Geoff's Testimony
Hi! My name is Geoff. I am an English teacher through the week and a busy father of four kids. On Sundays I teach at a small Christian Church in Koshien. Was I always a Christian? This is my story.
Tradition without Truth
I grew up in a typical, suburban, Australian family. Traditionally we were Christian, but we paid no interest whatsoever in religion. At school, in our religion class, I heard bible stories; at home I heard reality stories. My father taught me that being successful in life doesn’t always mean being honest, though it is usually better to be honest, especially if dealing with my father! As a result, religion meant as much to me as it does to most Japanese people: Nothing. We liked the Christmas songs and Chocolate eggs of Easter. That was it. But on the inside, I always knew that the truth was important and dishonesty was wrong.
Just like everyone else.
After suffering mild bullying in school, I was determined to make a change. Instead of going to the local junior high school, I tried to enter a selective high school and surprisingly passed the test. That was it. From then on I was determined to be in the top social group, to be the bully rather than be bullied. I worked my way up the junior high school social ladder doing everything I needed to do to reach my goal. First surfing, then girls, then rap music, gangs, shoplifting, graffiti and finally rock ‘n’ roll. Each of these was a step closer to fulfilling my dream of being cool and acceptable.
Things don't always work out.
Yet on the inside, I felt terribly guilty. Climbing the social ladder meant continually doing things I knew were wrong. First lying about non existent girlfriends, then stealing to impress my friends. Rock music became dull and I hated myself after graffiting a car park wall and somebody’s fence, but I would do it again just to be popular. Two events clearly showed the evil my life had become: After joining a gang of rebellious kids, I was accepted to go ‘to the back of the bus!’ That was a really honor in my town. The kids who used to spit at me and my friends through the bus window now exchanged rap tapes with me. One day, they stole the hat of one of my old friends and were throwing it around while he tried to get it back. It came to me. What would I do? Give it back because he was my old friend or pass it on to be popular with my new friends. Needless to say I passed it on, and hated my self even more. Then there were cigarettes and drugs. I grew up in a house which hated drugs, but at the first opportunity I succumbed to the temptation and joined the activity. I was a first class hypocrite, a backstabber, a liar, a thief, a rebel and an idiot. The problem was, most of my friends were too. That is why it was so hard for me to see the truth. I compared myself to others and I looked OK.
The carpet swept from under my feet.
In the first grade of high school, we began studying evolution in science class. It was also my last year of religious class. We had a new teacher. A shabby-looking postman, a job which, unlike in Japan, is a low kind of employment in Australia. He began to teach us about the God of creation, the God who designed and created the world. Armed with all the facts they had learned in biology class that term, my classmates mocked the teacher mercilessly for taking the idea of a creator God seriously. ‘Everyone knew’ that the fossils of missing links clearly showed the history of evolution. ‘Everyone knew’ that a dog would grow more hair if taken to the Arctic. ‘Everyone knew’ that carbon dating proved the rocks to be billions of years old, unlike the bible which said the earth is relatively young. And as I watched the postman’s answers and the class’s responses, I began to see that there were serious problems with the theory of evolution. He presented real evidence of design, of a young earth, of biblical history rather than evolutionary history. He also exposed huge holes in the theory of evolution. The missing links which we had been taught in science class were mostly outdated and proven false. There were no solid examples of missing links between apes and humans, dinosaurs and chickens or any other kind of animal. Taking an interest, I began to study the evidence for myself and continued through my science degree at university. In those 6 or 7 years, I realized that evolution was an absolute fraud motivated not by evidence, but emotion. The great problems with the theory are routinely pushed aside and any other theory, especially the creation theory, is mocked so much that the truth never gets to see the light of day.
Rebellion and reason.
After the science part of our religion class was finished, we spent the remaining weeks discussing morals and God’s law. In every aspect my friends mocked and abused our teacher who explained the position of God on moral issues. As I listened, I realized that I and every other honest person would have to take sides with the God of the bible. Not because it was convenient, but because it was right. Abortion is murder in God’s sight. Free sex is the cause of untold hurt and dissatisfaction in society. Drugs and alcohol abuse degrade mankind and bring so much unnecessary pain into the world. The rebellious influence of heavy metal music has little affect on some, but deadly effects on others. I began to realize that the kids in my class were so absolutely against the moral good taught in the bible that if there really was a god, certainly they were all on their way to hell. And so was I, for although I knew these things were wrong, I would continue doing the evil just to suit myself, gain popularity, etc.
Everything I believed was suddenly called into question. It was like having a carpet pulled from under your feet. I fell to the ground.
Encounter with Jesus.
