Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hwt@bwdlh490.bnr.ca (Henry Troup) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: How did you become a Christian? Message-ID: Date: 12 Aug 90 06:05:57 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. Lines: 25 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article walsh@astro.pc.ab.com writes: >Out of curiosity, could the poster of this or someone who shares >his philosophy explain what "saved" means in this context? Is it >an experiance so intense you remember what day of the week it was? >Can you come to believe and not remember it was on a Wednesday? I think that the original poster('s friends) were speaking of the 'conversion experience'. For many people, the conversion experience is a realization/ revelation on the same order of Saint Paul/Saul's - like unto a thunderbolt. My own return to the church I was bapitised into after years of drifting in vaguely secular humanist/atheist doubts has much more gradual. Certainly I eventually did the 'paperwork' and became confirmed in the Anglican Church, but that was years after I had admitted myself to communion. (That was never a problem, as all baptised Christians were invited.) So, yes, I believe some people have a sudden intense ecstatic experience, and some don't. The nearest I ever came to that kind of revelation was while arranging our wedding, and getting a hard time from the Altar Guild about who could choose the flowers, etc. I went into the church and prayed for guidance and got a 'cosmic bellylaugh' - the clear sense that I was worrying too much over trivia. As I was. -- Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions | 21 years in Canada... uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 HWT@BNR.CA 613-765-2337 |