Missy (Mary Carolyn) Robinson:  

When I’m looking for a product review, the reviews I appreciate the most are from product users who write a follow-up to a previous review—a review indicating how the product has held up over time. The following is a sort of follow-up review on my life as a Believer in Jesus. Many of you know that sometime during high school my life took an about-face and I became a somewhat vocal (some might say rabid) believer in Jesus. Anyone I offended, please accept my apology :-). Diplomacy and tact have never been my strong suits… By the age of 14, I had questioned and pondered and deliberated whether I believed that some sort of god or supreme being existed. I came to a logical conclusion that the establishment of order in the universe (including inviolable laws of nature such as gravity, entropy, etc.) provided enough evidence to assert a supernatural existence. A quick delving into the religions of the world established enough foundation to indicate that there must be only one god (the idea of a multiplicity of gods that were basically dueling for control was illogical—where was the order, the logic in that?). With that point established, I assumed that my spiritual quest was complete, that I would live my life out as a morally decent person, giving occasional obeisance to one God, Creator. In high school a good friend, Dianne, introduced us, God and me, and I learned that there was a lot more to this God than I ever imagined. Even though I worked at being a good person, I still felt guilty, as if a nebulous noxious vapor were ever present. Dianne explained that the ‘vapor’ was, in a way, real. It was the subconscious recognition of sin in my life. In order to know God, to really know Him, that sin had to be dealt with because God is a holy and righteous God. That made sense to me so far. Dianne said that Jesus was the Son of God (yes, I’d heard that in Sunday School but how did He fit in, really?). She explained something about sin and the Cross and dying and resurrection and faith in Him. I didn’t understand it, it sounded oblique and weird and garbled in my head. For months she returned to the subject of sin and that Jesus had paid the price (huh?) and I just had to trust that He had taken the penalty I deserved (huh?). Eventually I heard what she’d been sa...Expand for more