Intro and my blog

[jonrpatrick]

Greetings from Charlotte, NC
My name is Jon. I'll keep this short (and hope I'm in the right sub-forum!)
Raised Christian - the kind that never went to church - life brought me a wife, 2 beautiful children, a divorce, lay off, and ultimately the woman who is a perfect fit for me.
Raised in the South (Carolina) I've been subjected to obnoxious evanglicals my whole life, and it tainted my opinion of organized religion.
When I met Donna, she was clear her faith was an important part of her life. I entered marriage with her well aware I'd be going to church.
I never expected to be MOVED. Our church - I can't say enough about it. The people, everything.
The message from the pulpit seemed designed to reach ME each and every week. I felt a stirring... and now know I've been wrong about Christians all these years. (although some really are obnoxious! :))
Last year (2011) was the year I found my faith, and I truly believe I've started my personal relationship with Jesus. I talk with him a lot, but I won't claim to be a good listener yet! I joined the Church, made my public confession of faith, and am making a real effort to read the bible this year.

Part of this is I started a blog - Men Finding Faith - as a way to have an outlet for what's in my head relating to religion, partially to track my path to Faith, and mostly to reach out to Men and let them know no matter how old, or their experience with religion to date, it's NEVER too late to try different churches, find out in detail WHY they believe what they believe, find the Pastor that speaks to you, and find Jesus yourself.

Unfortunately, i've not been keeping it up like I originally intended. So, If you're a man and willing to keep on topic as above - willing to share your Journey and help empower other men, I'd love to have you as a guest writer. Just drop me a line.

Thanks for listening,
Jon

 

[HammerStone]

Close, but moved you over to the right place, Jon. ;)

Welcome to Christianity Board. Sounds like you're just right up the road.

The stuff you talk about - the religious junk - is what I hope you can avoid here. I think the church (as a whole), has absolutely GOT to get beyond it! It's going to church for the all of the wrong reasons and it just dillusions people from a real relationship with Jesus. If you don't mind, we can definitely struggle through this together because I know I struggle with reading the Bible enough myself. Dealing with men (and the lack of role model guys as leaders, fathers, and men of God) is near and dear to my heart.

 

[Braden]

Nice to see other guys here!

 

[jonrpatrick]

Thanks for the replies... and apparently "welcome center' wasn't obvious enough. :)
I remember after our first few Sundays at our church, I realized "oh. THAT's what being a Christian is about". Dealing with people pointing their finger at you, telling you you're going to Hell if you don't "get saved", and being extremely judgemental.... turned me off for decades.
Finding a church where the sermons are one part passion-play, one part history lesson, and one part scripture reading was a complete revelation for me. Talking about reaching out to people - that it's not your job to CONVINCE them or bully them, but to be a witness and INVITE them to come see for themselves. Come to church, and let the message to the 'heavy lifting'.
that's what worked for me.
I think the sermon (I blogged about it on my site) that really got it all MOVING for me was about 'not casting stones'. With the Bible as our Holy Book, our divinely inspired word of God, it tells us what's expected. It's okay to Judge, but not to be Judgemental. It's one thing wrong with society today, it's something I personally think Humanity will never overcome, and it's a BIG piece of why people are turned off from organized religion.
Put it another way - nobody likes a Bible Thumper.
Again, if anyone is a Man and has found Jesus in their adult life and would like to blog about it, let me know. I won't promise my site gets a lot of hits, but more content will help us get the word out.
Peace,
Jon