Rev. Dustin ParkerOrigin of this Species
I admit, the title sucks but it was the best gag I could think of.
I said in a comment that I was going to post on how I came to Christ. And I didn't want to be a liar or not post this.
To simply say that it happened on a friday night years back in Auckland is true but overly simple. So I'll say a little more than that.
From birth I was raised as a catholic. But that doesn't say much. I didn't really enjoy it, I didn't find it fulfilling. From birth I was also fairly screwed up. Seriously, I've had to do alot of therapy (for speech problems, writing problems, learning problems) since I could walk, talk and think that I was fairly convinced that there was something foundationally wrong with me. Gave me a healthy viewpoint on life in general. Highschool and the chemically fuelled fun of puberty didn't help either.
This is where alot of people indulge in drugs, sex and alcohol. I'm proud to say that I was an individual. I have never touched drugs (not even smoked a cigarette) or gotten drunk for a couple of reasons. The first is health. From what I always knew, drugs were bad for you. The second was that alot of other people I knew were doing them and I thought they were idiots. Especially after seeing them drunk or stoned. I didn't feel comfortable around them. The third is I guess an interesting one. To get drunk or stoned would have distorted reality, making it not true. Sure, I might not have felt pain, but it wouldn't have made things better. More than likely, it would have made them worse. As to sex I never got along with any girl long enough to get close enough to get close enough.
It was about halfway through highschool we moved to Auckland. Which was good. Gave me a chance to change who I was. To move from nasty/nasty to funny/nasty. Gave me a little leverage and a slightly better chance at making friends.
I would have been about 16 or 17. I'd played around with buddhism a bit (refferring to myself as a christian buddhist), to the point of knowing a couple of mantras and knowing how to meditate. I could actually clear my mind of thoughts and think of nothing for awhile. It was very relaxing because I wasn't thinking. I got invited to a youth meeting one night and said sure. Let me paint this picture a little better. I didn't really have a social life. The most I ever got out was to go to tae kwon Do (believe it or not I am a first degree black belt) so I didn't really have anything better to do with my friday night. The youth night out was essentially just driving around Auckland city and doing a small scavenger hunt. It was fun, they seemed like nice people. So I went a couple more times. I didn't make HEAPS of friends, but I didn't make any enemies. Which for me was a novelty. I can still remember the names of the people there that really DID earn my respect. The first was a guy named Davin Tan, who I think by now is Dr Davin Tan. I haven't spoken to or emailed that guy in ages. He was the guy that originally invited me along. The second was Richard Mason, who was the youth pastor. He was a damn good friend to a very angry, confused, argumentative, not overly social cauldron of crap that was me back then. The third is a guy named Mike Grobelny. There are people in this world that are happy to have a chat with you, say they're your friend and pretty well leave it at that. Mike isn't one of those guys. He goes beyond that. The man is an absolute champion. I've digressed, but it was a GOOD digression.
Anyways, I can remember one friday night, I'd been hanging around the group a few times and Richard (I mentioned him earlier) was preaching. FUnnily enough, I CAN'T remember what he preached about, nor can I remember what the date was. But I do remember what he said. "I'm not going to tell you that christianity will make your life easier. It won't. But I can tell you it will make your life better, and I dare you to prove me wrong." That was enough to make me stand up, move down the front. In fact, any chance to prove someone wrong was enough to make me stand up and move down there.
Like I said before, I can't remember the date, but I do remember that was when I began my christianity. Since then, I can truly and honestly say that Richard was correct. Christianity hasn't made my life easier. But Christ has made it better.
JZ
I said in a comment that I was going to post on how I came to Christ. And I didn't want to be a liar or not post this.
To simply say that it happened on a friday night years back in Auckland is true but overly simple. So I'll say a little more than that.
From birth I was raised as a catholic. But that doesn't say much. I didn't really enjoy it, I didn't find it fulfilling. From birth I was also fairly screwed up. Seriously, I've had to do alot of therapy (for speech problems, writing problems, learning problems) since I could walk, talk and think that I was fairly convinced that there was something foundationally wrong with me. Gave me a healthy viewpoint on life in general. Highschool and the chemically fuelled fun of puberty didn't help either.
