Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] I wasn't someone who had read the Quran, researched it, or deeply studied Islam. I was more of a person who accepted and practiced my faith based on what I heard from my surroundings. I went to church with the idea that if I went, I would pick up a few girls.
[00:00:16] When I entered, I was disappointed.
[00:00:18] I also joined a religious order.
[00:00:21] I was raised in the Suleimansi order.
[00:00:25] I learned a lot about my faith from their conversations and the many religious events held in their dormitories.
[00:00:33] This faith, which I truly believe in, is the greatest truth and reality I've ever encountered.
[00:00:42] First, let me introduce myself. My name is Ramazan. As my name suggests, I wasn't born and raised in a Christian family. On the contrary, I was born into a Muslim family. I'm from Shivas and I'm currently 48 years old. My first encounter with Christianity dates back to 1997, when when I became a Christian. But it dates back even further. I was born into a Muslim family and raised as a Muslim.
[00:01:07] It was mostly Islam, which I learned from the people around me.
[00:01:12] Whether it was the society I grew up in, religion classes or during my school years, I also joined a religious order.
[00:01:20] I was raised in the Suleimanse order, and there I learned a great deal about my faith from their conversations and the many religious activities held in their dormitories.
[00:01:31] From what I learned, I was someone who lived, practiced and took my faith seriously.
[00:01:37] But generally, my thoughts and beliefs about Islam always stemmed from what people gave me.
[00:01:43] I believed in whatever they taught me.
[00:01:48] I wasn't a believer who had read the Quran, researched it, or deeply studied Islam. I was more of a person who accepted and lived my faith based on what I heard from my surroundings.
[00:02:00] But during the time I joined that order, I had the opportunity to learn and practice my faith more deeply.
[00:02:09] Even while there, my thoughts about Islam always stemmed from what the people there taught me.
[00:02:16] After my school years ended, I began to form different friendships.
[00:02:21] Most of these people were deists, atheists, socialists, colonial communists and agnostics.
[00:02:29] And as I spent time with them, the things they sometimes said about Islam and the Quran in their conversations began to raise serious questions in my mind.
[00:02:39] They were talking about the contradictions within Islam and the Quran itself. I didn't really want to believe them because I was someone who lived and practiced my faith.
[00:02:49] But inevitably, these things I heard raised many questions and doubts in my mind.
[00:02:55] So to find the answers to these questions and to dispel my doubts, I decided that I would read and research the Quran in Turkish.
[00:03:03] I thought that after Reading the Quran, all these questions would be answered. But after reading the Quran, my doubts and questions began to grow even more.
[00:03:13] Later, when I started asking my teachers and the people in the Sufi order I joined. The answers I received didn't really satisfy me.
[00:03:23] Later, I began reading and researching other faiths.
[00:03:27] I began reading and researching many books that criticized Islam. Under the influence of those books, I gradually fell away from the Islamic faith.
[00:03:37] So I abandoned Islam and like my friends, began living as a deist and atheist caught between deism and atheism.
[00:03:45] When I say I began living between deism and atheism, I mean sometimes I believed in God, but not in religions.
[00:03:53] Sometimes I didn't believe in God either.
[00:03:56] I didn't fully know what I believed in at the time. That's why I was caught between deism and atheism. And that's when my life changed dramatically.
[00:04:05] I started spending time with people who were involved in socialist and communist activities and groups.
[00:04:12] I read many books exploring different faiths, but none of them truly filled the void I felt at the time.
[00:04:21] At the same time, I was working at a place where I met someone and a beautiful friendship blossomed.
[00:04:28] One day, during our conversation, this person told me he was Christian.
[00:04:33] Up until then, I had never met a Christian and hadn't done any serious research on Christians.
[00:04:41] When my friend told me he was Christian, we started having a religious conversation. And I actually got a little annoyed with him during that conversation because he told me that Christianity was true and all other beliefs were false.
[00:04:59] So I started to prove to tell to show him that Christianity was false.
