Let's see...Mom was a non-practicing Christian Scientist, Dad did not believe in God. I learned about Jesus through the neighbor inviting me to vacation bible school at their church. I also attended the Catholic church with my best friend off and on for a few years until my parents divorced and I moved.

When I was in 9th grade, I came home from school one day and life pretty much changed as I knew it. My atheist father who smoked three packs a day, cheated on Mom and drank like a fish had a vision of Jesus in the living room while he knelt down and prayed with the preacher on the 700 Club...Sounds ridiculous I know but you had to know my dad, he transformed into a completely different person in an instant. Now, I personally don't care for Pat Robertson's tactics, but I saw how Jesus used him to reach a man that was virtually unreachable so I try to appreciate that. My dad suddenly insisted on us going to church whenever the doors were open, which I did for several years. I was baptised when I was 18 in a small Southern Baptist church and although I went through all the motions of becoming a believer, I never fully embraced my faith. It was always a part of me but something I kept at a distance.

So for a number of years after graduation I only attended church when Dad was preaching a sermon or on holidays, stopped reading my bible and just kept floating along through life figuring someday I would make my relationship right with Jesus. He would throw up obstacles in my life's path that would make most people run to Him for comfort but I was very stubborn in my ways. My final wake up call came almost five years ago in the form of a death sentence. Cancer. Not your run of the mill easily treatable kind but extra-super deadly and quick spreading. I had a revelation on the way home from the doctor that Jesus would heal me if I only believed it and He did (another story for another time). During my illness, my mother-in-law, who happened to be the church secretary for a little country United Methodist church, would be calling everyone to pray for me and in church each week they would say group prayers during the services. When I was finally well enough, we started going to her church regularly for the first time since I had been in high school. I loved the people there but just did not feel the Holy Spirit leading me to join the congregation.

I am a huge history nut and while I was in the library one day, I passed by the religion section and scanned a few titles when one thin book jumped out at me from the bottom shelf. It was "The Catholic Church-A Short History" by Hans Kung. I devoured the book and then set off on what became a 2 year study of Church history and tradition and in doing so, discovered what I had been missing my whole life. Despite what seemed like insurmountable obstacles (again, another story for another time) I went through RCIA (Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults), joined the Catholic Church last year during Easter Vigil, and have experienced a spiritual awakening I never thought was possible.

Wow that's fantastic! I don't understand how many people have such a positive experience with religion but yet many others have a negative experience?

I think it is based a lot on the people surrounding the experience. The good religious experiences all occured around people who were loving, kind, caring and open. The bad experiences usually happen around people who are arrogant, holier than thou, and in general, not nice people. That's why many people (like me) have had both good and bad experiences.

Posted by IrishLady I think it is based a lot on the people surrounding the experience. The good religious experiences all occured around people who were loving, kind, caring and open. The bad experiences usually happen around people who are arrogant, holier than thou, and in general, not nice people. That's why many people (like me) have had both good and bad experiences.

Thanks Frozen, and IrishLady you are exactly right. Interestingly enough, my father who had the vision of Jesus and was a minister refuses to attend any church at all and prefers to keep to himself simply because of those "not nice people" he encountered in his congregation. It is an extreme way to go but seems to work for him...

I have had a lot of bad experiences with Christians and usually they occur on the road. It is interesting to note that a majority of the people whom flip me the bird usually have a Jesus fish or some cheesy bumper sticker on their car.

My story is opposite, I was raised as a Catholic, went to Catholic school until grade 8, was an alter server, was baptized, confessed, granted communion, and was confirmed at age 14. My parents and siblings are all very religious and involved in the Catholic church. I was a believer until around age 15. I'm not sure what happened, I just had doubts one day, and shortly after that I came to believe that there is no God. I am an atheist, but of a very strange type... I understand the belief in a God, I just no longer believe myself. I don't try to push this non-believe onto anyone else, and I hate it when believers push their faith onto me. I can't explain what happend, one day I was a god-fearing christian who followed God's way... the next day I was a complete non-believer. I am now 27 and have never felt so strongly about my lack of faith, however the religious people in my life have many things to say about that. I've been told that I have no morals, I disagree... when you are faced with no life after death (my belief) you begin to take life more seriously. I treat people better since I really only have one shot at it. My morals are as high if not higher then many believers.

Everyone needs to believe in something to help them understand the meaning of their own life. I don't need a belief, I feel that my life dosen't have any more meaning then born, live, die. But I will never persecute someone for needing a belief in a higher purpose for life.