Quote:
Originally Posted by coalsoffire
... it appears to be my habit to change religions every 10 to 14 years or so. Born and baptized (age 6, then later age 12) a Baptist, converted to the church of Christ at age 14--did a correspondence study, then called up Oak Hills Church of Christ ...
Met a sister later down the line--age 25 now- Started meeting with the [local] church & it was a good experience for me...
I walked away one day, embarrassed by the behavior of the group as a whole--their ridicule of other believers. I'd had enough of that. ...I resolved I would go nowhere else until I heard God's marching orders.... Converted to Catholicism, age 50. ...I am not sure why I am now a "lapsed Catholic," but that I am.
I was drawn, for awhile, and up to not too long ago, to Eastern religions & philosophies, and, eventually to nondualism, which I never "grasped," but to which I was inexplicably attracted... but some little Christian something inside me never went away...
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I appreciate that line "some little Christian something inside me never went away..." I too wandered in and out of verious groups (including the Lord's Recovery assemblies), even venturing into various non-christian approaches and philosophies. But the touch of Jesus Christ never could be completely extinguished. Like a memory, no matter how repressed, ignored, or forgotten, that kept resurfacing in my consciousness... a "still and small voice" that couldn't be silenced.
Today I find myself as a self-professed "fundamentalist evangelical" who is somehow inexplicably "one" with anyone that is even vaguely christian. At the same time, my journeys -- physical, spiritual, and intellectual -- have impacted my thinking so much that the only thing I seem to have in common is the name of Jesus Christ. But that may be enough -- the vast majority of christians would gladly give me a cup of cold water, or the shirt off their backs, were we to meet "out there" on the road.
Similarly, I found this forum to be a good place to work on ideas. What currently constitutes reality, to me, and what is just dross. I like the fact that there are other believers out there that care for what I think. My voice matters. I like that. Though my ideas often get sliced and diced by others, I still am grateful to the Lord for the mutual exploration that our conversations have produced. I like the give-and-take nature of it -- and by contrast, in the Lord's Recovery I ultimately realized that my ideas were not welcome. The constant put-downs of anyone who wasn't "absolutely identical" (Mr. Lee's words) made me realize that my journey was to continue elsewhere.
Welcome aboard and thanks for posting.