Hi again all
My name is Kevin and I am 56 years old and grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand. I have been a Christian for 31 years after finally accepting Jesus Christ as my lord and saviour in June 1986. I grew up in a totally "unchurched" family and I knew absolutely nothing of the Bible. As I wrote in a previous introduction on one of the CLE forums that was lost, I knew so little of anything to do with Christian things or the Bible, I thought Moses was a whale. I knew there was a whale in there somewhere and I thought it was called Moses.
My beginnings to becoming a Christian was when working as an apprentice in the fitting, turning and machining trade. While rather long and time consuming cuts were being made on items in the lathe I eventually spent time thinking of biological systems and it dawned on me that life could never come about all on its own. After quite a time of more musing it dawned on me that there is only one explanation that any living thing can exist and that there must be a God who created it. Wow, I believe in God .... probably best that I don't go mentioning this to others. This was a time when I was in my early twenties but I really wasn't too much like the other apprentices and the others in the workplace. In New Zealand people call themselves "kiwis" (named after one of our native birds) and many New Zealanders think they are God's gift to mankind and the next greatest thing to sliced bread. I was already at odds with others over this because I didn't think New Zealand people were much to be impressed with. More to the point the others might have thought that they were great but I didn't think that of myself .... I knew things that I had done wrong in the past .... tiny inconsequential things in the world's sight but they were major things to me. They made me cringe. When I was alone at home I began talking to God and telling Him that I know He exists because evolution is totally impossible and there can be no other answers. I also let God know that I know absolutely nothing so I am going to have to rely on Him leading me on the correct path. Over the next few years I learned and generally picked up most of what I needed to know and began openly calling myself a Christian in June 1986.
When I became a Christian I began attending a church .... and within a week I was I strife with people in the "church" over doctrine. When I pointed out to people that what the "pastor" was teaching wasn't correct I was ridiculed and told that "pastor blah blah has been a Christian for years and here I am someone who has been a Christian for a couple of weeks and I'm rocking the boat". Within another week I was gone from there. I went to another "church", an Assemblies of God church and it wasn't any better. After a number of years (wow, how did I stay that long) I left there too and attended a Baptist Church (can you see a pattern forming here) until 1998. I had decided by this time that I was never going to set foot inside the church buidings again for as long as I lived .... I do not like these people ..... and they certainly don't like me.
Fast forward to the end of 2015 and I was getting phased out computers from my workplace and loading Linux on to them and getting them out to disadvantaged young people. I wasn't just giving out the computers but I wanted them to have Christian material on them when they got them and hopefully it might set them on the correct course in life. Looking around the internet for good proper teaching material I came across this website Christian Liberty Evangelism. Wow, what a difference to everything I have put up with in the past. People here do proper Bible study and topics are open for discussion. Hence I'm still here and I am now very much a part of the CLE congregation and loving every bit of it.
Rgrds to all
Kevin
