Introduction
Warren grew up attending church with his family but never studied the Bible. He was just "going through the motions" of religion. One day a co-worker ignited his interest to search for truth by giving Warren a glimpse of God's plan of salvation from the Bible. As a result, Warren came to faith in Jesus Christ and experienced a sudden, radical change in behavior that almost ended his marriage.Warren's true story is one of many uniquely featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by Christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it. Submit your testimony by filling out this Submission Form. To receive weekly messages of hope and encouragement from real-life stories of changed lives, sign up for eTestimonies.
Warren's Search for Truth
My spiritual birthday story begins when I was in grade school. I went to a parochial school from the first to the eighth grades. During this time, I learned a lot about the Ten Commandments and Bible stories. While I believed the historical facts about Jesus, I was in a religion that relied on the sacraments for salvation. The result was that, by the time I reached eighth grade, I felt as though I had failed in this religious system.The seeds of a dilemma had taken root in my life: I knew there was a God; I knew I was a sinner; I knew there was a judgment day coming when I died; I did not know how to get right with God to prepare for that day.
By the time I reached high school, I confessed to my father that I was not getting anything out of going to church. My dad has always been an independent thinker. He advised me to read some books, go to other churches to search for what I was missing in my relationship with God. I did read some books and took a course called "Man, Religion & Society" in college. The very first day of this course the professor introduced himself and said, "I challenge anyone here to debate me on the Bible. It is a book full of myths and contradictions!"
This shocked me since I had never been exposed to someone who did not respect the Bible. I realized with shame that, while I had attended a parochial school for eight years, I did not know what the Bible said. I had not even read one chapter of one book in the Bible. Nobody challenged this professor but this event made me aware of my ignorance of the Bible.
A Visit from the Gideons
I fell in love and married Diane while I was in graduate school. Shortly after we moved into our first house, our first child, Mindy, was born. A few months later, I opened the front door and found two small green books between the storm and inner front door. I read the cover and it said, "New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs." It was from some organization called the Gideons. I decided to keep them but just put them on the shelf.
A few weeks later, a deacon from a Bible church named Joe was hired where I worked. Shortly thereafter, he and I were assigned to drive from Milwaukee to New Orleans in a truck to do some work together. Before we left, he asked me if I would like to do a Bible study. My first reaction was that this guy was some sort of religious fanatic but then I remembered my ignorance of the Bible and said, "I'll think about it."
As I packed to leave for the trip, I remembered the New Testaments on the shelf and thought, "I would really like to find out what the Bible is all about."
We were not more than 50 miles down the road when Joe took out his Bible and opened it to Romans 3:10, 23. "There is no one righteous, not even one ... for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (NIV) This spoke to me since I knew I was a sinner.
Then he went to Romans 5:8 and said, "But God demonstrates his own toward us in, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (NASB) I could easily follow this since I had been taught from my childhood that Jesus died for all of mankind.
Finally, he turned to Romans 6:23 and read, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NIV) The first half of this verse I definitely knew was true of myself since I was convinced I had a sin problem that was worthy of punishment. However, the second half of the verse hit me like a thunderbolt. I had never before heard that Jesus would give eternal life as a gift.
