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Woodpot:
Hello all. My name is Travis. I am an American living in Japan since 2008. I came across Creation Liberty a few years ago by chance. I think it was through the Freemasonry arcticle. At the time I was experiencing a stressful work environment, marital problems, and an all-around materialistic worldview. I was definitely not a believing Christian at this time, and I can now attribute much of my condition to a lack of God in my life. Moreover, these spiritual and personal problems were exacerbated by political and social problems that were also occuring, many of which I was unable to resolve. Social tensions eventually eased, but not due to my efforts. My marriage ended, and I can now see that it was because neither I or my wife were in Christ.
I have emailed with Christopher a few times now and he has helped me out quite a bit. Also I have been reading articles on the website and reading this forum for some time. Sadly, I do not have a testimony of repentance and salvation to share with you all. The pride and hardness of my heart is still overpowering. The very thought of facing all my sins is terrifying, so this is top-priority for me, and I hope to be able to share my testimony with you sometime soon.
I have joined this forum hoping to come to a proper fear and love of God, repentance, an understanding of the Gospel, and of course for fellowship. There are likely things I`m believing that conflict with Scriptural truth, so I`m grateful for the chance to fellowship.

I don`t exactly know where to start. I can`t claim to be well-versed in Scripture, so I couldn`t think of an appropriate handle for a forum name to reflect my Biblical understanding. Instead I chose the name Woodpot, because it sort of describes where I am at this point, or at least, where I see myself as being. Since as early as I can remember I`ve enjoyed getting my hands dirty- in the sandbox, dirt piles, mud; later on in working with clay and wood, which is part of what led me to a life in Japan. I`ve always enjoyed the challenges of working with my hands- it`s nice working with simple materials. I`m a solitary type, and from a young age I`ve tried to maintain a distance between my personal beliefs and the beliefs that the world imposes on us, trying not to be corrupted. In that sense living in Japan has been good for me, as people tend not to be confrontational. On the other hand, the Japanese by and large are devoid of spiritual belief or conviction. As you all are no doubt aware, it`s almost impossible not to be influenced by the beliefs of those around you. This spiritual void surrounding me has taken it`s toll over the years, and I have recently come to realize that my current situation is rooted in a lack of a Scriptural foundation, and understanding of the Law.

So with that brief introduction, thank you. I hope we have much to share!

anvilhauler:
Hi Travis

It is good that you found the CLE website and have already been in touch with Chris.  As Chris has no doubt pointed out, repentance is as a gift from God.  Once you are deeply sorry and grieved for even the smallest of sins then the rest of them become just as repulsive to us even though there be too many to try to remember. The battle that goes on between our flesh self and our spiritual self goes on until the day we die and so we can never get good enough to be saved and we will be saved so long as we don't continue in sins that God will not overlook. 

You are likely not much different than the rest of us when we came to Christ and went through a deep time of soul searching and comparing with scripture where we were at. I knew next to nothing about the gospel or the Bible when I became a Christian at 26 yrs old. Reading the Bible for the first time was quite an adventure and wasn't at all what I thought the Bible would be like. Someone told me that I should read the Bible, and so I started, as one does, at the beginning of a book (Genesis), and I found it really tough going. When I told another guy he laughed and suggested I start at either John or Matthew in the New Testament.  It was very much easier after that.  :D

I hope all goes well for you and you even become an established member of the group here.

strangersmind:
welcome Travis
glad you are here. what is it you do for work? i was too born in America and move next door to you Philippines. are now beginning to study the bible and if so what bible version you have? 

someguy85:
Hi Travis,

Given some of the other "testimonies" that have come through on this section, I definitely commend you for your honesty. (Seriously, some salvation testimonies that have come up on this forum sound like manifestos for aspiring cult leaders, including one guy who kept referring to himself as I AM, hopefully you'll find out why that would make any Christian shiver,) I'm not sure what you've discussed with Chris but I'd like to say a few things that might help you out.

Definitely admitting you've done anything wrong is hard, and the thought of surrendering your life to a being who is powerful way beyond even our wildest imagination is very daunting, but the truth is that we can never save ourselves, we can't even make the first step on that journey, because you can't polish silver with a cloth that's been left in a septic tank. I said it to a few people I used to attend a church building with and it was like they'd never heard the idea before that salvation being a free gift is a little bit of a misnomer, it isn't something that you can work for or pay off or push towards, but it does require giving up something, the very thing that caused Lucifer to be cast out of heaven and become what we know today as Satan...we have to give up our pride.

