# Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943 "2005-02-02T04:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/201 "2005-02-07T14:44:28Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > **Idle Thoughts** , I’d like to apologize to you. I think I misunderstood your intention. I gather you were simply looking for people who had had a similar religious experience to yours and I hijacked it into a discussion of the word “Saved” because of my own issues. I also let myself get a bit shirty. I apologize. > > I’m not sure whether I’m saved by your standards or not. On one hand, I can’t point to a particular moment and say, “At this time, I became a Christian.” On the other hand, I have an experience with God which certainly saved my life and soul and, a year later, I formally rededicated my life to Christ. The thing is, part of that profound experience with God – oh heck, let’s call it what it is. That same _miracle_ that saved my life Worked, in part because of the same old words of the Eucharist (I think you call it “the Lord’s Table”) service I’d grown up listening to. The power of the words I’d sat through a thousand times, sometimes bored, sometimes not paying any attention at all, but always present, reached me when nothing else could. My grounding in Episcopal faith and ritual was an essential part of the miracle which is the closest this stumbling Episcopalian can come to the Baptist definition of Saved. That’s one of the reasons I _can’t_ renounce my life until that point and say “I wasn’t a Christian” before then. If you like, e-mail me and I’ll tell you the story sometime. > > Again, please accept my apologies. > > Respectfully, > CJ Beautiful and sweet job, Sis. I _did_ have a point in my life, as I think I’ve told you about – I know I’ve posted it online – where the God of Whom I had intellectual knowledge and a theoretical faith became a real Person with Whom I found myself in a relationship. But I think that is because I in particular needed it, needed to have my compartmentalized mind cracked and His love poured into it, to become who I am today. If one likens a conversion experience to someone walking down a road away from God, and Him meeting them on the road and turning them around – which is a metaphor I’ve seen used a lot in the past – then people who are headed in the right direction may only need a gentle nudge, or a series of them, something so subtle it doesn’t stand out to them as a major change. And I may have mentioned the wise old priest I knew just after becoming Episcopalian, who said he answered the “Are you saved? When did you get saved?” question thus: “Same time you did – 3:00 PM Jerusalem Time, on the first Good Friday!” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/202 "2005-02-07T17:28:15Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > And I may have mentioned the wise old priest I knew just after becoming Episcopalian, who said he answered the “Are you saved? When did you get saved?” question thus: > > “Same time you did – 3:00 PM Jerusalem Time, on the first Good Friday!” Tho technically, shouldn’t the answer be “Sometime before sunrise on the first Easter Sunday”? I know- I’m being a jerk. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/203 "2005-02-07T20:05:28Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > **Idle Thoughts** , I’d like to apologize to you. I think I misunderstood your intention. I gather you were simply looking for people who had had a similar religious experience to yours and I hijacked it into a discussion of the word “Saved” because of my own issues. I also let myself get a bit shirty. I apologize. > > I’m not sure whether I’m saved by your standards or not. On one hand, I can’t point to a particular moment and say, “At this time, I became a Christian.” On the other hand, I have an experience with God which certainly saved my life and soul and, a year later, I formally rededicated my life to Christ. The thing is, part of that profound experience with God – oh heck, let’s call it what it is. That same _miracle_ that saved my life Worked, in part because of the same old words of the Eucharist (I think you call it “the Lord’s Table”) service I’d grown up listening to. The power of the words I’d sat through a thousand times, sometimes bored, sometimes not paying any attention at all, but always present, reached me when nothing else could. My grounding in Episcopal faith and ritual was an essential part of the miracle which is the closest this stumbling Episcopalian can come to the Baptist definition of Saved. That’s one of the reasons I _can’t_ renounce my life until that point and say “I wasn’t a Christian” before then. If you like, e-mail me and I’ll tell you the story sometime. > > Again, please accept my apologies. > > Respectfully, > CJ Hey, don’t worry about it. Topics on and about religion sometimes does that. I mean, it’s so easy to get caught up differences in opinion and views with such a touchy and controversial subject. Especially when people were raised differently. It’s perfectly all right. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/204 "2005-02-07T20:06:56Z")
I’m also glad to see my topic was found suited for GD. Since it originally started there, It’s good to see my first choice was correct. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/205 "2005-02-07T20:07:30Z")
