How I changed my Mind

Ashley [Español] Qué opinión tenías antes de los cristianos y de la iglesia? Yo creía que la gente blanca era católica, y la gente negra bautista. No tenía una opinión; eso es lo único que creía. No sabía que hubiera alguien que realmente leyera la Biblia, ni alguien a quien le importara Dios. No sabia que existe algo así, porque nunca fui expuesta a eso. En la escuela tal vez tenía que leer la Biblia en la clase de religión, pero no me importaba para nada, y nunca me afectó. Nunca pensé en religión sinceramente. Estaba con la mente cerrada. Por qué cambiaste tu opinión? Jesús me hizo cambiar de opinión. Fui a la universidad y veía que la gente leía la Biblia, y amaba a Jesús, y me di cuenta de que Jesús es una persona real que afectó la historia humana. Una persona o reconoce esto, o lo ignora, pero yo no podía seguir ignorándolo. Termin é asistiendo a esa universidad porque jugaba softball, y entr é a jugar allí. Era una universidad pequeña...

Ashley [English] What was your opinion of Christians, and of the church? I thought that white people were Catholic and Black people were baptist. I didn’t have an opinion; that’s just what I thought. I didn’t know that anyone really read the Bible, nor cared about God. I didn’t know that was a thing. I’d never been exposed to that. In school we maybe had to read the Bible in religion class, but I could care less, and it never affected me. I never even thought of other religions honestly, I was just very closed-minded. Why did you change your mind? Jesus caused me to change my mind. I went to college and saw that people read the Bible, and loved Jesus, and that he was a real person who actually affected human history. A person either acknowledges this, or ignores it, but I couldn’t just go on ignoring that. I ended up at that college because I played softball, and I made the team there. It was a mall school so I thought that ...

Mariana Qué opinión tenías antes de los cristianos y de la iglesia? Estaba buscando a Dios. Fui a varias iglesias: bautista, con los mormones, p entecostal , católica , carismática, pero bueno, no me encontraba, o sea no me hallaba, nunca. Por qué? Porque miraba a los hombres. O sea, yo veía las actitudes, el actuar de las personas, y como que me desilusionó. Después, cuando entendí que el modelo es Jesús- allí ya cambió. Porque generalmente cuando vas a una iglesia, miras a las personas. Y ya cuando una persona no actúa como debería actuar, ya te desilusionas, y te vas, te alejas. Entonces buscas otra, a ver que onda….buscas otra, y así. Hoy aprendí a mirar a Jesús. Influyó alguien en tu decisión de creer? Una mamá amiga. Tuvimos una historia en común. Y ella vivía en La Rioja, yo también . Nos encontramos acá en Buenos Aires, en el jardín de los chicos. Esta mama tuvo problemas difíciles, groso. Ella se congregó en una iglesia, y después con el corre...

Mariana Before becoming a Christian, what was your opinion of Christians, and of the church? I was searching for God. I went to several churches- Baptist, Mormon, Pentecostal, Catholic, Charismatic......but I never found God. I couldn't ever discover who He was. Never. Why not? Because I was looking at the people. I saw the attitudes and actions of the people, and I was left disappointed. Later, when I understood that the model is Jesus, everything changed. Because generally, when you go to a church, you look at the people, and when one person doesn't act like he or she should, you get discouraged and you leave. So, I would look for a different church, to see what was new, and then another, and so on… Today, I learned to look at Jesus. Who influenced your decision to believe? A fellow mom. We had a lot in common- we were both from La Rioja. We met here in Buenos Aires, at the kids’ school. This mom was going through difficult situations, and started...

What did you believe about God before becoming a Christian? Before believing in God, I was an atheist, I didn’t believe that God existed. At times I believed that there was a heaven and a hell. So maybe I accepted that there was a God as well, but only because I came from a Catholic family- supposedly. What was your opinion of Christians, and of the church? First, Christians didn’t even matter to me, because I didn’t know any. Later, I started to hear stories about tithes and offerings and all of that, so I thought that Christians were stupid for paying offerings to other people. And people, at least in my family and my crowd, always said bad things about Christians. Later, some of my friends from school became Christians, and they changed completely. Before, they drank a lot, and after they didn’t drink even one drop of alcohol. I started to think that church brainwashed them. So the idea I had about church still wasn’t good. Why did you change your mind? Tha...

Qu é creías con respeto a Dios antes? Antes de creer en Dios, era ateo, o sea, no creía que Dios existía. A veces creía que había un cielo y un infierno. Entonces capaz aceptaba que había un Dios, pero porque fui formado en una familia católica , mas o menos, ponele. Qué opinión tenías antes de los cristianos y de la iglesia? Primero, no me importaban, porque ni los conocía. Después, empece a escuchar historias de las ofrendas y todo eso. Entonces me parecía gente tonta que pagaba a otras personas. Y siempre, por lo menos en mi familia y en mi entorno, se hablaba mal de ellos, justamente por el tema del diezmo. Después algunos amigos míos del colegio se convirtieron al Señor, y cambiaron mucho. Antes tomaban muchísimo, y después no tomaban ni una gota de alcohol. Entonces empecé a pensar que la iglesia les lavaba el cerebro. Así que no tenía una buena imagen de la iglesia. Por qu é cambiaste tu opinión ? Pregunta complicada. Empecé a ir a la...

What was your opinion of Christians, and of the church? Before, I was Catholic. I was baptized as a baby, but I didn't understand much of what was said. I had relatives who were Evangelicals, but they were very extreme. For example, you couldn't watch TV or read magazines, and to have so many prohibitions is not good because God, from my point of view, is not like that. He teaches you to love, like Jesus does. So I used to think that Evangelical Christians were fanatical and closed to society. And I didn't like that. I didn't ever like Catholicism either because I felt that the people were hypocrites- they would beat their chests, thinking that going to church and praying the rosary would heal them of their sins, but they never truly repented. I saw the same people do the same rituals every year- going to the Virgin, but they continued sinning, continued treating others badly, continued cheating on their partners. So I said to myself, "Wh...