by Thomas Berntsen

Created on: January 19, 2009

When people ask me about how I can remain strong in my Faith and how I can put my hope in Jesus, I often share with them my testimony, which I shared on the day of my own baptism. I would like to share this testimony with all of you today.

I come from a Norwegian background, and as such I was born into the Norwegian state church, the Lutheran Evangelical Church, and thus I was raised in Christian beliefs, so it is hard for me to imagine a life before becoming a Christian as such. In some way or other, I have always had my Christian belief system present in my life. However, I would distinguish between having Christian beliefs, and having complete Faith. There is a difference between believing, and in putting all your Hope in Christ. And describing my life before reaching a complete Faith in the Lord is something I can do.

Growing up was a tough experience for me and I was often troubled by doubts as to the presence of God and Christ in my life. Sure, I believed, or at least wanted to believe, but I often found it hard to see Christ's presence in life. I was often discouraged and disillusioned by how bad things' were happening in my life, and how I was taught what to believe when what I was taught ran contrary to my own experiences. I grew up believing in Christ, but yet feeling so lost and detached from Christ's presence. I did not have Hope. There were too many events and circumstances that I had to question why occurred. This led me to start questioning not only the circumstances of my own life, but also to question the teachings of the church I belonged to, and soon I found myself if not outwardly rebelling against organized religion, at least taking a strong standpoint against organized religion. I would argue that every human being was created with free will and thus was free to seek out information and then make educated choices with regard to what he or she believed, and that it would be wrong for organized religion to force beliefs upon people.

Eventually, this led me down a path of seeking such mentioned information, and exploring the processes underlying human nature and Divine nature. I ventured in studying and learning about the principles that exist in the microcosm and the macrocosm, and I was often amazed at how I could see the signs of Divine presence in the areas I studied and the world around me. Through this I slowly found Faith. I'm not sure if too many people have read my short articles published occasionally, but I once defined Faith as

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