My Personal Road to Christianity

My Road to Christianity

Originally published on 12/21/09

Even as I youth I was always in search for the truth.

In keeping with the overall theme of my blog, for the next couple of posts I will write about how and why I found my way back to Christianity. I will start with my high school years. Like many teenagers I had internal questions about which was the true faith. Catholicism, although many will not agree, is still Christian, but it is Christianity in its rawest form. Unfortunately, it did not give me all the answers my spirit was seeking. Chicago is a spiritual melting pot and I was exposed to many beliefs which included faiths like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Islam.

Although I was born into it, Catholicism did not afford me guidance.

I studied with a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses for about two years. A high school friend introduced me to them. We would meet weekly in the Albany Park Library. But I never became a Witness because I saw many red flags about their teachings. First, they claim that all the translations of the Bible were wrong, except theirs. So you could not read any other version. Second, they played too much with the prophetic years of 1914 and 1975 and what they were prophesying never came to pass. Third, they did not want to be part of many traditions and customs of this world. You could not celebrate birthdays with birthday cakes because they considered it a pagan custom. Also, I have yet to see a Kingdom Hall building with any windows. What are they hiding? What gives??? Fourth, they did not believe in decorating your home with Christmas ornaments and/or Christmas trees. Fifth, they did not believe in blood transfusions--even to save a life because they believe that God forbade the eating of blood. When I raised the issue that eating involved the act of chewing and swallowing, and not eating through a vein, they did not agree. And neither did I agree with their beliefs. The organization makes millions of dollars a year.  I don’t understand why their followers fail to see this. So much for not wanting to be part of this world.

Soon after my break up with this group a different friend introduced me to Islam.

Schizophrenia and the Delusion of Religion

Today I have decided to write about a topic that afflicts many people but it is often very hard to diagnosed. And above all I believe it affects people who have very strong faiths. Today I am going to talk about schizophrenia. According to the Webster’s dictionary schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment…expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as delusions), perception (as hallucinations), and behavior. I believe that some of the greatest religious leaders in the world were afflicted with this brain disorder. Throughout history many people have claimed to have heard God speak to them or they have seen angels or other paranormal activity. Their belief in having these experiences are so real that persons affected with this illness cannot tell the difference between reality and delusion.

I had a friend once that used to tell me some very outlandish claims he swore to me they were true. To me of course they sounded so far fetched that there was no way I could possibly believe in them because there was no evidence to support his claims. One day he told that he had been a witnessed to a student being thrown out of a moving school bus in the middle of a highway. On another occasion he said that during one of his missions he had been asked to fly a helicopter, even though he had never taken any flying lessons! In spite of the fact that I drilled him about both stories---never admitted to me that they were false. And that is what a schizoid will always do--deny reality no matter how much evidence you present to them that it is false. My friend’s other side was that he was very devoted to his religion. He was ultra dedicated---many would say fanatical. Most schizophrenic people find refuge within their religion. To them their religion is very comforting. And it can be therapeutic, which is what they sometimes do need. However, there is a dangerous side to this. I believe that Jim Jones was a schizophrenic. He made thousands of people believe that his teachings, although contrary to the bible, were true and the only way towards salvation. It is very easy for the average truth seeker to fall prey to these wolves in sheep’s clothing. The bible says that in the last days, the very elect would be deceived by them.

Jesus Christ was a Man of sound mind, sound spirit and sound character. Jesus could have easily come to this earth and take advantage of every person. But instead he gave us unconditional love and a healthy mind to discern the truth from the many lies we would be exposed to. A healthy dose of Christian living is not delusional. True Christian living is grounded in reality.