Everyone has a different path in life, and every born again believer on this forum doesn't have the same testimony, although there are some common elements to some stories, but there are a few on here who will tell you that but for the grace of God, we would be dead today, we would have died in our sins and been cast into hell forever. And when we became born again in Christ, there are times when we still sin, in various ways, but God is nothing like the false gods of the innumerable cults out there, that casts you out until you've done enough good works to work your way back into the fold...there are times where God will reprimand you, or punish you, or allow the mistakes of your choices to run their course in the fleshly world, but he will NEVER abandon you or give you more hardship than you can handle, and there are times where you think you're the most rotten unworthy person because of things you've done, and he will still look after you, he will still protect you. There's a good reason believers refer to him as The Father, because he is everything a loving caring father should be and so much more. When I feel like garbage, look at the world and ask how could God love us when we're so evil at heart?...my mum used to tell me that if I or anyone else was the only person in the world who could be saved in the last 2000 years, Christ would have still died for us, as much as his sacrifice on the cross was for you and for me, it was for the entire world.

Coming to terms with the severity of sin is hard, because it goes way deeper than the physical consequences, but doing that is so much easier than the alternative. A lot of anti-theists and regular hedonists love to call that "fear-mongering", but what's worst? Not wanting to hurt someone's feelings and knowing someone will burn forever, for all eternity to pay for their sin or saying something they may not like here so that they can have a chance to make the most important decision of their lives?

We're not guaranteed life tomorrow, and I say that if you do come to repentance, and you're still worried about giving your life to Christ, then remember it's like any major life life changing decision...it may not feel like a good time, but there's never going to be a better time.

I hope it's helped in some way,  :)

Woodpot:
Thank you guys for the kind replies. I very much look forward to fellowship here. I hadn`t visited the forum in over a week for a couple of reasons. One, I haven`t yet come to repentance, and the other reason is that I was worried you guys wouldn`t bother with me until that had happened. I`m glad I checked back in, even though the goal has yet to be met. Thank you for the effort you put into your replies. Your words have helped!

Starting at Genesis, like Kevin (Hello Kevin) related is indeed extremely daunting. There is so much data that goes by so quickly, that it`s very difficult to process. My only Christian friend here in Hiroshima gave similar advice to what you said: start at the Gospel and go from there back to the beginning. Don`t even try analyzing it the first time, he said. This advice has worked for me in part, but when I got to Revelation I ran into problems. That book alone is so dense with meaning as to be almost indecipherable. A straight read-through from beginning to end is too quick to be able to process all of the information.

To answer Billy`s question (Hello Billy), I work as an English teacher for kids and adults, and have been since 2008. In my spare time I do some woodwork and pottery, enjoy hiking and cycling and motorbiking. If you`d asked me a few years ago, I would have said that pottery is closest to my heart amongst all my activities. But since then, I`ve begun a type of homesteading project in the countryside which consumes all my time on the weekends. Growing healthy food, making good products with simple materials, living a simple life became my goal since around 2017. Although the world might admire such a path, If I had kept on as I was going, it would have led to an empty existence and damnation, as it was still carnally-focused. Only recently can I see a real purpose begin to form for this homesteading project, and it`s my sincere hope to be able to dedicate it to God and to be able to bring people together in fellowship and learning. I am not advocating works-based salvation, and I understand that I must come to repentance and salvation first, before my work can have any meaning. I am of the understanding (correct me if I`m wrong) that there is no place called `church`, and that believers in Christ, in our bodies which are the Temple, constitute the church entire. That said, having a place as free as possible from worldly corruptions and distractions, in which the church can gather for meaningful discussion is my main purpose regarding the homestead from here on out.
 
As to the more important of Billy`s questions: I primarily use the KJV, and it`s the only Bible for which I have a physical copy. From a reader`s perspective the KJV is beautifully written and easily understood. I have read the article by Chris in which he goes into deep discussion on the subject. Meaning absolutely no disrespect or disregard to his work on the subject, it is still our responsibility to prove all things true, and not rely unduly on others. With that in mind I do reference other Bibles from time to time as I study, such as Fenton, Tyndale, and the 1611 KJV, but I don`t even bother with the new-age Bibles, as I am already convinced of their corruption. I have some questions about the KJV based on things I`ve come across. This line of thought connects nicely with that I AM guy that S.A. Chris (Hello Chris) mentioned. I`ve read a fair few of the introductory posts here on the forum, and I read the posts by the guy who referred to himself as I AM, and yes, it did make me cringe. I`m not sure what he was thinking with such an audacious usage. Regarding I AM, I`d like to discuss that issue a bit, because it`s one that I can`t wrap my head around.

Exodus 3:13-15 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, The God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

“I Am” is not like any name that I have heard; instead it sounds more like a declaration. So, for God to declare that “I Am” is “my name forever”, is something I haven`t been able to understand. I checked a Hebrew/English text comparison at Biblehub.com (https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/3-15.htm) to see which words were used in Hebrew, and it shows Yahweh as His name, Elohim (God) as His title, and also includes the term I AM. If biblehub is to be trusted (is it??), it looks like the name of God has been omitted. Why? Moreover, just after this, in Exodus 6:3, God says that his name is Jehovah, which is neither I AM THAT I AM, nor is it Yahweh. Can anyone clarify this issue?

Exodus 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

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