My “conversion” to Christianity was not a conscious one. It kind of snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking. For the greater part of my adult life I have considered myself to be agnostic. To my religious friends and family I graciously proclaimed myself “spiritual” as not to offend or inspire unsolicited sermons. I was too intelligent to believe in the Bible and the preaching I suffered through in various religious venues. I had studied Darwinism, there are fossils, there are tangible scientific realities eradicating the validity of Bible stories and what the guy in black was yelling to me from that stage they call a pulpit. I would have none of it!
I am in the process of raising four children, three from my first marriage and one from the last. Both fathers were raised in the Catholic faith although one has since migrated to a non-denomination church. I have always given my children the freedom to choose his or her beliefs and have also encouraged them to explore the vastness of religious choices.
I feel this was a good and reasonable method of child rearing as I have witnessed many people straying from what I consider Godliness due to parental overbearance and force-fed religion. Not that I was really in the position to judge, it was just an opinion.
Organized religion, to me is a man-made orchestra of brainwashed subservient lead by a maestro of bastardized scriptures and misinterpreted ancient writings with little or no relation to the authentic band of follower who were privy to the true composition of Jesus Christ’s song.
My “conversion” occurred in a quite simple and unorthodox manner really. It came to me silently, no horns blasting, nor fanfare; it was not a public event nor a divine intervention; my new-found and beloved relationship with Jesus Christ, so absent before, just simply…is. What a glorious light and true blessing I feel has been bestowed upon me.
I could spend the rest of my life attempting to reconstruct events, feelings and reasons which have granted me worthy of this gift. Yet, I’ve decided to simply hold it dear and say, “thank you”.