Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:08 pm by crait
Here's a question for you: Why do you believe in Paganism above the other religions that you've looked at?
Personally, I was conflicted over what I believed in. I was born into a Baptist family but I am currently non-denominational. Some people get so wrapped up into what they believe is right versus other Christian bodies... I don't think you go to Hell for hanging a cross with or without Jesus on it... There are many versions of Christianity and they are all subtly different, but the main idea is that God doesn't care about these little things because these little decisions are things that men decided, not God. I say this because I am a Christian and not any specific kind. I don't think there are any specific reasons why people join a specific version of Christianity, except the whole Catholic reformation ordeal. But do I know Christianity is the way to go? Yeah, I do.
For a while, I was really conflicted and struggling to understand my own beliefs. I wasn't sure what to believe and I had my doubts like many people do... But, I started going to a church every Wednesday (despite my family staying at home) and actually felt a whole new kind of emotion that I never felt before. For once in my life, I felt like I knew what I should be doing and I was doing it. The feeling was incredible. I wasn't prosecuted or lectured... It was just real people talking about real things. I started praying more and stuff and well, I had an amazing experience. People say that miracles don't happen anymore, but I saw one first hand. No, no body levitated, no one came back from the dead, and no water turned into wine... What happened, to most of you guys, may actually seem silly, but the feeling and realization that overcame my body was incredible whenever this happened. My mind cleared of all doubt and I was in complete confidence that God does exist and I am worshiping and living the way God intended....
I have some fish that live in a 10 gallon tank. Whenever I first got them, there were only 2 white clouds in a 1 gallon tank. They were awesome and eventually one gave birth and I saw a lot of little tiny fishies swimming everywhere. There were a lot of them and I knew I needed a new tank, so I switched them over to the 10 gallon tank. They grew to be adult size and a sickness plagued the tank. I'm not sure how, but they had pop-eye and I couldn't figure out why. Well, I got some stuff to clean their water and promote good bacteria and the fish became healthy again despite many of them having permanent eye damage... But, something was still wrong. One of my fish had what appeared to be scoliosis. He wasn't sick anymore, so I knew it had to be a physical problem with his back. He wouldn't swim, but he could still drift around. Every day after this, he got worse exponentially. He couldn't keep himself swimming and could not eat. This plump fish turned frail and weak as he was pushed onto the gravel for a few days. He couldn't swim. He simply could not swim. I'm not sure if you guys have fish or not, but if you see that your fish can't swim, you need to flush him because he won't ever. Once they hit the ground, they have no chance of swimming again. Well, on the last day, I knew I needed to take the fish out and flush him and it made me extremely sad because I hate whenever my fish die. I kept hoping he would get better, but he just got worse, so I knew I had to do something with him. Well, I figured that I would take a chance and pray for him and if he didn't get better, then I would stop his pain by killing him in an hour or two. I got his little net ready and I bent over by the tank and prayed to God and Jesus to help my fish. I was really doubting that anything would happen.... But to my amazement, whenever I opened my eyes to see the fish, he was gone. I was shocked. I looked everywhere and then with the other fishes, there he was, swimming. Now, you've got to understand that this fish had not been swimming for about 2 weeks and was at the bottom of the tank in the same place for a day and a half. He wasn't going anywhere. I knew that this was a miracle. I know some athiests say that God doesn't exist and miracles cannot happen and this is not proof of the existence of God, but it is. The chances of the fish being healed and back to normal was sooooo slim and then the chances that he would go back to normal during the time that I was praying was even more slim! There is just absolutely no way that I can believe he would have survived given the fact that out of all the time he could have gotten up and swam if he was fine, why would he whenever I was praying. God does exist and because I prayed to Him and Jesus, my fish was saved. Okay, okay, I know you guys may think that this fish thing is a little far-fetched, but it really happened. And I know you guys may think that it isn't a miracle because the life of a fish isn't that important or as important as someone dying of cancer, but this was a very important thing to me and I just wanted to share with you guys the proof that was before me that made me know God exists and that Christianity is the only way to salvation.
And by the way, the fish lived a good 7 or 8 months afterwards, at least. I couldn't tell if he died or not but one of my white clouds did and I think it was him. He could have lived longer.