I became a Christian six years ago in my mid twenties and most Christian blokes in my situation know what it’s like – with agonising frequency my mates would always ask me in the most remorseful way about why I became a Christian “Why mate, why? What are you doing?”

It’s the same tone they used when they were asking me why I had decided to get married. I guess they also think they are ‘losing’ a good mate.

But, six years on, we are all still mates.

Firstly, I told them that I haven’t lost my mind, gone all soft nor taken a blind leap of faith.

Most people who knew me well enough knew that I’d like to consider myself a fairly intelligent man so I was determined to investigate Christianity intellectually with a healthy dose of logic and scepticism. I don’t usually do things in halves so I took my approach very seriously to investigate the truth about God.

For a bit of background, I reckon I had spent most of my life not wanting to own up to the truth about God. I liked my life the way it was and didn’t want the truth to change it. I propped myself up thinking I was a good enough bloke and that was near enough to good enough with God.

Through life when I got sick or had any number of personal crises I would always shamelessly pray to God for help, but when times were good God could remain ‘over there’. As life became more and more difficult and complex as I got older I knew this type of charade was unsustainable. I had to wake up and sort it out.

Finally, things came to a head when I got back from what I regard as my ‘coming-of-age’ back-packing trip around Europe when I was 25. I decided that when I got back I would sort myself out, settle down, grow up and do the unthinkable and possibly get married. I also decided that this process involved finding out once and for all about God, Jesus and the Church. I thought that if I was to grow up I should face up to the truth like a man.

So I decided to start at the most recognisable source – I started reading the bible. Here’s where I hit a little snag; I thought I could read it just like a normal book, begin at Chapter one and will get the gist of things in the conclusion at the last page – job done!

After the first few chapters I realised I was going to need some help to figure out how to read this thing properly because most of it went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Anyone who has tried to read the Old Testament cold turkey should know what I am talking about.

Fortunately I had a Christian friend who steered me in the direction of a bible based church which had a good variety of resources to help me learn properly.

After a while I did learn the truths about God.

I learned that God is very real and that He is the creator of the universe. He made this world and He made me.

I had been ignoring and rejecting God which highlighted the fact that I am a sinner and unfortunately I would be one for the rest of my life.

The only way that I could be forgiven by God was to put my faith in the fact that God sent His one and only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross as payment for all my sins, past, present and future.

Also, God raised Jesus from the dead to reign as Lord and Saviour of us all.

I hope that my story might encourage some of you out there who like I did, feel that they should sort it out.

So please give it a go and investigate God and Jesus Christ for yourself, don’t just take my word for it.

I became a Christian because it makes perfect sense, it’s the truth, and my life depends on it.

– Shane Prior

I grew up in Rangoon, Burma until the age of 12. Like most people there, I was a nominal Buddhist. I followed the adults to the temples and pagodas & worshipped & paid respects to god, Buddha, monks, and ancestors. I had no idea what and who I was praying to except that I was told to do what was good else I’d be punished in hell.

I didn’t give too much thought about god or religion in my highschool years after my family migrated to Sydney. School work and sporting activities took up much of my time. At university, I started asking questions about my faith and the beliefs I grew up with.

One day, I met a person at a party who invited me to find out what Christianity was about. I thought to myself that there was nothing I could lose by going along and listening to what the Bible had to say.

After I attended some bible study sessions, I realised that following the Christian faith made sense to me. That there is a God and he does not live in temples and pagodas and is not represented by statues made by men.

This God loves me and takes interest in my life just like my parents. It didn’t stop there because He was concerned not only with my life in this world but beyond that. He knew that there was nothing I can do by my own efforts for me to be reunited with Him after my life in this world. He cared enough for me that He came back to rescue me even though I was far away from Him and there was no hope for me even if I tried my hardest.

After I accepted Jesus Christ into my life, I was still not perfect and righteous. In a way, it was harder being a Christian because I was aware of the things which I do that did not please God. But now, I have the assurance that I have been forgiven of my ignorance and rebellion against Him. I also have something to look forward to when my life ends in this world.

Now that I’ve been given this assurance, I’d like to share the experience with my family and friends so that they too can come to know and be reunited with their heavenly Father before their lives end in this world.

We have all been given a choice to receive the gift of eternal life by following Christ or to ignore it and receive the consequence of eternal separation from God and all things that are good. We have also been given plenty of time to find out about our creator so we are without excuse when we face God on the Judgement Day. (For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse). Romans 1:20

– Bernard Lee

I grew up in a Christian family and we went to church regularly. This was a ‘way of life’ for me, as it was all I ever new. I always thought I was a Christian because I went to church every week and I was a good person. I guess I was a “Christian by association” to a degree.

It wasn’t until I was 15 and I went to a youth camp offered by our church that my thinking changed. One of the speakers there talked about our need as individuals, to ask God for forgiveness for all our wrongdoings. He spoke about God’s son, Jesus, who had given his life for us in place of our rebelliousness from God.

It was then that I realised that even though I thought I would go to heaven because I was a ‘good person’, I was just as sinful as everyone else in this world and I was just as responsible for putting Jesus on the cross to die. I asked God to forgive me and thanked him for sending his son Jesus in place of my sin. From that point on, I decided that I would put Jesus first in my life and follow him.

Now I am thankful to be back in a relationship with God. I would be lying if I said that everything is now easy, as it’s not. It takes a lot of effort to try and be more like Jesus, God’s son, but at least I know that despite my wrongdoings in the past, and no doubt more wrongdoings in the future, God has forgiven me and I have the assurance that I will be with him for eternity when I die.

– Meredith Jacobs