This is where alot of people indulge in drugs, sex and alcohol. I'm proud to say that I was an individual. I have never touched drugs (not even smoked a cigarette) or gotten drunk for a couple of reasons. The first is health. From what I always knew, drugs were bad for you. The second was that alot of other people I knew were doing them and I thought they were idiots. Especially after seeing them drunk or stoned. I didn't feel comfortable around them. The third is I guess an interesting one. To get drunk or stoned would have distorted reality, making it not true. Sure, I might not have felt pain, but it wouldn't have made things better. More than likely, it would have made them worse. As to sex I never got along with any girl long enough to get close enough to get close enough.
It was about halfway through highschool we moved to Auckland. Which was good. Gave me a chance to change who I was. To move from nasty/nasty to funny/nasty. Gave me a little leverage and a slightly better chance at making friends.
I would have been about 16 or 17. I'd played around with buddhism a bit (refferring to myself as a christian buddhist), to the point of knowing a couple of mantras and knowing how to meditate. I could actually clear my mind of thoughts and think of nothing for awhile. It was very relaxing because I wasn't thinking. I got invited to a youth meeting one night and said sure. Let me paint this picture a little better. I didn't really have a social life. The most I ever got out was to go to tae kwon Do (believe it or not I am a first degree black belt) so I didn't really have anything better to do with my friday night. The youth night out was essentially just driving around Auckland city and doing a small scavenger hunt. It was fun, they seemed like nice people. So I went a couple more times. I didn't make HEAPS of friends, but I didn't make any enemies. Which for me was a novelty. I can still remember the names of the people there that really DID earn my respect. The first was a guy named Davin Tan, who I think by now is Dr Davin Tan. I haven't spoken to or emailed that guy in ages. He was the guy that originally invited me along. The second was Richard Mason, who was the youth pastor. He was a damn good friend to a very angry, confused, argumentative, not overly social cauldron of crap that was me back then. The third is a guy named Mike Grobelny. There are people in this world that are happy to have a chat with you, say they're your friend and pretty well leave it at that. Mike isn't one of those guys. He goes beyond that. The man is an absolute champion. I've digressed, but it was a GOOD digression.
Anyways, I can remember one friday night, I'd been hanging around the group a few times and Richard (I mentioned him earlier) was preaching. FUnnily enough, I CAN'T remember what he preached about, nor can I remember what the date was. But I do remember what he said. "I'm not going to tell you that christianity will make your life easier. It won't. But I can tell you it will make your life better, and I dare you to prove me wrong." That was enough to make me stand up, move down the front. In fact, any chance to prove someone wrong was enough to make me stand up and move down there.
Like I said before, I can't remember the date, but I do remember that was when I began my christianity. Since then, I can truly and honestly say that Richard was correct. Christianity hasn't made my life easier. But Christ has made it better.
JZ
Philosophy Blog
-- What denomination do you identify with now?
-- If you've rejected Catholicism, what did you dislike about it?
No problems.
I go to an AOG Pentecostal church. You'll forgive me from naming I hope. It would either be meaningless or unhelpful to name it. However, while I go to that church I don't consider myself a pentecostal. I consider myself asimplechristian.
As to the not going along with catholicism, I wouldn't say that I rejected catholicism, but I wasn't accepting God at that point in time. I used to dislike it, considering the amount of idolatry that sometimes crops up in the catholic church, but when one considers the particular type of idolatry that happens in my church I consider all of it to be on a level playing field. And for someone that likes GK Chesterton and my grandmother as much as I do, it would be impossible for me to dislike catholics.
I hope that helps.
JZ
Philosophy Blog
Joe Blogg's Blog
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Crouching Tiger Hidden Christian!
First Dan myself.
Champs are in March.
Back on the diet & full training as of yesterday.
That my friend IS being born again.
Anyhoo, you seen what Jesus has to offer.
Time to try a little Bloggsianity!
Damn, I was hoping it was my intellect, good heart, perception, etc. Not my ability to kick people in the face (though that does help from time to time......)
Good luck in the champs.
I'm something of a grey belt now though.....I haven't trained in ages. Numerous reasons. Sickness, inability to find anywhere worth training, lack of time....
I can remember going through my grading for first dan though. Two days of extreme grueling pain. Great times, great times.
Thanks for coming on by Joe,
JZ