its just a rather long story, but here is the short of it, i was going to a local technical college here in TN, and i was sitting in the student lounge drinking a coke and observing other people as i often find enjoyable... when a guy approaches me and says hey man we are about to have a bible study would you like to join us... had nothing better to do and i haven't been in church for awhile i said sure and listened in... it soon became a daily thing and by the end of the second week, the guy that had ask me to join them said man you really know your stuff so it seems would you like to join another group we have that meats at 5am on UT campus with the football players... i said man 5am its hard to get up that early for me.. he says so your saying you wont get up to learn more about jesus and god and improve your relationship with him because its to early to get up... i felt kinda bad... and indeed i got up and went... didn't realize that pretty much all the UT football players were this religious... over the weekend same guy called me and said hey come over we are gonna have a little get together and talk more about jesus. So i get there, and we are sitting at a picnic table behind this set of dorm buildings... and the guy starts laying the scripture on me, and how the way to heaven is not through salvation, but rather through being as much like christ as you can be... he begins reading scripture about how jesus got up one morning at dawn and found a nice quiet spot in the woods and prayed, and he said now jesus did this, so this is something we should do, then he begins to read scripture were jesus was witnessing and telling other people about the lord, and he said this is something we should do... and he ask if i would walk up to a stranger and ask them if they knew about god... i can barely do a speech in public let alone walk up and ask someone about their relationship with the lord... he said well follow me and i will show you... so we begin to walk through to a part of ut campus thats like a park basically. He walks up to a guy and just bluntly ask the guy if he believes in the lord. The guy says of course, then he ask the same guy do you go to church... and the guy says nah, and he then ask why he doesn't attend church, the guy says just not my thing, i have better things to do on sunday than listen to hypocracy. he then says you have better things to do than learn about jesus and the lord? the guy starts to get agitated and says leave me alone your pushing stuff on me.. the guy goes im not pushing anything on you just asking you questions, and the more questions he asked the guy the more the guy got pissed off to the point were they were almost in a fight. @ which point i just backed away and sat down at another table.. were i was soon joined again. He says notice how upset people get, something is weighing heavy on that guys heart and i was only trying ot help him... i told him i think what he did is wrong... he should not be pushing someone like that, and lead by example would be the better way, and he says no jesus was persecuted just like i was right then. (mental) i said i realize jesus was persecuted but the way you went about that is wrong... you cant just push this stuff on people. he then ask me how i would do it, i said clearly that i wouldn't, its out of my comfort zone, and he starts saying so because your not comfortable with doing this, then you don't wish to be like christ... i said you can be like Christ and witness in different ways... lead by example then show people that ask you questions the way... we ended it their for the day... the next day was Sunday and i went to church with my grandparents feeling very conflicted about the whole situation, i sat down had a long talk with a grandfather... he began to point out scriptures proving that salvation is the way... and i knew that... its how i was raised, and it weighed heavy on my heart... i knew this guy was going the wrong way... but how do your get across to someone that is so assertive... so monday im sitting in the lounge i didn't go over to the bible study area, i just sat were i was sitting the first day... he approached me and said you coming, and i was reading my bible, and i said no i think im just going to sit here and study to myself... he pulls a chair up across from me, and pulls out his bible, and he begins to read of scripture about how being christ like is the way to go, but the more i thought about the scritpures he was reading the more it seemed like he was playing on the words... he then looks across at me, and i look up at him and he says, i know you were raised to believe the salvation way... but its just not right as i've clearly shown you... if your parents will not go with you and you can not get them to understand our side will you be willing to leave them... AT this point CULT came into my head... charles manson etc... I looked at him, and passed over a salvation card with scriptures on it... and i got up and said you have a nice day. and walked away. for the rest of the semester i steered clear of the lounge and any place i knew he was, if we did happen to cross paths he would just look at me and smile as if we had some kinda cult signal or something... The next semester i was in a class called god and evil... this was a humanities elective and I found the course name to be quite interesting... this conflicted me as we went through every known religion and some not so known religions and discussed all the aspects... very conflicting for a person that just went through questioning his own beliefs. For a few years after this and sometimes even to this day, i question whether or not i'm believing the right way, and then that gut feeling in my stomach tells me that its whats right for me.

Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, you can't just go up to people like that. If you want to try to show someone to Christ, you need to be their friend first and they need to respect you. It's impossible to do that to a stranger.

Glad you were able to get out. They just sound like they're a little confused.

Touching ending

"For a few years after this and sometimes even to this day, i question whether or not i'm believing the right way, and then that gut feeling in my stomach tells me that its whats right for me."
Sums it up.

looking back my details may be a bit fuzzy i wish i could remember the exact scriptures he was pushing on me... i had them on a paper in my bible for the longest time but its somehow disappeared... but i know you could easily see the twisting of words and mis interpretations... if i hadn't stopped him when i did, my fear was that his statement was going to be when are you moving in and your bunk is beside mine... just a gut feeling at had at the time... when he asked me if i would leave my parents, if they didn't believe how i did.

crazy story man.

you bet it was crazy.. went on about a week... had it went on much longer i probably would be a drone or zombie...

I wish someone would try to get me to join a cult, all of this independent thought and critical thinking wears me out! I wish someone would just tell me what to say and wear and do every single day.

you want to be a drone like that, lets go back to the 40's and 50's and make you a housewife!

Well, that was interesting. It really did seem like a cult: a group that thought they were right and tried to push these beliefs onto other people. Also, copying Christ seems a little childish in the "path to Heaven" that everyone's looking for. You should always have a choice, and no good choice asks you to leave your family to join them in their beliefs.

One question, sounds ignorant, but I haven't been in church since I was about three and that might have been a wedding or something: What exactly is salvation? Does the idea suggest that we are all sinners until we are confirmed and confess and go through all that stuff to live a good, clean life? That's what I think it is, or something similar involving being a part of a church and going through ceremonies, but I'm not sure, so educate me, here.

salvation basically means you pray to god and jesus and ask them into your heart and to wipe away all of your sins. its basically about starting a relationship with god and christ. from this point on you have a clean slate, you will make mistakes no doubt but its about trying to be the best christian you can be... witnessing, testimony. fellowshipping is a plus but i don't deem it necessary.

realizes this is just the basics... i in no way shape or form am a perfect christian nor do i try to be... i try to do right but.. we all make mistakes.