[00:05:05] You Christians believe this, you Christians believe that. Look, there's this in Christianity. There's, there's that in Christianity.
[00:05:13] So I started using everything I'd learned about Christianity from society up until that point to refute his beliefs.
[00:05:22] But every time I said something like that, he would say, no, we don't believe that. Look, God's word says this in the Bible. No, it's not. Look, God's word says this and that.
[00:05:33] He would try to refute everything I said using a verse or argument from the Bible.
[00:05:41] And then I realized for the first time that whatever. I had actually learned about Christianity from my environment, from society, from the media, from school. Most of it was actually false teachings and wrong ideas.
[00:05:56] Of course, I'm not someone who likes to lose arguments.
[00:06:02] So to prove my friend that his belief was wrong, I first asked him for the Bible, thinking that if I read and researched the Bible, I would find many contradictions in the Bible and prove to him that his belief was wrong.
[00:06:16] I thought so. And through that I started reading the Bible.
[00:06:21] And we started to get together frequently discussing what we read and having conversations about faith. And one day my friend invited me to church. I told him I would come too. But when I said I would, I. I wanted to be honest. Now my goal is to. It wasn't to research Christianity or learn the Bible.
[00:06:39] I went with the idea that if I went to church, I'd pick up three or four girls, because that was my mindset at the time. Christians don't have much of a concept of honor. Christians can live as they please with whatever they want.
[00:06:54] Because I had this idea, I thought I could use the Christian church for this purpose.
[00:07:00] I was young and my mind was more focused on such things. At that time, I was pursuing this lifestyle. I went to church for the first time for this purpose. There were no traditional church buildings. It was at his invitation that I went there for the first time.
[00:07:16] I thought we were going to a traditional church building. But since there weren't any traditional churches in Antalya at the time, he took me to a house church.
[00:07:25] When I walked in, There were about 15 to 20 people there.
[00:07:29] They were all families. There weren't any girls my age. So I was disappointed. When I walked in, there wasn't anyone there who could fulfill my purpose.
[00:07:40] But I stayed there that day anyway. And I really enjoyed the atmosphere.
[00:07:45] Because men and women, children, all joyfully singing hymns in the same place.
[00:07:51] They worship God.
[00:07:53] They were also very friendly to me at work. Even though they knew I was an atheist, a deist, they still welcomed me. They didn't reject me. They showed me love because I loved the atmosphere and the people. I continued to go to church in the following weeks. Even though I knew I wouldn't be able to achieve my goal. I still went to church every week like a Christian.
[00:08:17] And every time I went, I couldn't help but hear and learn something about Christianity and Jesus.
[00:08:23] And I asked many questions.
[00:08:26] I read the Bible and learned a lot about Christianity. For three years I went to church without being a Christian, but I didn't believe. That was until I joined the military. When I joined the military, I went through a difficult time there. And the difficulties I experienced plunged me into serious depression. I was in a depression.
[00:08:46] I felt no peace, no peace. And I was at the point of going crazy one day while on duty. I was on duty and many Bible verses started coming to mind. But these verses weren't about stealing, committing adultery or murdering.
[00:09:02] On the contrary, they were about God existing Loving me. And they were verses about God calling me and wanting to give me peace.
[00:09:10] At first I thought I was going crazy. But then I started remembering these verses even more. And that's when I realized that God was truly speaking to me. Through these verses, God was calling me. And for the first time, I felt God's presence with me.
[00:09:26] That's what I did. Then I knelt down, I put down my weapon and repented.
[00:09:34] And I repented of my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
[00:09:40] That evening was truly a very special evening. And I still remember it.
[00:09:46] The next day, nothing changed in my life.
[00:09:50] The same environment, the same people, the same things. But I felt an indescribable peace and tranquility within me.
[00:09:58] And then I realized that God's presence was truly within me, guiding me in some way and giving me peace.
[00:10:06] After completing my military service, I came to Antalya and joined my church.
