Greetings,
I started out as a Perennialist (one subscribing to the Perennial Philosophy), and looking to find a serious tradition that was Christian with a heavy contemplative practice, I joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. I was Orthodox for 6 years, but had trouble either getting to services or feeling like part of a parish culture, so eventually I became Catholic. I've technically been Catholic for one year, but have become a bit hung up on some of the legalism and scholasticism regarding everything (especially some of doctrine regarding venial and mortal sins and the need for regular absolution before being able to commune). I love both traditions for various reasons, but have been studying the Bible, the reformers, and the anabaptists lately and feel quite pulled in the direction of Sola Scriptura, and a more personal Christian spirituality. I was raised without religion, and frankly feel rather frustrated and adrift right now. I have always felt quite uncomfortable with church culture in general, having only begun to attend any kind of services as an adult. Ethnocentrism was an issue for me in the Orthodox Church; I just felt out of place among Greek and Russians, and attending a nearby mostly convert parish became difficult and impractical with my autistic now four-year-old son. Furthermore, in seeking religious roots in my family, I find that no one on either side of my family has retained any religious convictions or practice. My essentially non-religious parents both died recently, my wife is a non-believer, and all of my friends and family are secular and either agnostic, atheist, or just apathetic! This makes being a Christian in any kind of traditional or institutional sense very difficult and quite unnatural for me. There is some Mennonite and Wesleyan-Holiness Christianity in my ancestral past, but no such churches exist in my area... very few churches exist here at all as I live in a rural area. So while I seek God and wish to follow Christ, read the Bible and spiritual writing, and consider myself a Christian, I feel quite adrift and confused. Along with prayer and study, I hope that networking with other Christians here at this forum will help me get over my current state of feeling displaced and help me to grow in Christ. If you feel inclined, your prayers are much appreciated.
I started out as a Perennialist (one subscribing to the Perennial Philosophy), and looking to find a serious tradition that was Christian with a heavy contemplative practice, I joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. I was Orthodox for 6 years, but had trouble either getting to services or feeling like part of a parish culture, so eventually I became Catholic. I've technically been Catholic for one year, but have become a bit hung up on some of the legalism and scholasticism regarding everything (especially some of doctrine regarding venial and mortal sins and the need for regular absolution before being able to commune). I love both traditions for various reasons, but have been studying the Bible, the reformers, and the anabaptists lately and feel quite pulled in the direction of Sola Scriptura, and a more personal Christian spirituality. I was raised without religion, and frankly feel rather frustrated and adrift right now. I have always felt quite uncomfortable with church culture in general, having only begun to attend any kind of services as an adult. Ethnocentrism was an issue for me in the Orthodox Church; I just felt out of place among Greek and Russians, and attending a nearby mostly convert parish became difficult and impractical with my autistic now four-year-old son. Furthermore, in seeking religious roots in my family, I find that no one on either side of my family has retained any religious convictions or practice. My essentially non-religious parents both died recently, my wife is a non-believer, and all of my friends and family are secular and either agnostic, atheist, or just apathetic! This makes being a Christian in any kind of traditional or institutional sense very difficult and quite unnatural for me. There is some Mennonite and Wesleyan-Holiness Christianity in my ancestral past, but no such churches exist in my area... very few churches exist here at all as I live in a rural area. So while I seek God and wish to follow Christ, read the Bible and spiritual writing, and consider myself a Christian, I feel quite adrift and confused. Along with prayer and study, I hope that networking with other Christians here at this forum will help me get over my current state of feeling displaced and help me to grow in Christ. If you feel inclined, your prayers are much appreciated.
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