Answer Me This

Jan 15

Written By Tony Stanford

The Back Story: I was raised in church since birth. At the age of nine, I went down to the alter for salvation. Even at that age and before, I found the Bible and theology very interesting.

In my teenage years, I had a friend who was an intellect and took on an atheistic mindset. He would say, Answer me this, and ask me questions about God and religion and challenge my beliefs. My answers, he would rip apart and destroy. So, I sought help from Sunday school teachers and such. The answers they gave me, he would rip apart and destroy. Then, I went to the pastor for answers. Again, my friend would rip apart and destroy those answers as well. This became very problematic and upsetting to me. It caused me to doubt God and religion. I would have turned atheist myself if it weren’t for the fact that I had a relationship with God and had experienced Him. I knew God was real!

At seventeen, an erroneous teaching I had been taught my whole life brought me to a crossroad in my faith. If I had sin in my life, I was going to go to hell. And I had sin in my life. I worked on the Sabbath and therefore guilty of breaking the Ten Commandants. So, as I had been taught, I was going to go to hell. And if I was going to go to hell, then I was going to make sure I deserved it. With remorse, I walked away from church and God.

In my early twenties, I went back to church and rededicated my life to God again. I told God, I wanted answers. Not superficial, fluff answers, that the church taught, but real and solid answers that the “world” would accept. And so I began to read and study the Bible and God began to teach me.