## Idle Thoughts asked: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior? I did until I was about 13 or so. Then I found out that it was all a gigantic con game. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/206 "2005-02-07T20:30:34Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Tho technically, shouldn’t the answer be “Sometime before sunrise on the first Easter Sunday”? > > I know- I’m being a jerk. 😃 If you want to get **really** technical, the Orthodox answer is – from always, because the Crucifixion and Resurrection were a part of the Divine Plan from eternity. ;j (Yeah, I know, wrong kind of Orthodox! So sue me! :p) ---
**Author:** ![jeffh3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@jeffh3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeffh3000)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/207 "2005-02-08T08:53:19Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > I _did_ have a point in my life, as I think I’ve told you about – I know I’ve posted it online – where the God of Whom I had intellectual knowledge and a theoretical faith became a real Person with Whom I found myself in a relationship. By this are you saying that you had a moment of clarity/religious experience which created or changed this relationship? Or are you saying that this gradually came about with time and one day you just found yourself there? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/208 "2005-02-08T12:47:36Z")
> [@jeffh3000](#): > > By this are you saying that you had a moment of clarity/religious experience which created or changed this relationship? Or are you saying that this gradually came about with time and one day you just found yourself there? Yes. 😉 I did have a “conversion experience” event that was a transforming experience. But it was part of an ongoing evolution of God working in my life/a sense of spiritual growth and change. (I’m resisting the temptation to tell all about it at inordinate length.) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/209 "2005-02-08T14:13:23Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > If you want to get **really** technical, the Orthodox answer is – from always, because the Crucifixion and Resurrection were a part of the Divine Plan from eternity. ;j (Yeah, I know, wrong kind of Orthodox! So sue me! :p) Well, John the Revelator definitely affirms that- the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. ---
**Author:** ![IAMMYOWNGOD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/46a35a/32.png) [@IAMMYOWNGOD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAMMYOWNGOD)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/210 "2005-02-08T19:25:38Z")
Please tell me: as a believer, are you willing to kill witches as your god commanded in Exodus 22:18? If so, how will you identify them? Do you believe that slavery is morally justifiable? Are you aware that slavery is condoned in both the Old and New Testaments? Check out Exodus 21. How do you feel about the fact that “God” himself forces a slave (after serving his master for six years) to choose between freedom without his wife and children (assuming his master has “given” the slave his wife) or a LIFETIME of slavery with his family? Is this not a sadistically evil law that comes straight from your god? It seems to me, in order to believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of “God,” you must also believe that “God” is sadistically evil. :dubious: > [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > Just curious. I have and was wondering who else has on these boards. > > Originally I was going to make this thread in IMHO…but I figured that anything that went on the belief that God existed should probably not go in any forum other than this. > > By all means, if it SHOULD go into MHO, move it. > But I was just wondering who here all have accepted him as their savior. > > I’ve been saved now for almost 8 years. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/211 "2005-02-08T20:10:18Z")
> [@IAMMYOWNGOD](#): > > Please tell me: as a believer, are you willing to kill witches as your god commanded in Exodus 22:18? If so, how will you identify them? > Do you believe that slavery is morally justifiable? Are you aware that slavery is condoned in both the Old and New Testaments? Check out Exodus 21. How do you feel about the fact that “God” himself forces a slave (after serving his master for six years) to choose between freedom without his wife and children (assuming his master has “given” the slave his wife) or a LIFETIME of slavery with his family? Is this not a sadistically evil law that comes straight from your god? It seems to me, in order to believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of “God,” you must also believe that “God” is sadistically evil. > > :dubious: That was precisely my point in another thread – presuming that the Bible is literally the Word of God, with any humans involved being purely “word processors” for Him, leads to the conclusion that He is a sadistic megalomaniac. On the other hand, divorced of any question about God and His putative inspiration, the Tanakh is clearly a collection of writings of an ancient civilization, including their myths and legends (and the New Testament a similar collection about one radical group from late in their history). So: 1. That some people believe God to have inspired Moses to write down those commands (presuming that it was he, and not some Jahvist, Priestly, or other tradition that did) does not enforce them on me. 2. The witch item and the O.T. slavery are commands to the Jewish people, not to me. They are quite explicitly as non-binding on me as the Jewish dietary laws – at least, **Zev** hasn’t condemned me for eating a cheeseburger lately. 3. The N.T. slavery item is aimed at a miniscule congregation in the midst of a world-dominating Empire, telling _servi_ (“slaves” in the Roman usage) to be content in their lots because God would reward them later for it. It is no excuse for someone with political power to enforce slavery, but abolishing slavery was clearly beyond the powers of the little church in the catacombs or the one that met at so-and-so’s house in Corinth. 4. In any case, the KJV translation as “witch” has been known for over 100 years to be invalid – the word in question was descriptive of a potion-seller who often dealt in poisons. 5. God has given explicit instructions on how to deal with Wiccans – because they’re human beings. And it’s to love them and treat them as you would be treated, not to kill them. In short, nice blast at what you mistake Christianity to be – and at what certain elements of it in fact are – but you missed me and my co-believers by a mile. ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/212 "2005-02-08T20:29:04Z")
