[The Black Flag]

Well, I'm not sure I can be a help to you on being converted, but I'll try and tell you why I believe, if it helps.

I was raised all my life as Christian, but I would have long forgotten it with how much I changed had I not heard of some very weird things happening to peoople of the faith. I've heard of cancer vanishing with a renewl in faith. I've been told of one man who had aids, he was losing it all, then he gave his self fully to Christ, then, BAM, aids vanishes without a fucking trace. I've seen people be ministered to, be touched, pass out, then come back next sunday and share how they were miraculously healed of some ailment that wasn't going to go away on it's on, or with medicine. Diabetes, BAM, gone. I'm not sure if this happens with other religions, but I know it's happened with mine. My friends critisize me for believing in God, saying he's done all these horrible things to them; My only response: To many things are blamed on God, what men did of their own free will. I've been backstabbed by lots of people, I've been put down by lots of people, but when I pray, and strengthen my own personal relationship with God, I'm not back stabbed, I'm not rediculed for how I look (like so many "Christians" have done to me), I'm not put down, insulted, pushed away, ignored...but I am held up. WHen I pray strongly, I feel a calm feeling come over me, I feel a love that will never go away.

Alot of people say "If GOd is so great, then why does he let all the bad things in the world happen?" God doesn't *let* things happen. He isn't here to stop you from doing something. God doesn't want a world of autonomatons (check my spelling on that), any more then we do. Would you want your gf\bf to love you because you make them, or love you because they want to. I could stop my gf (hypothetical) from cheating on me by keeping her away from guys, but there would always be the fact that she would. So, why not let her be around guys, then feel really loved when I find that she doesn't? And if she does cheat on me, oh well, atleast I won't have a gf faking her feeelings to me. (i hope I was coherent enough in all of this)