Except ye be converted...

[Muslimwoman]

Salaam Dondi

I am enthralled and so much of what you say is resonating with me. Cant wait for number 3.

salaam

 

[Dondi]

Caveat

In order to fully appreciate my 2nd conversion, I shall not go on without mention of how I met my wife. Still in the Navy, I was shipped overseas in 1990 to Japan assigned to the U.S.S. Midway for what was expected to be about a year and a half due to the ship's scheduled decommissioning. Prior to leaving the States, I mentioned to my friend that I had absolutely no intentions of finding any romantic interest in any Asian girls I happen to meet while overseas. The plan was to come back to the States in 1 1/2 years and find a down home country Baptist gal from the Carolinas, or some such, all the while, praying for God to send me such a potential mate.

The Midway made frequent trips to the Philippines and was a favorite recreational spot for hungry, horny sailors intent on blowing their life earnings on some extracurricular activities, shall we say.

I had no intention whatsoever to chance catching anything "extra" that involved long lines at medical. In fact, I was content just staying on the ship. However, one of my Christian buddies prodded me to at least go do some shopping since everything was on the cheap. So we proceeded down the main strip in port.

Understand that the Filipinos know that a ship only pulls in for a short time and thus strive to take advantage of the situation by putting on an aggressive sell. All down the strip, girls would hang outside the bars and souvenier shops and literally pull on you arm as you pass by in order to entice you into a purchase or two. Frankly, I wasn't flattered at the sudden attention and soon became annoyed at the constant come ons. So by the time we neared the end of the street, I was not in the most positive mood.

But then my friend who was with me stopped at one of the last open air souvenior shops to talk to this girl. He ended up going inside, but I hung back and waited outside. While standing there, I notice another girl in the same shop. She was standing some five feet away and politely asked me if I wanted to look around. I gave a gruff, NO, probably a little too rudely. But then I just happened to notice her eyes were some of the prettiest I'd seen. She said that she would give me a good deal on some t-shirts. I hesitated, and then figured that it wouldn't do any harm since I was waiting for my friend anyway. So I stepped inside to look around. She showed me around and priced some items, but for some reason I didn't catch what she was saying because I was captivated by not only her eyes, but by her mannerisms. She had a quiet, yet strong spirit in her that was different from the other girls. She wasn't intimidated by my aloftness, but just gave a smile that just struck me somehow.

We chatted business for a few minutes. Then out of nowhere I asked her if she knew of any good places to eat? - ("What are you doing", I asked myself)- and she named a couple of nice ones. And before I knew it I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere to eat after she got off work - ("Did you just ask her out? Are you nuts?") - and she surprised me with a "yes". So I arranged to stop by again at 7:00 pm and take her out.

My friend and I eventually left and proceeded to do more shopping, but I couldn't get it out of my head that I just made a date with a girl I just met while my intentions were otherwise.

To make a long story short, she became my wife, whom I love dearly. But I said all that to say this: Approximately 95% of Filipinos are comprised of Catholics. The rest are a scattering of other Protestant denominations and Muslims. What I didn't know at the time was that this Filipina that I inexplicably become attracted to was a born-again Baptist, just like me. What do you reckon the odds are of meeting someone like that on the first try in a country of primarily Catholics?

We have been married almost 16 wonderful years and have two lovely daughters as the fruit of our labor (which wasn't a labor at all, at least for me. ). I believe to this day that God brought us together as a marriage made in heaven, and that she is my soulmate.

Why did I regale this account to you? Because it opened my eyes to the world of supposed coincidences. I have seen things in my life that seem to be guiding me in some remarkable ways and I can only chalk it up to my willingness to serve and love God. I've seen events and situations seem to come together for me and my family and seem to find favor in my life. Oh yes, it hasn't always been smooth sailing, but even in troubled times, I've learned to rely on God and seen Him work out the situation. And yes, it took work on our part, it wasn't a matter of just sitting on our laurels to see what God would do, but a matter of gaining insight of the best course of action and trusting God when things seemed out of our control. I guess you could call it godly wisdom. And at times it was a matter of being patient and waiting to see how God would work things out. What else can I say about that?