I believe in God and Jesus, but sometimes it is hard. I read the story today about the 14yr old girl going to a Catholic school beaten to death by her mom while she slept. It is hard to have faith and feel “saved” when you read things like that. Im not saying its God’s fault she died, but damn… Faith aint easy. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/213 "2005-02-08T21:02:34Z")
When I was 13 my buddy’s mom wanted to “welcome me into the forever family.” Being a Catholic boy, I found the idea bizarre. I mean, I thought I was sort of in it already…and who exactly was she to be the greeter? It turned out that my buddy’s family were all pretty normal people until you got on the topic of Jesus, and then, they became–as I interpreted it at the time–goofy. Ironically, I look at this experience, and that comment in particular, as one of the turning points in my spiritual life. It was at this point that I began to question the faith I had been raised with, and frankly, I found it to be kind of goofy too. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/214 "2005-02-08T21:54:48Z")
If you are saved, and then relapse - can you be re-saved over and over indefinitely? Or does the process become less workable with repetition? I have videotapes that aren’t as good as new ones because they’ve been recorded over too many times, but that may not be an exact parallel. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/215 "2005-02-08T23:16:40Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > If you are saved, and then relapse - can you be re-saved over and over indefinitely? > > Or does the process become less workable with repetition? > > I have videotapes that aren’t as good as new ones because they’ve been recorded over too many times, but that may not be an exact parallel. I sometimes wonder that myself. Interesting analogy. ;j ---
**Author:** ![jeffh3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@jeffh3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeffh3000)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/216 "2005-02-08T23:45:49Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Yes. 😉 > > I did have a “conversion experience” event that was a transforming experience. But it was part of an ongoing evolution of God working in my life/a sense of spiritual growth and change. > > (I’m resisting the temptation to tell all about it at inordinate length.) I would actually be interested in hearing about it, if you don’t mind sharing. I take it from your writing that you were christian before the event, however this event more or less brought you closer to where you are today in your faith? ---
**Author:** ![jeffh3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@jeffh3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeffh3000)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/217 "2005-02-08T23:48:11Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Yes. 😉 > > I did have a “conversion experience” event that was a transforming experience. But it was part of an ongoing evolution of God working in my life/a sense of spiritual growth and change. > > (I’m resisting the temptation to tell all about it at inordinate length.) I would actually be interested in hearing about it, if you don’t mind sharing. I take it from your writing that you were christian before the event, however this event brought you to where you are today in your faith? ---
**Author:** ![jeffh3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@jeffh3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeffh3000)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/218 "2005-02-08T23:53:14Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Yes. 😉 > > I did have a “conversion experience” event that was a transforming experience. But it was part of an ongoing evolution of God working in my life/a sense of spiritual growth and change. > > (I’m resisting the temptation to tell all about it at inordinate length.) I would actually be interested in hearing about it, if you don’t mind sharing. I take it from your writing that you were christian before the event, however this event brought you to where you are today in your faith? ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/219 "2005-02-09T00:49:42Z")
Have I accepted JC as my personal…? No. I’ve frequently gotten somewhat bristly when asked that question- it always seemed like some kind of secret code for something that I wasn’t quite sure the asker was really getting at. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943/221 "2005-02-09T03:11:21Z")
> [@neveronsunday](#): > > Now here’s something I can sink my teeth into. > > Christianity is a cult. > > When you are “saved” you are asked to put your “savior” above everything else, including your own well-being. > > Enough said. Okay, you’ve made an assertion. How GD works is, now you get to **prove** it, with cites. It’s possible if you narrowed your assertion down from “Christianity” as a broad term to something more specific, some of us would agree with you. But for now, I wanna see some evidence proving your case – and for “Christianity” not merely for “the Baptist church in my old home town” or some such. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-accepted-jesus-christ-as-your-savior/287943.md?page=12)