Faith

I’m sure a lot of people have felt this way at one time or another in their lifetime, but I would like to spend a little time on the subject of my faith. I have to explain that for many years I pretty much just wandered from one church to another, trying to find my way. It never seemed I fit in. I either felt I didn’t belong, not that the parishioners weren’t kind enough to me, just because I had that feeling, or didn’t agree with what I saw or heard within the church. Over the years I have attended at one point or another, Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Methodist, I’m sure I could go on, but I don’t want to bore you. Let me just say I have been to my fair share of different churches over the past 15 years. For a long while, I didn’t attend church at all, then was invited by some neighbors to attend their church, witch was Baptist. I went for a few months pretty religiously, I felt rather comfortable there, but then at a church social function I over heard some racial slurs that I did not appreciate at all, and stopped going. In hindsight I suppose I should have gone to the Pastor of the church and mentioned it to him, and discussed my concerns, however I was so disgusted that I didn’t bother, and being that the church was predominately white, didn’t think it would matter. I know my bible just as well as the next person; I have read it from front to back more times than I can count now, and I knew that wasn’t right. I didn’t want to be a part of it.
After that incident I even stopped reading my bible for awhile. I don’t know what happened, but all the sudden I got to thinking about various things that just didn’t make any sense to me about the bible/church and started to do some research. I always felt like things were missing. Much to my surprise I found I was pretty correct in that feeling. Took almost two years of reading and research, but I don’t regret a minute of it. I believe what I have learned has made me stronger in my faith than I was ever before. I can’t say I agree with everything I have learned, but it’s nice to know, all the same. I feel like now, more than ever, if you have any questions about your church or what you have read in your bible, you should research whatever it is that is bothering you, and not just brush it under the table. Whenever Jesus was asked a question or he taught he used parables. He wanted the disciples to find the answers themselves, only when they couldn’t would he explain. In the same manner, He wants you to find the answer yourself. I’ll go into a bit more detail about the questions that I had at a later time. I go to church occasionally now, but I don’t feel guilty when I don’t. Prayer is meant to be private, between you and God, not a congregation. Church is for learning, not for preaching. You can fellowship at anytime; it doesn’t necessarily have to be on Sunday morning. I’m rambling. As I said, I will go into more detail on these subjects in the coming weeks. My faith in Jesus is strong, I know he is coming, and I’m waiting patiently for his arrival.