Seriously Shirley, do you need Cody to tell you one more time about his Sunday morning duds? A detailed description of his Wrangler jeans, Roper boots, and Resistol George Strait hat, and how he wears his hat during service and his wife loves it?
Wellll, I want to Catholic schools through college. Catechism, scriptures and Church went along with it. Had an issue with the fact that my father was Jewish. They told me non baptized people did not go to heaven. My dad would not budge. So we would be eternally separated. Then, at the birth of my first child we were required to sign a contract to join a Catholic church and it included signing for tithing before they would baptize her. I understand tithing and since we were earning basically nothing, signing the contract was no big deal until it set in that they were refusing a sacrament that was needed to get my daughter to heaven after death until we paid money.... I tried the Mormon church. The missionaries are quite persuasive and seemingly logical. But when you dig a bit deeper, some issues arose. It is a little more belonging than I care for. I am not a joiner. I like to help but not all the time. Of course, now that the rainbow bridge might be approaching, I think about things more.
Must have been before Vatican II? I have not heard of that Catholic stuff up here at least. I was a devout Protestant when I married my Catholic girlfriend. We even had a mass and it was concelebrated with both a Catholic Priest and a Methodist Minister. I don't think they do that anymore though.
All of my family and most friends are believers and would love to have me join their ranks but I am comfortable with my life as it is and have no desire or plans to change it.
I can't make that long story short, Lon. All I can say is that I do believe in God and I've read the Bible twice once with my eyes blinded to His word and again with the scales removed from my eyes. After that second reading I felt different.
As I was reading the Bible, no. When I attended church and Bible studies yes. The few churches that I was a member of were 'teaching' churches which explained at lot of the language used in the King James version of the Bible.
Lon, I come to understand the Bible as I need to understand it where I am at in my life, I should say throughout my life. There is so much that the Spirit of God has revealed and shows me for me. I understand that I may not have experienced so much that the Bible speaks on and with that said I believe that someone else has and those words speak to that individual for them to understand. If everyone understood the Bible the world would be a better place.