How old were you?

[SaraB]

How old were you when you were saved? Were you raised in the church? Did you come to Christ as an adult? How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

How old were you when you were saved?

About 33.

How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

I don't know.  I don't know that I've got the hang of things now. 

But I think my knowledge became far more Bible-based once I stopped listening to the crap that most pastors regurgitate from "preechin' school" and studied the word for myself. 

 

[rsc2a]

How old were you when you were saved?

I know what you are asking, but still that question makes absolutely no sense to me.

Were you raised in the church?

Yes.

Did you come to Christ as an adult?

Every day I hope.

How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

Basic bible stories? Known them from my youth.
The general heavily-Americanized modern portrayal of the gospel of Jesus? Pretty fully grasped it as a teenager.
The story of the Bible where God is forever actively involved in His creation, has chosen a people through which He will display His glory, where He will restore all things, and salvation is a much deeper discussion than, "If you died today, where would you end up?" I'm still in the shallow end, but at least I've gotten off the steps. I'm sure I'll be learning more and more of that through all of eternity.

 

[kaba]

How old were you when you were saved?

Saved at age 11, while attending Summer Bible Camp


Were you raised in the church?

Raised in a Godly family, went to church all my life. We were normally Sunday Only, but would go to Wed for Awanas-lived on a farm and because my dad worked a normal job and had a farm, we did not have time to go to church on Wed or Sun night

Did you come to Christ as an adult?

How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

I continue to grow in the Lord. I'm not in it for the fame and glory of "look what I do"

 

[SaraB]

How old were you when you were saved?

I know what you are asking, but still that question makes absolutely no sense to me.

What do you mean?

 

[SaraB]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Keep em' coming if you haven't answered yet! 

Rogue- What brought you around at 33?

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Keep em' coming if you haven't answered yet! 

Rogue- What brought you around at 33?

God. 

And I assume rsc2a is referring to the fact that we were chosen before the foundation of the world, making the question kind of irrelevant. 

 

[rsc2a]

Yes, I am.  Salvation is a process, not a point in time.  I was saved.  I am being saved. I will be saved.  Justification.  Sanctification.  Glorification.

As I have written before:

- Was it when I was taught about God as a small child? Yes.
- Was it when I walked down an aisle and asked to be baptized? Yes.
- Was it when I "re-dedicated" my life as a teen (multiple times)? Yes.
- Was it when I realized in college that I had been pursuing God in a manner that was largely based on how I acted and not on what God did? Yes.
- Was it when I realized post-college that surrendering my life to God meant that there should be a distinct difference in my lifestyle and that of my co-workers? Yes.
- Was it when I discovered several years after that revelation that I had been pursuing the Jesus of conservative evangelical American Christianity and not Jesus as revealed in the Bible? Yes.
- Will it be when I understand that my current understanding of God is imperfect at best and try to live my life in accordance with what I learn in the future? Yes.

...and I would add one more: is it when I act in obedience to the commands of God? Yes.

 

[Just me]

I asked Christ into my life when I was 13 and my entire life has never been the same.  My goals, desires and direction all changed that day.

 

[SaraB]

Yes, I am.  Salvation is a process, not a point in time.  I was saved.  I am being saved. I will be saved.  Justification.  Sanctification.  Glorification.

As I have written before:

- Was it when I was taught about God as a small child? Yes.
- Was it when I walked down an aisle and asked to be baptized? Yes.
- Was it when I "re-dedicated" my life as a teen (multiple times)? Yes.
- Was it when I realized in college that I had been pursuing God in a manner that was largely based on how I acted and not on what God did? Yes.
- Was it when I realized post-college that surrendering my life to God meant that there should be a distinct difference in my lifestyle and that of my co-workers? Yes.
- Was it when I discovered several years after that revelation that I had been pursuing the Jesus of conservative evangelical American Christianity and not Jesus as revealed in the Bible? Yes.
- Will it be when I understand that my current understanding of God is imperfect at best and try to live my life in accordance with what I learn in the future? Yes.

...and I would add one more: is it when I act in obedience to the commands of God? Yes.

Thanks for answering in more detail. That does make more sense than one moment of time.

 

[Walt]

How old were you when you were saved? Were you raised in the church? Did you come to Christ as an adult? How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

I was 8-9.

Never attended a church service; knew nothing about the Bible - didn't even know that I was supposed to read it.

God, Whose timing is always perfect, at the right time in my high school life, sent a family with a son my age; through the son and the family's influence, I actually started growing in Christ, and learned about how I needed to read His word, fellowship with Him in prayer, and fellowship with other believers in church.

Then I started growing in Christ... not sure when I would be considered "knowledgeable" - I am still learning. The church I attended in college was excellent at teaching the Scriptures.

