Hebrews 10:25). In the churches of Christendom I learned some new heresies ---new for me--- like that of "the Rapture" and old ones like hell for the lost.
I quit going to any church after I got married and begun studying the Scriptures together with my beloved wife Julieta. I have studied Hebrew for seven years, so it helped me in my Bible studies. It was 2006. During these ultimate years God revealed us many things and began to cleanse our minds and hearts of the religious garbage attached to us, in some way or another.
Only in 2010 I got across to Ray's website. I read every word he wrote more than twice. What a joy was for me rediscovering God's sovereignty and God's love for all of his creation in Ray's writings!!! There could be two or three things on which I don't agree with his understanding, but I could also understand from day one that he is a dear brother in Jesus Christ and so are also many who have come to believe through his writings... Sleep peacefully, dear Ray! I wish I could have had some words with you, but I know that some day we'll meet in the presence of Jesus Christ, who is Yahweh for the glory of God the Father, our savior and the savior of the whole world. Amen
And that, my brothers and sisters, is the very why I'm here on the forum.
I hope we can share together both his spiritual food and our burden in the name of Jesus Christ and for the glory of his name. I hope both you and me grow in his love and his knowledge until the day we reach perfection in Him.
In His name,
Mariano
Author
Topic: Why am I here? (Read 9390 times)