Nice to meet you all!

[Chris_Thacker]

Hi there,

Name
Chris

Age
29 years old (1989)

Nationality
English

Location
I have been living in Thailand/China for the past 8 years. But now live in Thailand.

How did I come across creation liberty?
Youtube

Why do I want to join this forum?
I am so thankful to God for coming across other likeminded Christians, who are bold and well-founded in biblical doctrine.
i am looking forward to engaging in discussions and learning from each other.

I personally am very interested in studying the following:
Repentance and false converts *completed youtube series
Tithing *completed youtube series
Marriage *completed youtube series
The "Church" *completed youtube series
Respecting persons and titles amongst Christians
Prayer
Judgement and rebuke
Love yourself? / Hate yourself (Oh wretched man that I am!)
Symbolisms
Rapture and tribulation
Worship ( i don't know if there are any teachings on this, I would like to know what exactly "worship" is? How should I engage with worship music?

[Jeanne]

Hi Chris, nice to meet you! You said you found us on YouTube; were you specifically looking for something at the time, or did one of the videos just come up as suggested? (Just curious, that's all.)

How long have you been saved and how did you first come to Christ?

I look forward to getting to know you and hope you can add to the discussions here in a profitable manner.

Seems like we've been getting a lot of Chrises here lately! LOL That tends to get confusing sometimes, so I hope you don't mind if some people start calling you by your last name...

[creationliberty]

You put your last name in the "First Name" category. I'll fix that for you.

[Welsh_Sheep]

Hi Chris,

Nice to meet another new member on here!
Which part of UK are you from?

[Chris_Thacker]

Hi Chris,

Nice to meet another new member on here!
Which part of UK are you from?

Hi, Ii was born and grew up in Northampton for my childhood, and then spend my teens/early adulthood in Bournemouth.

[Chris_Thacker]

Hi Chris, nice to meet you! You said you found us on YouTube; were you specifically looking for something at the time, or did one of the videos just come up as suggested? (Just curious, that's all.)

How long have you been saved and how did you first come to Christ?

I look forward to getting to know you and hope you can add to the discussions here in a profitable manner.

Seems like we've been getting a lot of Chrises here lately! LOL That tends to get confusing sometimes, so I hope you don't mind if some people start calling you by your last name...

I specifically searched youtube for "What is the church?"
I found so many videos that gave the same old stance but with hardly any biblical support, which provoked my suspicion.
I then came across the video series 'Is the One-Pastor Church System Biblical?'
I was very impressed by the weight of biblical support that Chris backs up with all of his viewpoints.
i have been so glad to find solid biblical doctrine to free myself from the bondage of the mainstream "church buildings'.

I was saved at 19 years old,
I came to salvation through a period of truth searching, whereas I took much time in studying about the existence of God and meaning of life.
I started having so many questions about life, and thought to myself, ' the least I can do with my time is to sincerely and with a open mind of no prejudices/preconceived opinions, begin to study possible 'ways' or 'meanings'  of life that prove themselves to be true.

i found that only Jesus actually deals with the Evil/sin of mankind, in giving us a way to God.
All other religions of works, and the last thing I'd want to do is trust in my works in approaching God of my own merit.

[ThomasHGW]

Hi and welcome to the forum Chris.
How were you actually saved and how did you first come to Christ?
You don't have to give every detail of what happened, but I'd like to know what you understand about what salvation is and how people are saved.

[Chris_Thacker]

Hi and welcome to the forum Chris.
How were you actually saved and how did you first come to Christ?
You don't have to give every detail of what happened, but I'd like to know what you understand about what salvation is and how people are saved.

To be specific,
I remember praying to God during a worship service, where they asked for people who would like to make a prayer of repentance and receive salvation.
They had someone lead in that, but I personally just came to repentance in my heart with God and knew that it was His mercy and grace that could give me a new life in Him. From that point on I started studying more about doctrine, and then a few months later got baptised to receive the holy spirit.

[TheChickenWhisperer]

Welcome!

So did you repent in grief and godly sorrow over your sin?  We like to ask that question just so we know who we are conversing with.  I don't wish to make you uncomfortable.  I just want to get to know who you are. 

Your background sounds somewhat similar to some of us here if I understand what you have posted correctly.  Like Thomas said, we don't have to know all the details.  We just want to be sure we understand you.

[Chris]

To be specific,
I remember praying to God during a worship service, where they asked for people who would like to make a prayer of repentance and receive salvation.
They had someone lead in that, but I personally just came to repentance in my heart with God and knew that it was His mercy and grace that could give me a new life in Him. From that point on I started studying more about doctrine, and then a few months later got baptised to receive the holy spirit.

I read that you prayed to God with repentance to be born again (born of the Spirit).  From that point, you say you began to show fruit.  Awesome.

How can you then say that you were baptized to receive the Spirit?  Did you feel something when you were baptized?  Did the pastor tell you that you had to do this to receive the Holy Ghost?  Were you born again.. again?

John 3:3-7  Tells us that we are to be born of the water (mother's womb) and born of the Spirit.  We are to be born of the flesh (mother's womb) and the Spirit.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Unless we are born of the Spirit, we cannot be saved.  We cannot inherit the kingdom (be a member of the Church) by our flesh and blood.  There are examples of those that were not baptized that received the Holy Ghost. 

One example is in Luke 23:43. Jesus told one that was to be killed with Him that he would see him that very day in paradise.  Jesus didn't say that if that man could only be baptized first he would see him in paradise.

43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

I don't mean to deal harshly with you, but what you said is contrary to the bible.  I recommend all of the teachings on CLE, but I would recommend that you read these first.

The teachings on repentance and false converts that you mentioned in your original post:
https://http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/repent.php
https://http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/falseconverts.php

Also, I recommend the biblical understanding of baptism:
https://http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/baptism.php

[creationliberty]

I don't mean to deal harshly with you, but what you said is contrary to the bible.

I must be confused now. How is it what he said was contrary to the Bible? If there's something you caught that I didn't see, you might have to explain it a little more simplistically to me.

[Chris]

I am specifically responding to the last part of the post.

a few months later got baptised to receive the holy spirit.

I read that to mean that he repented and believed, but had to later be baptized by water to receive the Holy Ghost.

[creationliberty]

Oh, I did not realize that's what you were talking about. Chris is new at this stuff, and he's learning things. He likely just repeated what he was taught, but he'll get around to it eventually. I've had a few private email conversations with him. He can read this if he wants to get more information:
The Biblical Understanding of Baptism

[Chris_Thacker]

I don't mean to deal harshly with you, but what you said is contrary to the bible.

I must be confused now. How is it what he said was contrary to the Bible? If there's something you caught that I didn't see, you might have to explain it a little more simplistically to me.

I am specifically responding to the last part of the post.

a few months later got baptised to receive the holy spirit.

I read that to mean that he repented and believed, but had to later be baptized by water to receive the Holy Ghost.

Thanks for the link, I will study about that promptly.

[Chris]

At one time, I thought I could turn from sin to be saved.  I find myself learning things here that I thought I already knew, but I was deceived.

Welcome to the forum.  I hope we can all help each other live more sanctified lives.

[Jeanne]

Chris T, I love your thirst for knowledge and willingness to learn. You have no idea how rare we have found those qualities to be.