Excellent questions.
(I should have answered them in my first posting!)
The first was this: Am I implying that most Christians turn to Christ out of desperation? No. I am implying even further: ALL Christians turn to Christ out of desperation.
When we realize that we are sinners, and lost on our way to hell, then the natural inclination is to devise a way out. If you're trapped in a car in a flood, the natural inclination is to search for an escape.
However, there is no escape from the stain of sin. We, in our desperation to escape hell, once cognizant of its reality and terror, try to figure out a way to escape, but to no avail.
Romans 3:23, 6:23, and Eph. 2:8,9 and others state this clearly. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Now, this: There are certainly different levels of desperation. The little 6-year old who accepts Christ is only accepting Him once he realizes that he can't do it himself, and wants to go to heaven. So he calls on Jesus. What wonderful, childlike faith.
Then there would be a much more desperate cry for salvation once we have searched and fought and argued for our eternal life, but realized that we cannot gain it ourselves when confronted by the truth of scripture. Then, in our most HUMBLE desperation, we cry, "OK, OK! I CANNOT do it! Please! Save me! I don't know why you love me so! But I repent, and I trust you now! Save me, please!"
There are certainly different levels of desperation. But salvation requires a desperate person. One preacher said it this way: "You've got to be lost before you can be saved."
If we think we're ok, we aren't desperately calling on Him. But when the ground is knocked out, we realize that there is nothing we can do. So, like the person trapped in the car in a flood, our eyes begin darting around...
Until they land on John 3:16. That kind of desperation.
The second question had to do with my criticism of other cults.
Notice how I certainly did not bring into the fray my opinions on Catholicism, Protestantism, Pentecostal, and so forth. That is because they are all categorized (according to mainstream belief) a "Christian". I have no problem challenging the other cults of the world, seeing as they have no foundation on the Bible, the only word of God.
The Koran, the Bahgavad Vita, the Way, and others are not the inspired, preserved Words of Jehovah. They are, hence, counterfeits and are lies. I brought that into a Christian forum thread, seeing as if one really is a Christian, then one has no tolerance for the enemies of Christ.
Now, the question was whether or not I had brought my own faith under this kind of scrutiny.
And the answer is yes.
There was indeed a time when I was very very close to giving it all up. To simply retreating from Christianity, and living my life the way I wanted to live it.
Then I looked outside my window. I saw the beautiful world that God has created for ME. I breathed oxygen. I expelled Carbon Dioxide. That, in turn, fed plants. Which are also fed by sunlight. Which comes from millions of miles away. Which certainly didn't come from nothing. (False Science never did come up with an answer for Abiogenesis...but that's another thread)
I thought of the song, "How Great Thou Art". I realized that for me to deny Christianity would be to deny truth. It would be to deny the existence of all that exists, and its Omnipotent and Omniscient Creator. Indeed, how great He is!
I looked in the other faiths. And I even wandered through the cults. Nowhere did I find perfection. The other books and writings and faiths are riddled with error and contradiction, and, unlike Christianity and the Bible, they have no answer for them.
I'll agree to the fact that there are apparent contradictions in the Bible. But that's all they are: Apparent. Once we take a look at context, and use our heads a little, it becomes clear. But the contradictions of other faiths end up in a dead-end rut.
I'll take the Bible over man's writing any day.
There are many other reasons, but to discuss them all would be a grave digression from the topic at hand. I encourage you to continue studying the scriptures, and test them. The Bible actually says to test the scriptures, you know. And I love doing it. Because it always, always comes out on top.
Thanks for reading, friend.