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© WBS & Dr. Ian A.
Fair
| My
Personal Journey! |
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In 1958 I
was building a new home in my hometown, Pietermaritzburg, Republic of
South Africa. My wife, June, and I had purchased a building plot
in a new subdivision. With the help of my father-in-law we
were building the house ourselves. We learned that an
American Missionary had purchased the new house next to the one we
were building. We did not know what faith he held, only that he
was shortly to move into our community. When he finally
moved into his new home all we could determine was that he was young,
and had two children! Our British South African conservative
background struggled with our inquisitive interest in what he was
doing in South Africa, and in particular, Pietermaritzburg! We
felt that in time we would be formally introduced!
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One late afternoon
toward evening, our new neighbor climbed up onto the roof of our new
house where I was laying tiles on the roof. He introduced
himself as Tex Williams and began passing the tiles on to me.
After a brief interval he asked me what church I attended. The
question did not surprise me. It was the kind of question I
imagined he would ask. I told him the church we attended.
He asked why I attended that church! I thought the question
somewhat strange, and replied "Well, that is the church my
parents attended and where I have grown up." His response
sort of set me back! "Do you think that is a good enough
reason?" I replied somewhat indignantly that I
thought it was! He dropped the discussion right there. We
parted company a few minutes later on friendly terms, but with my
thoughts somewhat troubled! Was my reason not good enough?
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The next day
as I was working on the roof I was again joined by my new
neighbor. This time I thought I would get the upper hand!
I asked him what church he attended. He told me. Expecting
some traditional answer like mine of the day before, I asked him why
he attended that church! His answer not only challenged me, but
also disturbed me. He responded "Because that is the church
I read about in my New Testament!" We discussed this in
some detail, and what I learned that day was that traditional religion
may be OK, but one should have better reasons for faith than family
and tradition, no matter how good family and tradition may be. I
learned that Jesus expected each person to make their own decisions, and
that I could not be saved by the decisions of my parents and their
faith, or the faith of my church, no matter how good that may be. |
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first time, I was seriously challenged to look at my faith which I had
for all my life taken form granted. I had been raised in a good
family, been taken to church as a child, and in many respects lived a
good Christian moral life. But I had never been challenged to
examine my faith in the light of God's Word and the message of Jesus!
I began to realize that I could not be saved on the grounds of my
parents faith or traditional religion. I needed to hear for
myself the call of Jesus and respond to that call myself. I
began to ask myself whether my faith really was a biblical faith or
whether it was perhaps a traditional faith. I was challenged to
rethink what it meant to really believe in Jesus and what God was
doing though him. I was being challenged to re-examine what it
meant to really trust in God and his Son, Jesus, and the message of
salvation I heard from them. I must mention, that I had good God
fearing parents who were later like myself, challenged to rethink
their faith and relationship with Jesus and His Word.
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I found some urgency in
asking myself, "Do I really believe in Jesus? Do I really trust him? Have I been trusting Jesus or perhaps my parents and
my traditional religion?"
This brought me to the
ultimate question I needed to ask myself!
"Am
I really in a saved relationship with Jesus?"
"Am I
saved?"
"Have I really been united with Jesus, or
simply united with my church?
"Is
he really the Lord and King over my life?"
Favor me some
impertinence at this point! May I challenge you to ask yourself
the same questions I needed to ask myself in 1958?
"Is Jesus
really the Lord of your life?"
"Is
your faith a traditional or personal faith, or is it truly a biblical
faith?
"Is you faith the outgrowth of
responding to the saving message and call of God through Jesus?"
"Are you saved?"
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If you are interested in
exploring these questions from a biblical rather than a traditional
perspective, you might like to check out the following links.
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