A lapsed Slovenian Catholic, Maj was a darwinist, who struggled with the questions of pain and suffering and the purpose of life. A casual recommendation from a friend opens the way for a meticulous search for answers.

<p>A lapsed Slovenian Catholic, Maj was a darwinist, who struggled with the questions of pain and suffering and the purpose of life. A casual recommendation from a friend opens the way for a meticulous search for answers.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Adverum Productions

Journeys Season 1

Christopher Laubscher

Should Christians Have Ecstatic Experiences?: Christopher’s Journey

Dan Millares

Searching for the Meaning of Life: Dan’s Journey

Cacyne Hernehult

Searching for True Love: Cacyne’s Journey

Maj Oblak

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

Miikael Volkonski

I Would Never Become a Christian: Miikael’s Journey

Jan Haugg

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

Conrad Whitaker

Beyond Rituals and Crucifixes: Conrad’s Journey

Samuel Jacobsen

Escape From New Age and the Paranormal: Samuel’s Journey

Grace Rose

Finding Peace at Last: A Miraculous Journey

Jonas Nygard

Hungry for More: Jonas’ Journey

Albert Jurgens

Learning to Trust the Bible: Albert’s Journey

Chris Berger

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey


If you told me 10 years ago that this easygoing, gliding through life kind of guy who believed in Darwinian evolution and barely believed that God existed would later become a Bible-based Christian and be baptized in a freezing mountain lake I would tell you no way no way don't believe a word of it my name is Maioblack I was born into a Catholic family, albeit a nominal 1. So I was baptized at the age of 2. At the age of 7 I received my first communion after going to Sunday school for about a year. But since nobody encouraged me to go on from there, that's when my Catholicism stopped. I still grew up with Catholic traditions though, such as crossing oneself before a meal, not eating meat on Good Friday.

I always believed there was someone above us, that this life was not all there was. But I didn't have any good reasons for believing that. My reasons were actually solely based on emotions. It was an emotional response to people dying, to the meaninglessness of life, if it's destined to end. Going through school we were taught that Darwinian evolution was the paradigm of life but this drew me away from faith because we were led to believe that everything even our origins can be explained without invoking God so well, sure we've got injustice in life, we've got pain and suffering but life's like this a grim picture The best thing to do was just to stop thinking about it.

If there is no God, it's pointless Just amuse yourself Go to the movies, do whatever you have to do to stop thinking about that your life is eventually going to end If he doesn't exist then there is no strict moral code in life. So I could pick for myself what was wrong and what was right. I could suit myself. In 1 instance I could love something and in another instance I could condemn it basically because above us only sky my view of life could best resonate with the words of Axel Rose when he said nobody understands quite why we're here searching for answers that never appear and in another song he said It's been such a long time since I knew right from wrong It's all the means to an end, I keep it moving along Then there's the movie industry and 1 of the quotes which stood out above all the rest was that of a fictional character called Agent Smith. He would say your life has taught me the purpose of all life.

The purpose of life is to end now I never was a suicidal person don't get me wrong but what part of this statement could I disagree with? If we are born into a meaningless life where the only thing that was bound to happen to everyone was death, well then that was the answer to all the philosophical dilemmas, or so I thought at that time. Of all the subjects in school, I always preferred the natural sciences over the humanities. We had a very interesting chemistry teacher who would engage us in logical thinking during his classes. So I kind of liked chemistry back then, so that's why I applied for pharmacy later on.

When I was about halfway through the university I had a I had a chat with with 1 of my friends. He would give me a link to a lecture titled 100 reasons why evolution was stupid, because we had an argument about whether evolution was right, whether it was scientific or not, and he would argue that it wasn't. And finally he gave me this link by a Southern Baptist preacher. And when I read the title I would say to myself, What screwhead would be dumb enough to attack 1 of the most revered scientific theories? But okay, I always love me some challenge, so let's hear it out turned out I was wrong.

It wasn't crazy at all. It was eye-opening. So, for the next year or so, I would listen to both sides of this debate, of the controversy. I would read countless articles. I would listen to scientists, to philosophers, to philosophers of science, and I came to a conclusion that it really was just a made-up story.

It was not supported by scientific facts but rather just a wishful thinking now I was confronted with this evidence-based argument that God not only exists but created the universe, created the earth created us humans and so I had no other choice but to declare myself a believer in God. My next step in this long journey was again methodical. I looked to Hinduism, too many gods I thought. Then I turned to Islam. The Quran actually accepts the validity of the Bible, so in any case you could read the Bible even though you wanted to study the Quran.

