For, the rest of my Christian education, I learned all the Bible stories. I went to Church three times a week, twice on Sunday, and once on Wednesday. A lot of the sermons were repetitive … we’re bad people, we need to repent, and at the end of every sermon, an alter call. Most of the time, I kept feeling, “Hey, I’m already in the group. You don’t need to keep up the sales pitch. Let’s get into the heavier stuff.” Week after week, year after year, the sermons didn’t change much. We’re bad people, ask for forgiveness. Who here needs to get saved?

When I graduated High School and left for college, I pretty much stopped going to church. Not really because I didn’t believe it anymore. It was just that I heard it all before. I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new.

I entered the Army at 21. I had been going to church on and off, mostly off, since my high school graduation. I felt I had learned as much as I could at that point. The Army was a unique experience for me. I worked with people with so many beliefs different than my own, Muslims, atheists, and even pagan. One was a self described Satanist. However, if you pushed him on it, you’d realize he really was an atheist, but liked the Goth scene. Working with people from so many different backgrounds helped me to not judge someone based solely off their religious beliefs, or lack of religious beliefs, but to see them for who they really were. I was never really that judgmental to begin with, but after my military experience, I was even less so.

The topic of religion did come up from time to time with my group of friends. I’d explain my beliefs, they’d explain theirs. Once in a while, the discussions got a little heated. When someone rejects your argument, sometimes it’s hard not to take that personally. It feels a bit like a rejection of you. Becoming more mature, meant that I had to separate myself from the arguments I was making. Either the arguments were sound or they weren’t. And, if they weren’t, I had to be able to change my thinking. Otherwise, how do we ever grow or learn?