Q1. (Ephesians 1:7) In what sense have you been "redeemed" from slavery? What do you think your life up to now would have been like, if you hadn't been redeemed? What would your future be like without redemption, do you think?
So many of the previous answers reflect my situation. I became aware of the love of Jesus when I was about seven, however, John 3:16 didn't make sense to me and my family members could not explain to me the purpose of Christ's death on the cross. I could say the verse but didn't realize the spiritual depth of the verse. From the time of seven, I considered myself a Christian and attended church services regularly with my family, my spiritual knowledge was lacking for too many years. Later I was baptized and still could not answer the important question. Subsequently, during my early teens I drifted from the Church and remained distanced until I enlisted in the Air Force and took Roman Catholic Instruction and was later baptized. Drifted into serious sin again while serving overseas. When I returned to the U.S., I was chastised severely following confession and again drifted from the Church. For several years I wallowed in sensuality and alcohol. However, the desperateness of my situation came home to me during the viewing of a secular movie, "The Color Purple", when the wayward daughter of a pastor, after spending
Saturday night in a saloon, while walking past her father's church on Sunday morning, heard the choir singing, "God is trying to tell you something." I was immediately convicted by the Holy Spirit and realized that God had also been trying to tell me something over the years. Subsequently, I joined the Salvation Army and during the instruction, my mentor explained that the Person, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh and equal to the Father, was the only One with the credentials to right the wrong I and all mankind had committed against Holy God. Only the sacrifice of God in the Flesh could pay the debt of humankind's sin. Through the sacrifice of my Savior, Jesus Christ, has released me from the bondage of sin, slavery and death. Hallelujah. What a wonderful God we have. Without Jesus Christ, my life would be pointless.
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