 

[JrChurch]

At the age of 12 someone handed me a Bible tract and I seriously considered all that was presented through the Scriptures in the tract.  I was born into God's family at that time.  A specific birth into a specific family at a specific time.  I quit attending a SS that did not teach the truth and searched for quite a few years until college when someone invited me to a Bible-believing Baptist church which discipled me.

 

[lnf]

As I look back on it now, I believe God was drawing me to Himself when I was a child.  I did not grow up in a "church-attending" family, but I did attend church with friends in my youth.  Frankly, I found the church to be full of hypocrites.

When my father retired from the military and we moved "into retirement", I didn't have occasion to attend church with friends anymore.  At this point in my life, I had "ought against" the church, even though I "believed" in God and prayed regularly.  I counted myself spiritual but not religious...

...And it always bothered me that I wasn't baptized...

When my son was in third grade, he had some trouble with his teacher.  The school he was in wasn't particularly helpful.  So we looked for other options.  We found a Christian school.  We enrolled him, but there was a bit of a problem...they required a pastoral statement.  Well...we couldn't provide one.  So I decided that I would start attending their church so that my son could get a good education.  Little did I know at the time that God would use my son to continue drawing me to Himself!  Six months after I stepped a toe into that church, I was finally baptized!

I remember very clearly the day I walked the aisle.  If I could have been baptized right then, it wouldn't have been soon enough!  As it was, I was told that the Pastor would contact me for a meeting.  So I went home and read Revelation straight through...and waited for my meeting.  Days went by...I called the church...Pastor will call...

Even though I knew that my water baptism was only an act of obedience... even though I knew that I was already saved, I felt a sense of urgency!  I have anticipated this for as long as I can remember...I must do this before I die...and I could die today! 

Well, the end of that story is that I was baptized the following Sunday...and a year to that very day, I was on staff!

Yes, God started drawing me to Himself while I was in my youth...and I finally surrendered when I was 44!

10 years later, I'm still a work in progress, praise be to God!   

 

[ALAYMAN]

How old were you when you were saved?

19 years old, on Easter Sunday 1988 at Lombardsville Community Church.

Were you raised in the church?

Nope.  My mom was saved in a Church of God when I was a toddler, and she is/was a wonderfully sweet person, but I didn't know the gospel nor did I know that she was a Christian until after I got saved.  My dad was a functional alcoholic who indicated a couple of times that he had prayed and gotten prayer answered, but his most spiritual moments were watching the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar while he was drunk.  I don't say that irreverently or disrespectfully.  He would often cry when it came to the scene of the crucifixion, and it is these small dysfunctional and messy memories that help me to hope that he knew Christ as his Saviour.

Did you come to Christ as an adult?

A young adult.  I had witnessed my father killed in a tractor roll-over accident, which had made me take stock of my own absolute inevitable mortality.  I began thinking about going to church to investigate who God really was, but didn't know where to go nor how to evaluate which church was best.  My girlfriend at the time (my wife of 22 years now) had attended church as a little girl so we went where she used to go.  Several weeks later, while the country preacher was proclaiming the gospel via I Corinthians 15:1-4 I reluctantly went to the altar and trusted Christ.  I didn't know it at that moment, but as I was walking the aisle my girlfriend was right behind me and was gloriously saved too!

How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

I was a Nicodemus sort of Christian (a secret reluctant one), and avoided being baptized for over a whopping 10 years. Matter of fact, I dropped off the church scene for about ten years shortly after I was saved.  I hesitantly started going to church with a co-worker again in 1998, and was pretty much doing it out of duty, bored to death when I occasionally attended.  It was in the year 2000 that a young preacher came to our church and God used his preaching to reach me more deeply and we were both baptized.  Since then I have surrendered to teach classes of all ages, become a deacon, treasurer, choir member, etc.  At the same time, my desire for the word, witnessing, and the fruit of the Spirit also increased.  I still haven't "arrived", and none of us have, at least not til we are glorified, but He's still workin' on the buildin', praise His name.

 

[Izdaari]

How old were you when you were saved? Were you raised in the church? Did you come to Christ as an adult? How long did it take you to really "get the hang" of things and develop a good base of knowledge?

I wasn't raised in any church. My parents were Christmas and Easter Christians at best. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 12, in Sunday School at a GARBC church, but I had no support group or much knowledge, so after we moved away I wandered off though confused seekerdom all through my teen years. In retrospect, I think that was God's plan for me, to spur me into learning a lot of things I wouldn't have known otherwise. I came back into the Christian fold at age 21 in college. I haven't always been very active, but I've never stopped believing after I returned. I'm 60 now, Episcopal/Lutheran, and still learning. I'll leave it to those who know me here to decide for themselves whether I have "a good base of knowledge".