Manning345 Loc: Richmond, Virginia

Writing about one's self is not the most fun one can have, but here goes. My name is Mann, and I am of advanced age, born in 1930, which makes me over 86 today. I have had a fruitful 43-year career in military systems engineering for several large defense contractors. I retired in 2000 and began my quest to define and write down my worldview in as simple terms as possible. After an outline that took 10 pages, and a draft that took 169 pages, I have begun to revise the whole mess, which involves a lot of reading, and a lot of rethinking. There have been a few signposts along the way that have steered me in the direction of Christianity. The first one was Natural Law/Rights/Duties. The concept of natural Law led me to Thomas, and a number of other Natural Law adherents such as George, Finnis, and several others. They in turn led me to trace the concepts back to what is perhaps their Biblical origins (or even earlier), that of Agape, the Decalogue, and the Golden Rule. Viewed as a system, the conception of Thomas made sense to me, but in the end, posed the ultimate question: should I place my faith in an unseen Trinitarian God? This I have done. Do I have doubts? Yes! I have sought out the proofs of God's existence, including the five set forth by Thomas, one by Anselm, and a few other tries. but none of these logic forays seem to hit the mark for me. Thus it seems logical to say that to become a Christian, I needed to make a great leap of faith and embrace that which the religious proponents offer. So I am working on it still...

PeterS

Welcome and good luck with the rest...

viking747

Welcome aboard. You can find this interesting sometimes challenging and maybe disgusting. There are many very intelligent and interesting people. God Bless you

Quakerwidow Loc: Chestertown, MD

Welcome

Randy131 Loc: Florida

Seek and you shall find, which you've seemed to have done, now it's time to take pilgrimages to religious sites of occurences. In the 1990s there were many "apparitiopn sites" all around the world which miracles were happening, and traveling to them, seeking out what you were looking for, you usually and accidently became involved in those miracles, but atlas that all stopped in 2000, and I don't know why. But there are a few of those places that sometimes miraculous things are still happening. Scientific methodlogy is postulating theory, and then set up experments over and over again to test the results, and if they are all the same, and agree and prove your theory, then it becomes a law of nature. people don't actually realize this, but that testing has occurred naturally with life-after-death experiencesy, since they have all resulted in the same events over and over again, proving themselves to be authentic, look at some of them to learn even more. There is much in the physical world that GOD gives us to help our faith, we just need to recognize them and take advantage of those occurences as added knowledges and experiences. Good luck on your search to recognize this and the miracles in clear sight right under our noses.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Welcome, Manning345.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Let's see if I may be of assistance. Sounds like you might really like watching the YouTube videos of a Mr Chuck Missler. Your about the same age and background and I think he'll be able to give you some more reasons to have faith you chose correctly. Plus he knows the word and can explain it much better than me.

maureenthannon

Manning345, Welcome. You might want to read "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell. This book has much of the evidence you seem to be seeking to help you get past the doubts to the fact of Jesus, His life, love and ressurrection. It's always good to have believers in the chat rooms. It'll be great communicating with and sharing opinions with you. GOD bless you!!

saltwind 78 Loc: Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

Manning, Isn't freedom of religion a great thing. I am a conservative Jew who likes to study other religions. I went to a Protestant undergraduate college and studied in a Jesuit University for my graduate credits. I have been attracted to Buddhism. The philosophy of the Buddha is awe inspiring. I can be a Buddhist and a Jew at the same time, because neither contradict each other. Well the do in some of the finer points of theology. But in reality Judaism teaches an appropriate way to live and pray, Buddhism tells us how to achieve being a better person and a happier one.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

The Case for Jesus by Lee Strobel is also excellent. I know advice is free and it may be worth what you pay for it, nothing. A lot of people have two common stumbling blocks 1) giants 2) miracles. You can't believe the New Testament w/o believing the OT. The reason God told Josuha to totally wipe out certain tribes was because they had corrupted DNA, half human (God created) and Nephilem DNA (Lucifer made). God created the world and everything in it. If He can do that, it isn't unreasonable to believe an ax head can float, a mule can speak, or the dead can live again. Prepared to be amazed as you start your journey, I've been reading and studying the Bible for about fifty years. I haven't even scratched the surface of what is overt and covert in this marvelous book dictated to chosen men across thousands of years just for you. There are hidden Bible codes. If you know Hebrew there are even more secrets to find. There are @ 2500 prophecies in the Bible and @ 2000 have come to pass. We are very near the final roundup and many Chinese and Muslims are having dreams and vision and coming to Christ. So thrilled you have made the decision to follow Christ. God says the good angels rejoice whenever a person does this. When you get around to studying the Jewish wedding... it's about Jesus coming to get His bride. When you read about the Exodus, it's about Jesus shedding His blood for you... everything in the old and new testament is about Jesus. I love the joke about scientist running up to God with a test tube saying they had created life, God says hand me my dirt then see if you can do it. They can only use what God has already provided. They simply made something, they didn't create anything...:) If you want to maybe overdose on recent discoveries go to YouTube and watch some videos by Ron White, Bob Cornuke, Chuck Missler, Steve Quayle, L. A. Marzulli, and many others. Some of my favorite sites are SkywatchTV, NowYouSeeTV, Perry Stone, Carl Gallops. Just be careful because there are many false preachers like Benny Hinn, T D Jakes, and name it and claim it charlatans who will entertain you while they rob you. Hope I've been a blessing. JW

Manning345 Loc: Richmond, Virginia

I really appreciate the advice all of you have welcomed me with, and I have begun to explore the people you all suggested. It seems that many discussions on here are between conservatives and liberals(if not progressives, whom I take to be either socialist or communist hiding under that label). I have been a conservative all my life, it seems, and strongly believe in following Jesus and walking with God as the best way to live. The one thing I do not like is that those elected to high office often do not live up to their promises--from either party. But those who would change our Constitution radically, or actually bypass it will receive my worst condemnation!

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Your welcome and now I will back off the free advice, as it sounds that you are me, ha, exactly my opinion.

Manning345 Loc: Richmond, Virginia

Thanks for the Chuck Missler referral, I have enjoyed his Genesis presentations...so far! He has over 20 odd ours of it! I think I am on Day Six now!

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Chuck is about to be promoted to heaven, he lives in New Zeland now, his first assistant is doing his podcast. He has richly blessed my life with his teachings.

saltwind 78 Loc: Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

Manning, I think its very hard to balance faith with scientific understanding. I have managed to do so, but I had to go beyond my religion, and look at God in a different way. We need to take a closer look, and take into account the new knowledge we have since the 1950s. We now know that the universe is a much, much larger place than we first thought. There may be an unlimited number of universes. To me, that means that God is far more powerful than we first gave him credit for being. The third testament will be about physics, and how God used it to create reality.