In Reply to: Re: Yes, there's more posted by a Christian on March 06, 2005 at 21:01:01:
I was 16 when I met TF. I was raised a Catholic,and was an altar boy for a couple years. I think I was 11 & 12. But my family was from the "wrong side of the tracks". I had a large extended family, and only a few attended church regularly. Our family wasn't consider ed "good Catholic family".
I was very sensitive to hypocracy, and saw that another altar boy, whose family were "good" Catholics, got preferential treatment over me. For example, he always got invited to do weddings, which meant he received monetary gifts for his services. I was never asked to help. That might seem petty, but to a 12 or 13 year-old it's a pretty big deal. At least it was to me. That and other things led me to decide suddenly one day to stop going to Church.
I was a "seeker" though, and was influenced by pop culture, including the stage play Jesus Christ Superstar, and George Harrison's triple album "All Things Must Pass".
I also began experimenting with drugs, primarily pot and acid. I was kind of a loner, and after I had a couple bad "trips," I became even more withdrawn. I was ripe for the picking when TF came to town. I was sitting in a restaurant with a friend who had moved away and had come back to town for a visit. Two guys asked if they could join us and began witnessing to us. After awhile my friend left, but I stayed until the restaurant closed at 3 a.m.
They give me some tracts, including "Mountain Men", I think it was called. It told the story of people climbing out of the valley to the mountain top, where they could clearly see the "truth". I happened to live in a valley town surrounded by mountains, and the tract ended with the sentiment that these people climbing the mountain were tossing down a "life line" to people like me to help them out of the valley.
I went to their home a few days later, and the rest is history. Yes, I was "love-bombed". I was so ignorant and naive, and thought these people were so happy in their poverty that they must have the "truth". Of course, it's not as simple as that. The leader of the home spent about 3 hours with me in a very intense session, countering all of my doubts and feeble efforts to argue with him. I mean, I had no sense of history, or Christianity in general (the Catholic church did a lousy job of teaching me). So after that 3 hour session, I was a goner. Within 3 weeks I dropped out of grade 11 and joined TF.
The obvious question is, of course, where were my parents in all this. Sorry, the full story is for another time. I just wanted to answer your question about the context I was in when I "got saved" and joined.