I began to read the bible. At first just out of interest, but soon I felt every part of me desperate to read more of God’s word. I didn’t understand it all, but I loved it. I saw in the person of Jesus Christ absolute purity, absolute honesty, absolute justice and absolute love. God, who said thousands of years before that he would become a man and die for our sins, fulfilled his promise. He came to show the purity and holiness of God. He didn’t lie, like me, just to save a little money. He didn’t betray his friends, like me, just for a little popularity. He came to serve and he died for our sins. Also he didn’t just ignore sins as so many are apt to do. Like I see now in Japan, I had accepted the popular thinking about religion, that everything was good as long as you didn’t fight. Yet that was simply an excuse to go on sinning without worrying about judgment. That was hypocrisy. God was righteous and blameless and therefore he MUST judge sin. That means death. But in his mercy, he made a way for us to be saved.
Hard choices.
Just realizing the factual accuracy and truth of the bible didn’t automatically make me a Christian, though. Coming to God was coming in to a bright light, and in a bright light all our faults are exposed. I had hard choices to make. Becoming a Christian would certainly mean my friends would no longer accept me in their group. A 16 to 18 year old’s social life in Sydney meant beer and drugs on a weekly basis. I could not join them anymore. My family would reject my faith because it would imply that they had brought me up as a hypocrite. That was in fact true, but I didn’t blame them for that. Being a Christian meant giving up my ideas of free sex and lots of girlfriends. Unlike the TV and movies, God sees marriage as sacred, as man has always known in every age, yet few desire a pure marriage from a young age. Finally, there was heavy metal music. Not that there is anything wrong with a style of music, but my favorite bands all sang about rebellion and sin. All the things I knew God hated. Would I give up listening to that to follow God? Even if I knew these things were wrong, I loved them so much. Would I have the power to say “No”?
The truth shall set you free.
One day I just said ‘that is it!’ I am going to church. My father had tried to stop me twice, but I was determined to let nothing keep me away from faith in God. As I went to church and heard about Jesus, I found an amazing thing. Suddenly the things in my life which were so powerful became of little value. I started to find new friends who loved to do good. They valued truth and honesty. They loved to learn and think about what is right. They also, like myself, had all been rebellious hypocrites and had met the God of creation who saved them from their sins, opened their eyes, and was teaching them through His Word and leading them in a better way. I had no desire for the drugs, bad music, and popularity that I had once coveted. Now I had the truth. Jesus said
“I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through me”
He also said“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”.
I was free from guilt, free from the sins which had hurt me, free from the pressure to be cool and look good. Free from the hell I deserved. Jesus gave me eternal life and the Holy Spirit spoke with me daily from then until now.Abundance of evidence.
Since I have been a Christian, I have seen so much evidence to support the truth of the bible in history, science, archaeology, philosophy that I could not describe it all. It is sad that with so much evidence, so many people refuse to look. So many are happy to stay in the hypocritical traditions they were brought up in rather than investigate to find what is true. I don’t blame them for I was once like that too. But I urge you, if you have never come to God, seek Him today. He will reveal Himself to you if you seek Him earnestly. He will give you, not a blind faith, but abundant reason to believe.
Why Japan?
When I was completing my university degree, I wanted nothing more than to share the truth which I had found. Although Australia has barely 10 percent who are Christian in any meaningful sense, yet they have had the truth for generations. Japan has had the message of God also for a long time, but most Japanese people have never considered that there is an absolute truth. The Japanese tradition of mixing a little Shinto with a little Buddhism, with a little of something else basically says that there is no real truth. I am sorry friends, but that is wrong. This is my message to anyone who will listen: There is a God of Creation. God is the one to determine right and wrong. We have knowingly broken his law repeatedly and are therefore guilty. There is a heaven and hell to demonstrate God’s love and justice. Jesus did come to pay the price for our sins. He died for us so that we could live. He took our sins and paid our penalty and we can rightly have eternal life. That eternal life comes by believing and accepting the true God. You will have hard choices to make like I did. Your sins are different to mine, but you know them just the same. You cannot continue in sin and still walk with God. But the Spirit of God will give you the power to overcome your sin and walk before him in purity. When you fall, He is always willing to forgive and lead you on in the right way.
How can I know God?
As I did: investigate. Pray that God would show you the truth. Read the bible and find out what He says about right and wrong. I am sure if you are honest that He will convince you. Why take a human’s word for it? Let God speak for Himself.
I encourage you also to visit a bible-teaching Christian church. Not all churches are honest; some are cults with a Christian name, but there are many wonderful churches near you. For more information, you could visit us, see our homepage or call us at our church contact number.
I pray that you will find the truth in Jesus and the truth will set you free.
Geoff Toole.
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