[00:10:12] At the same time, I began volunteering at my church.
[00:10:15] I was working another job.
[00:10:18] Whenever I had the opportunity, I came to church and volunteered there.
[00:10:22] Serving people, sharing God with them.
[00:10:26] I really enjoyed sharing His Word and doing a lot of research to develop myself spiritually.
[00:10:33] I realized in my heart that God was truly calling me to serve.
[00:10:38] After that, I began to cultivate myself in this direction and dedicate myself more to God.
[00:10:46] I received extensive theological training in Christianity. And then my church appointed me pastor here in 2000. And since then, I've been pastoring at the Gospel churches in Antalya for 25 years.
[00:10:59] I share the word of God with those who come.
[00:11:02] I try to introduce Jesus. And I truly love this ministry, this work. And I know that this is truly God's most beautiful calling for me.
[00:11:13] With each passing year, I grow more in my faith and find greater joy in what I do. And this makes me very happy.
[00:11:22] This is my life story.
[00:11:24] When I became a Christian. I actually converted to Christianity while I was in the military.
[00:11:30] I remember very well. The next day, I called my family and told them I was a Christian.
[00:11:35] My father said, that's all you've got left to eat. He said, let's eat that too. But I didn't really experience any serious reaction from my family. My family didn't reject me. Well, in that regard, I didn't reject them. I'm actually lucky. Unfortunately, especially in Turkey, when you convert from Islam to Christianity, you can face serious backlash. And I know many people in our church who were rejected by their own mothers, fathers, families and siblings after converting from Islam to Christianity. But this didn't happen. With me. On the contrary, my relationship with my family is very close. I love my mother and my siblings very much. They still love me very much.
[00:12:14] But most of my relatives rejected me because I was Christian and have no relationship with me.
[00:12:20] So my faith was a factor in this. Other than that, my circle of friends rejected me. Some of my friends rejected me. But I haven't seen such a serious backlash from my family, from my own family.
[00:12:32] People feel the desire and desire to share what they know to be true, the truth, with others.
[00:12:39] Because it's a truth, it's true, then they want others to embrace that truth.
[00:12:47] This faith, which I truly believe in, is the greatest truth I've ever encountered. And I want everyone to know it.
[00:12:57] This truth is a truth that will affect both our lives in this world and our eternal lives.
[00:13:03] In other words, this truth isn't just a choice, it's a very serious decision.
[00:13:11] Because when we look at the Bible, the Bible, because I believe that everyone is actually a sinner and that no one can save themselves because of these sins.
[00:13:22] Neither by doing good deeds, nor by doing good deeds, nor by trying to be good can they be cleansed of their sins.
[00:13:30] And because the only way, the only truth is that Jesus Christ bore our sins on the cross and paid the price for our sins to be cleansed of sin, to attain eternal life and to go to heaven.
[00:13:50] In other words, because I believe that Jesus Christ is the only truth, the only way to salvation, eternal life, cleansing from sin and establishing a relationship with God.
[00:14:04] Just as God sent Jesus Christ incarnate to earth so that all people would not perish, but would have eternal life and judged our sins on that cross, thus opening a way for us to be saved. Just as I have been saved in this way of salvation, I want all people to attain this.
[00:14:21] I want all people to hear this truth.
[00:14:24] And this is not just a desire or an option for me, it is also a command that God gives to all people. When I look at the word of God, when we look at Matthew, chapter 28, before Jesus ascended to heaven, he said to his, go and preach this gospel to all nations. I mean, because there is life in this gospel, there is salvation in this gospel, there is cleansing from sin.
[00:14:51] And since we cannot save ourselves, there is the Savior, Jesus Christ's hand stretched out to us to bring us eternal life, we know that if we don't take that hand, if we don't accept that truth, and if we don't accept and believe in what Christ did for us on the cross, we won't have eternal life.
[00:15:13] And in order to obey a commandment of God, I am actually trying to preach this gospel, this faith to everyone because it is a truth.
