bible-truths.com/forums
=> Introductions, Announcements, and More of Ray's Teachings => Topic started by: yello62 on January 19, 2012, 12:11:22 AM
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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
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Hi Tony,
I'm glad you have joined us
I too had my time in Worldwide. It is now a great joy to have these like minded believers to fellowship with. I think you will gain much as you join in with the discussions as it is a great way to study and learn.
Here are links to the different boards that you can look into when you so desire.
Check out the forum rules, it will help you understand how this forum is moderated.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3.0.html
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4558.0.html
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3614.0.html
General discussion board, this is 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 for General discussion board - FAQ
(most frequently asked questions)
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, this is to discuss things that do not directly relate to BT, you will find a good bit of humor here.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,4.0.html
child board on Off Topic board
Inspirationals, Writings, Poems, Etc.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,15.0.html
Testimonies / Prayer Requests / Fellowship board, this is mostly for personal posts.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/board,5.0.html
Child boards (only available to members) on Testimonies board
Who Am I? (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
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hi ya tony. i am glad you are here. this forum is a God send for sure! it has been for me. i look forward to you joining in conversations on the different sections o f the forum. there is so much more you can study by joining the forum. lots and lots and lots of it there. like good food waiting to be tasted. :)
claudia
austin, tx
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Howddyyyy!
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Hi Tony. I hope you can see in your reading so far that your 'fallings away' are precicely what the Lord has ordained, whether you knew it at the time or not.
It's good to meet you.
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Hi Tony
I'm in South Africa.....I have no experience with "Worldwide" yet the Catholic Church would say I am lost...may they never find me again! LOL ;D
Welcome to the Forum.
Arc
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thank you all for the welcome. dave, i have come to accept that every thing that has happened to me has been God ordained. every bump, every pain, every bruise and failure and before coming across this site, had long ago realized that i was thankful for those experiences. i have had many and most have been difficult to process but each has brought me deeper. i am truly thankful for my life and my experiences. i have also come to accept that the desire that i have had in me to know was placed there by The Father and that He has been along side the whole time showing me things about Himself, His love, His mercy and grace. most recently He has started to show me that His expectation is not perfection in performance, but perfection in love. to love Him with all my heart and mind and soul is to reflect Him in my relationships with others with all my heart and mind and soul. i am currently engaged in a doozy of an experience that i know will peel away more of the carnal mind to expose more of His grace in me.
kat, thanks for the links. i will enjoy the information. what area did you attend? i was at the southside chicago congregation for about ten years and then hinsdale for one or two before walking away.
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Hey yello62,
Welcome to the forum.
Glad to have you here.
Blessings,
Suzie
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i am currently engaged in a doozy of an experience that i know will peel away more of the carnal mind to expose more of His grace in me.
Welcome to the forum, Tony. :)
Receiving "spiritual sight" will definitely show us who we really are at heart, which will in turn, bring us to our knees in gratitude to our heavenly Father for His mercy and grace upon us. Happy to share this journey with you! ;)
René
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Hi Tony
I'm in South Africa.....I have no experience with "Worldwide" yet the Catholic Church would say I am lost...may they never find me again! LOL ;D
Welcome to the Forum.
Arc
That's right! lol
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Hi tony.
welcome.
I have also been able to go trough many experiences where I can see God's will for me against a very great numbres of possibilities for things to go other wise. Those happenings makes you realize on a greater realization Who is really in control of it all.
I hope you are able to come to the forum often and even if you don't desire to start long posts, at list keep on showing presence.
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Thanks Gina!
Thing is, if they, the Catholics, find me again....they won't RECOGNIZE me! lol...no rosary, no habit, not solemnities...lol...That just wouldn't kick in with them AT ALL! ....A boy friend of mine once said...You've CHANGED....lol...well...never saw him again! Didn't want to know me after that. lol
Hey Tony
We've kicked against the goads....and fallen off our mules on the way to kick the but of some poor souls with our arguments, swords and armies of agreeing paid fellons on the same road to mercenary city...oh...sorry...that's Damascus!...Whoops...time lapse.... What matters is that we are heading for the open Heart Liberty of Christ, that is Truth that sets us free. That's a trip worth taking!....straight faced....