But this lays the foundation of my next conversion.....

 

[Dondi]

3rd conversion

About four years ago, after years of believing the dogmatic position that unless one "receives Christ" before one dies he/she will find themselves in a sinner's hell, I became despondant to the realization that most of the 6 billion souls in the world will not make it to heaven. Currently there are about 2.1 billion people who claim the name Christian, so there goes 2/3 of the world right off the bat. Of the 2.1 billion who claim to be Christian, many of them either had not received Christ or have a relationship with the Lord, or are attaching themselves to the fact that they were born into a certain denomination, but have no real affiliation. So maybe only 1 billion are "true" Christians. That leaves 5 billion people lost! I couldn't fathom such a high number. And it doesn't give God much of a track record if Jesus is the Savior of the World. There has to be more to this then what I can perceive. So I've come to the position that Gpod must be somehow making salvation a provision for those in other religions. That somehow the Blood of Christ must be effected to those outside the knowledge of Christ. Moreover, I seen too many people in other faiths and beliefs that seem to have a bonifide, faith in God. One such story that has captured my attention is the story of a twelve year old Muslim Afghan girl, a refugee whose legs were torn by a mine, which taught me that God is no respecter of persons. That God seeks all who come to Him. The excerpt below where she finds the Presence of God so parallels my own experience in coming to God that it has completely shattered my perceptions of people in religions outside of my own. The similiarities beggar explanation that I had to re-evalutate what God truly looks for in a person. That he is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. I highly recommend this book.

Excepts from: The Story of My Life by Farah Ahmedi w/ Tamin Ansary

If God is there, if God is so nice, like they say – if God is so powerful – if He can really do anything in the world, why is He doing this? In the Koran, you know it says that God is compassionate and all-forgiving. It says God wants only the best for humanity. But how could I believe it?

With my face turned up to the night sky, I spoke directly to God, spoke to Him from my heart. I said, “Enough. Oh, my dear God. Get me out of this. God, Darling, forgive me. I can’t hold up all this weight by myself anymore. Please! I’ll hold up most of it, but you hold up some of it. Whatever I’ve done wrong in the past, I can’t change that now. Between You and me, let’s say that what’s done is done. All I can do now about the past is to ask You to forgive me. I plead with You. I relinquish all of myself to You – no more resistance. Oh, please God, help me. I can’t hold up this weight anymore.”

That’s what I said in my heart. In fact, that’s what I screamed, but not out loud. I spoke it just in my heart, only in my heart. I didn’t make a sound. I was alone, but if anybody had been watching me at that moment, they would have seen nothing. Nonetheless, something was happening, something big. For the first time and totally, I was surrendering to Allah.

And with that surrender, a change began. I felt it that moment. I felt it ever increasingly in the days that followed. What was that change? My attention turned toward God. And the more I attended to God, the more I discovered how to be patient, and tolerant and how to relax. When that girl snapped her orders at me, I let it wash away, I let it go, I absorbed none of her spite and hatred. And she failed to plant any seeds of bitterness inside me. Negativity stopped sprouting in my heart. I grew so calm, so serene that even the girl who was bossing me around noticed the changed and eased up on me.

….I felt the power of God.

And yet I felt His nearness, too, and I had no trouble confessing my troubles to Him as intimately as I might to a loving friend. I silently said, “Allah dear, my mother is suffering so! When will she be released from her hardships?” I said, “God dear, this leg of mine is wearing away. When it’s gone, what will I do? Without my leg, I’m hardly a person. I can’t even get my own self to the bathroom. When my prosthetic is goone, what am I going to do?”

No sooner had I posed such a question in my heart than I felt a warmth growing and growing from the middle of me, and I knew that God was listening to me, that God was nearby, very close indeed, an invisible light, a bodiless Friend, as smiling power. I had such a strong and positive feeling about God being there.

One nigh, looking up at the heavens, I saw a single star detach itself from the light-studded dome and streak across the night sky.

