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I would add to Rich's statement that I did experience a change as 2 Corinthians 5:17 mentions. And I can say something made me alive to be concerned about the things of God before I was converted. Something drew me to read the Word of God and experience it in a personal way.
Old things did pass away and all things did become new for me. Everyone around me saw it. My view of the Word of God changed. It became food and meat for me. Before it meant nothing to me. I know God and I know he knows me by his activity in my life. I have a relationship with God. The Devil has one also. The difference is mine is based upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for me. It isn't imagined. It is experienced. His Spirit bares witness with ours it says. We can cry Father in a familial way.
St. John said he wrote what he wrote so that we may know that we have eternal life.
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