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Welcome,Tony
I myself am in ex-member of worldwide,than after reading all Ray's Papers,
this come to mind,
Job 42:5-6
New Living Translation (NLT)
5 I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
walt
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arc,
one of my father's sister went into the convent at 16 and was a nun for 72 years. my family were dyed-in-the-wool catholics. when i started attending the worldwide church of god i thought my mom was going to die. she used to say, "i like that the positive changes but couldn't you have done this and stayed catholic?" oh the fun we had.
walt,
i understand the sentiment. i have stayed in touch with some of my wwcg friends. i think they are amazed that i am able to articulate some of what i can. i continue to say, "...these things are not from me, they're from The Father and His word..."
everyone else,
thanks again for the welcome and he encouragement.
tony
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arc,
one of my father's sister went into the convent at 16 and was a nun for 72 years. my family were dyed-in-the-wool catholics. when i started attending the worldwide church of god i thought my mom was going to die. she used to say, "i like that the positive changes but couldn't you have done this and stayed catholic?" oh the fun we had.
tony
That is SO SO COOL Tony. That speaks right at me!
You didn't know I was going to join the Carmelite Nuns. Really. Truly. AM SO glad I didn't. It is a long story. Suffice to say, I am glad someone ELSE did the trip for me instead..... your father's sister. lol Now that's real kith an' kin close! lol....Also it's too sweet what your mum said about staying a catholic....too sweet for words! :) Glad you're with us bro' ~ :)
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arc,
i am thankful to be aware enough to grasp what He is saying. looking back, i see His hand every where. again, very thankful that He is merciful, especially to knuckleheads such as myself.
as for the convent thing, if it was His desire for you to have that experience, you'd have had it and been pulled out as He desires. i don't know much but i know this, His will is going to be done, in our lives and in the world.
tony
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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. ;D, ;), ::),
Hope you are enlightened by this experience(BT Forum), Samson.
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samson,
thanks for the welcome and the advice. my journey towards The Father as been a long one, not long as He sees it but as we gauge it, and He has been guiding the whole way. while i have come to see many of the doctrines of the wwcg as being in error, i believe that God makes all things work together for good and i derived some benefit from my time there. one of those things is familiarity with what the scriptures say and the practice of taking principle upon principle to get to the truth of an issue. my personal work in the languages the scriptures were written in has exposed me to the knowledge that our current translations don't provide the whole picture of what has been communicated by our Creator. i am intrigued by the concordant translations referred to often by ray in his writings as i perceive them to be closer to what was breathed by God. i am here, meaning generally i live for and specifically in this forum, to know Him and the Christ that He sent. i expect my heart and mind to be impacted positively by the discussions i engage in here in the forum.
tony
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Yo, Tony! Welcome! from me n the missus ;D
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ironbutterfly55,
grazie,
tony
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I Tony--welcome board--we all got here the round about "GOD WAY" --each story being interesting and different.
READ< READ< READ and then some have to "rest and digest" because everything is so new and different. Some things will seem radical even to the most independent thinker because we all have "carry-over" from our religious past--and some concepts STRETCH TO THE LIMIT our off-hand acceptance. DON'T WORRY --just keep reading over it and then boing! God will pull the curtain back and the beauty will be revealed and things will all "fall into place"! That was my experience.
I also ASKED a lot of well thought out questions on the web-sites and the moderators P-A-T-I-E-N-T-L-Y directed to me to all ready printed articles or individually answered. ie: what Kat has directed you to thus far as intro.
The MAIN thing is HAVE FUN getting to know the B-T family,(a great and diverse bunch), enjoy the various web-site formats and PRAY FOR RAY'S HEALTH!
I'm Duane from Binghamton, New York. Welcome aboard--brother!