Then it was gone, but I knew it meant something.

And indeed, a few days later, I woke up one morning to hear the news. A thousand Afghan refugees were to be rescued from Pakistan and taken to America!

My heart spoke again, “This comes from God”, it said, “My mother and I will be among the thousand. Thank you, God.” I knew that in His compassion Allah had decided to save me from this place. And that made me feel so calm and wonderful.

Cont'd...

 

[Dondi]

Conclusion?


I cannot tell you how this testamony resonates with my own experience. And I find in myself that I can no longer judge people based on there religious affiliation, but rather on the relationship they have with God.

When I went back the examine the teachings of Jesus, I found a hint of what God wants from people, what His expectation are and how it has an eternal impact:

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." - Luke 10:25-28

That's it in a nutshell, the entirety of Jesus' teachings: Love God and Love thy neighbor. If one is able to do this, regardless of who he/she is or what religious background, then there ought not be a problem entering the Kingdom of God. The trick is how we can accomplish the task. But I believe thet the Spirit of God is there to help us and to guide us to that goal.

So what about Christ's sacrifice? I think God will judge fairly. According to Acts 1726-27, God "...hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:" If this is the case, then we all have the potential to find Him. And I should think that anyone who honestly seeks God, the Blood of Christ will be avaliable for them as well, in keeping with the belif that Christ's sacrifice is for all. (Note: I'm not talking about universalism here. I think God will judge rightly and weed out the sheep from the goats. But I do believe that everyone has a chance to repent and turn to God. There is a potential in everyone to be the person God intended them to be.)

So in any evangelistic effort I make, my goal is to point the way to a life in God. Rather than focus on salvation through Christ, as important that is in the atonement for sins, in my paradigm at least, my desire is to see people have that conversion experience where they grasp the concept of that relationship in God that makes a different in their lives.

To me, the sacrifice of Christ wouldn't be necessary if we are living for God and obeying His commandments ("To obey is better than sacrifice"). So it almost seems that Christ's sacrifice is secondary to what God wants in Man. Even in the Old Testament, God was often distained with sacrifices if the people of Israel were not obeying Him.
All too often when a person comes to Christ via the "sinner's prayer" there is no life changing element in the process. Just in my case, I only really found God years later. And I suspect that phenomenia occurs often in people who are in other religions who find that grasp in their own beliefs that cause a change in their life.

And who knows, I might go through another conversion in the future.

 

[wil]

By george I think you've got it! love...forgiveness....

personal growth...

if you can attain a state of loving...everyone...

everyone will ask you how..

you won't have to convert anyone...

you won't have to proselytize or witness or get in anyone's face or talk about the sacrifice, the salvation....you'll be too busy answering questions!

express love....period.

oh by the way...those are the number one and number two Jewish commandments.... Jesus got it!

 

[Muslimwoman]

Dondi

Thank you for sharing your story, what an inspiring read. Of course I agree we must concentrate on our relationship with G-d as it is to Him we shall return and answer, we may all get there by different roads but there is no avoiding the final destination.

Salaam
MW

 

[Ahanu]

2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

I would consider these words to be something similar to what Jesus is saying:

"If you said to me, what's the single reason that people fail to change minds as often as we would like, it's underestimating the power of resistance, says the Harvard psychologists Howard Gardner. 'Changing your mind about anything significant by the time you are middle-aged is difficult because you have had decades of practice in thinking another way.' In order to overcome that old ingrained way of thinking, 'we really have to undo those neural networks and move them in another kind of way.' Which explains why children are much more likely than adults to change what they think about the world. Its not entirely because they're impulsive, or immature, but because they can: Their brains, plumbed with billions of connections that neural Darwinism has thinned in the rest of us by adulthood, are just more 'plastic'" (155).

Amazon.com: U-Turn: What If You Woke Up One Morning and Realized You Were Living the Wrong Life?: Bruce Grierson: Books

To me, Jesus wants us to be receptive to seeing the world in a new perspective.

 

[Dondi]

So long as we are into our 'Spiritual but not religious' phase...