Day 8 – Searching for the Truth (Part 1)

Shantal shares her testimony of her search for the truth of religion and God.

“I come from a family of non-believers. We never attended church except for weddings and funerals.

My mother said she was an atheist and so were her siblings. I just took that belief and made it my belief too. But at the age of 16, the thought stirred in me …”What did I really believe?” Do I really believe God doesn’t exist? That was Mom’s belief… but what did I believe?

My family had connections to Islam. My mother’s brother married a Muslim and converted to Islam. Two cousins and my sister also married Muslim men and converted.

As I grew up, I had a thirst for TRUTH. I could not just take for granted that what someone was telling me was TRUTH, no matter what the topic was. I always had to verify the information.

While studying to become a teacher my life was pretty much about partying, clubbing, and drinking. In my first teaching post, I met a Christian female who also started teaching that same year. Her lifestyle intrigued me. She was different. Didn’t smoke, drink, go clubbing and was not sexually active.  Five years into teaching a new principal started at the school. He spoke openly and matter-of-factly about Jesus and his faith. I could ask him questions about things that I wanted and needed to know about God – Like: it bothered me why a God, who was all loving, would choose a group of people and call them His people (Israelites). Didn’t that imply discrimination and favoritism? My principal explained God’s plan for humanity with and through them. It went over my head and only after getting saved did his explanation make sense.

In my quest for TRUTH, I discovered that there are 3 main religions and that 2 of them were based on Judaism beliefs. Christianity and Islam believed in the prophets and their religious beliefs were based on the Torah (the Jewish religious book). I discovered that these beliefs were in the first few books of the Bible. I also discovered that the people in the Torah and Bible were also in the Quran and that the major difference between the 3 religions was that one didn’t believe the Messiah had come yet (Jews), one believed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and His Resurrection power (Christianity) and Islam believes Jesus is a prophet but not the Son of God. They acknowledge Him but only as a prophet. They don’t believe He died and rose 3 days later. I also discovered that Islam’s prophet Mohammad only came hundreds of years after Jesus had died and rose again.

 Did I have to believe in Jesus or Mohammad or the Jewish beliefs?

I went to a fortune teller because I had heard that she had converted to Islam. I wanted to know why. How did she know that that was the religion to accept? Her explanation did not appease me. What she told me I didn’t feel was what I could believe in.”  To be continued…

Prayer: Father, so often we accept beliefs without searching for the truth for ourselves. I pray that whoever doubts Your existence be encouraged by this testimony and search for the truth because the Truth will set you free.