But 1 thing that sort of convinced me was that Quran and the Bible disagree on a vital point and that is the crucifixion of Jesus. But this event, that Jesus died on the cross, is 1 of the well-established facts of the literature of antiquity. So it was quite a big hit, in my opinion, for the validity of the Koran. So what about the Bible, I thought? Well, firstly, I was confronted with the empty tomb of Jesus, his post-mortem appearances and the transformation of his disciples who claimed to have seen the risen Lord.

And after careful study of these historical facts I came to the conclusion that the best explanation was that God raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus himself He didn't seem to me as a liar or a lunatic. When you read his life story, those 3 and a half years when he ministered to the world, He could see that whatever he taught, he also practiced himself. He was humble, but he was firm. So, I was just captivated by his character. Then I found out about Bible prophecy, specific statements written hundreds of years in advance before they were fulfilled and many of these prophecies were fulfilled by this Jesus of Nazareth.

I have not come across any other book that would have statements so specific written even thousands of years before the actual events happened And this sort of cemented my belief in the Bible as being the word of God, that it was able to predict the future. And so I came to accept Jesus as my Savior. I found my Lord and my God. I could not hold back the joy that had built up within me. But even though I stated it and I believed it, I still needed some time to build up my trust in Him.

From here on, I got more and more confused about certain Bible passages. And that is because every preacher, every speaker would just explain it in their own way. It was just like passing 1 belief for another, you know, it was a mess. But the turning point was when I started listening to preachers like Doug Batchelor and the difference was that they backed everything they preached from the Bible so whenever I would check what they were saying I always found out it was spot on the Bible. That was a turning point for me.

Then 1 day I came across Doug's lecture about the Lord's Day being the Sabbath. I had to see that lecture. I mean who in his right mind would still Observe the Old Testament Jewish holiday, so I thought to myself let's have some fun. I've seen some strange sermons and why not add another 1 to the pile of nonsense I've listened to so far but again Doug used the Bible and the Bible alone to show that the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, was the true Lord's Day from cover to cover. And it surprised me that there are still Christians today that keep the seventh day Sabbath.

That got me thinking, if Saturday is the Lord's Day, then only the Sabbath keepers keep all the 10 Commandments of God Because the the fourth commandment says to keep holy the Sabbath day, which is the seventh day of the week. That is Saturday So I wanted to know what church Doug Batchelor belonged to. And it turned out he was a Seventh-day Adventist. 1 day I googled Adventisti sedme gadne, Just literally like that, which translated means Seventh-day Adventists. And to my surprise, I found out that there were Adventists in Slovenia.

And there was actually a church in Ljubljana. So on March 24th, 2012, I walked into an Adventist church for the first time. I was eager to see what their mass was like. I loved the program. The people were normal.

So from that point on I attended the Sabbath service, every Sabbath. And I studied the Bible and I grew in the knowledge of biblical truths. So half a year later, on the 27th of September 2012, I was ready for a proper baptism this time. I was baptized in Lake Bochim. It had 13.5 degrees Celsius, which is about 56 degrees Fahrenheit in September of that year.

But it wasn't cold for me. It was a new birth I remember every year after becoming Christian I realized there was much more in life than earning an education, having a good time, having a good job. I woke up to new realities which added another dimension to my life. It made it richer, it made it more satisfying intellectually. With God my life has meaning.

With God every human being has value today my aspiration is to help other people experience what I have experienced to gain a worldview that makes sense, not just for the heart, not just for the mind, but also for the body and for the soul. I have much to learn still and I have much to discover by continuing in my studies of the Bible. I have not yet arrived, my journey goes on, but when I look back I'm amazed at all the transformations that have happened in my life and at the providences that have brought me this far. You

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Series

Journeys Season 1

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

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Parent Series

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Other Teachings in Series

Should Christians Have Ecstatic Experiences?: Christopher’s Journey

14m

Searching for the Meaning of Life: Dan’s Journey

14m

Searching for True Love: Cacyne’s Journey

14m

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

14m

I Would Never Become a Christian: Miikael’s Journey

14m

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

14m

Beyond Rituals and Crucifixes: Conrad’s Journey

14m

Escape From New Age and the Paranormal: Samuel’s Journey

14m

Finding Peace at Last: A Miraculous Journey

14m

Hungry for More: Jonas’ Journey

14m

Learning to Trust the Bible: Albert’s Journey

14m

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey

14m

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