Background Information

In my first official post I would like to publicly proclaim that I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that He died for my sins, and through His sacrifice I have salvation because I confessed my sin and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. That's the essence of it.

I would also like to tell you that God is real in my life, and that's a rare find among a lot of Christians today. I love God. I love talking to God. When I don't talk to Him for a while I miss God. I feel His blessings in my life and value His leadership and control over it. I'm sad when I disappoint God. But often I struggle with fighting sin (like any believer). Especially in those areas of life that are grey or pose a fine line between sin and purity.

My background is very different from anyone who'd call me a peer. This makes me a controversial addition to any church or bible study...  And a very inconvenient one in most cases. But I don't care. Because my point in life is to obey God, and not to please people. I grew up in a Russian Baptist church until I was 10, at which point my family moved to the United States to work at an Assembly's of God bible college. Most students came from Pentecostal churches, so I was immersed in everything Pentecostal for the next 7 years. For the past 4 years I've been attending a Reformed Calvinist church by the title of Mars Hill on a regular basis. So my point of view on God and His Word is drastically different from most people I meet.

I thirst for God's truth, and desire to back any convictions up by His word. Whenever I see people messing with biblical doctrine, it makes me mad. And gives me a good opportunity to love and forgive. Which, unfortunately, I often pass on. Once in a while I like to play the "Devil's Advocate," which people in secure Christian bubbles tend to take radically bad. My point is not to offend, but to make people aware there might be other points of view to consider.

I find it easy to love non-believers. I find it hard to love a lot of my brothers and sisters in Christ. But I am aware of the problem, and am praying for an even bigger overflow of God's love in my life, so that there's enough for annoying "know-it-alls" as well.

I don't know or claim to know everything. I have A LOT of questions about the bible, actually. And I hate when people try to extract my opinion on something I don't have one on yet. I just don't feel like I need to have an opinion on everything. I am easy to convince when presented with logical evidence backed up by The Word. And I like to base my own opinions on that as well. This said, if one has already formed, there's very little chance you'll change it, because it's most likely based on years of research, praying, and looking for an answer. But if it hasn't formed... Don't ask me to answer tricky questions looking solely for wrong vocabulary to comment on to prove your point. That's not loving. And your point will not be taken seriously.

Let's see, what else...  I think that about covers it. With this knowledge, feel free to comment, dispute, and state your opinion on anything I post. Just remember that the only commandment God has left us in the new testament is to LOVE....