My First Encounter of the Iglesia Ni Cristo
If my memory is right, it was during my 1994 Christmas vacation in my hometown in Surigao del Sur when I first heard about the Iglesia Ni Cristo. That was early morning of Sunday when I arrived home and I felt lazy to attend the mass in the church of the St. Augustine Parish, so I just opened our TV and sat down and watched, whatever was the program of that single channel of our television set.
From time to time, that situation flashed back at my mind, where Brother Michael Sandoval was preaching about the Trinity, whether this doctrine is biblical or not.
It was not just my first time to hear the preaching of an Iglesia Ni Cristo Minister, but it was also my first time to hear a preaching that talked against Trinity.
At first, I felt bad learning that my faith was being talked about by this minister and I considered it an attack to my faith. But it did not hinder me to continue to listen the preaching. I just breathed deeply and opened my mind to the attack and tried to understand what they were talking about and why they were attacking that particular doctrine.
That said program was called “Ang Iglesia Ni Cristo”. It was an hour long TV preaching of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. It happened that I watched it from the start of the preaching, until it was done.
The preaching was done in a Question-Answer method. A question was raised by the said INC Minister and the answer was directly read from the Bible. After reading the verse or verses of the Bible that directly answered the question, the question was then repeated and then the particular phrase from that verse was read and being emphasized as the answer to the question.
Actually, I was amazed the way Brother Sandoval presented the topic. I wanted to argue in myself but I just couldn’t not because the said Iglesia Minister was just part of the taping for that TV program, but because the presentation was clear and the answers were directly taken from the Bible. Brother Sandoval did not add any personal interpretation of the verses he took from the Bible. He simply showed it as direct answers of the Bible in those raised questions.
The program actually affected me a lot. The truth I heard changed the way I believe in God. And that was the start of my doubt about the deity of Christ, and about the Trinity.
From time to time, that situation flashed back at my mind, where Brother Michael Sandoval was preaching about the Trinity, whether this doctrine is biblical or not.
It was not just my first time to hear the preaching of an Iglesia Ni Cristo Minister, but it was also my first time to hear a preaching that talked against Trinity.
At first, I felt bad learning that my faith was being talked about by this minister and I considered it an attack to my faith. But it did not hinder me to continue to listen the preaching. I just breathed deeply and opened my mind to the attack and tried to understand what they were talking about and why they were attacking that particular doctrine.
That said program was called “Ang Iglesia Ni Cristo”. It was an hour long TV preaching of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. It happened that I watched it from the start of the preaching, until it was done.
The preaching was done in a Question-Answer method. A question was raised by the said INC Minister and the answer was directly read from the Bible. After reading the verse or verses of the Bible that directly answered the question, the question was then repeated and then the particular phrase from that verse was read and being emphasized as the answer to the question.
Actually, I was amazed the way Brother Sandoval presented the topic. I wanted to argue in myself but I just couldn’t not because the said Iglesia Minister was just part of the taping for that TV program, but because the presentation was clear and the answers were directly taken from the Bible. Brother Sandoval did not add any personal interpretation of the verses he took from the Bible. He simply showed it as direct answers of the Bible in those raised questions.
The program actually affected me a lot. The truth I heard changed the way I believe in God. And that was the start of my doubt about the deity of Christ, and about the Trinity.
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