new denom to try suggestions?

[bayoubear]

what follows is post from a thread i posted under a different topic heading before I found this section. i ask about the denomination test- not the one linked to in another thread in this section but one almost identical to it. im looking for one thats more in depth and comprehensive. suggestions from other CF members are of course welcome too. I would like to add that I wish to confine the search to within the mainline protestant denoms.

From what I remember- (its been several years) it is a Q and A type of survey. The answer selected for the last dictates which question comes next and so on and so forth. The end of the survey tells you which particular doctrine most closely matches your beleif system. Wish i would have paid attention, was one of those "hey check this out" links a friend sent me in an email. I thought perhaps those here at CF had heard of it.

Currently the Mrs. and myself have a church home but are praying over finding a new one. We are transplants to this area and spent a lot of time visiting churches before we settled on the one we have been attending for a couple years. I was hoping that survey would be able to aid in our search as far as thinking outside the box so to speak while maintaining our core spiritual beliefs. (we both raised meth. and bapt.) I have been a frequent visitor to some other denoms too but seem to always return to the two prev. mentioned. Jesus is Jesus regardless of the flavor and while I can accept some minor conflicts with a particular dogma over another I dont want to have to invest too much time in the search process only to research doctrine and discover WHOA!!! we cant have this! (i dont like visiting a new church every sunday for weeks on end)

I think perhaps our biggest problem here is the commonality of the "mega church" and the mindset of the "britney spears concert" church services. Dont get me wrong here, I find the liturgy and histrionics of say the greek orthodox church as boring as many others. Somewhere in the middle of the two is ideal for us both. What few smaller churches that are local to us are declining in membership and consist of a small handful of retired people. Nothing against retired people at all... we are both pushing 40 and have visited churches where the next youngest member was 25 years our senior. We need a church home that fits for our family.

Your suggestions are good and I thank you for your time. The friends advice is to no avail- that avenue has been investigated. What christian neighbors we have attend the local megachurch and we commute too far to work to take suggestions from coworkers. We drive an hour to work, am not driving an hour to church too. For the mrs. methinks the britney spears concert would be okay for her and for myself... I was happiest taking the theology classes for my minor in college. (too bad you cant find those on a sunday morning!!!) Compromise on more than one level and ive no problem with that. Maybe I'm just too picky?

 

[Albion]

what follows is post from a thread i posted under a different topic heading before I found this section. i ask about the denomination test- not the one linked to in another thread in this section but one almost identical to it. im looking for one thats more in depth and comprehensive. suggestions from other CF members are of course welcome too. I would like to add that I wish to confine the search to within the mainline protestant denoms.

From what I remember- (its been several years) it is a Q and A type of survey. The answer selected for the last dictates which question comes next and so on and so forth. The end of the survey tells you which particular doctrine most closely matches your beleif system. Wish i would have paid attention, was one of those "hey check this out" links a friend sent me in an email. I thought perhaps those here at CF had heard of it.

Currently the Mrs. and myself have a church home but are praying over finding a new one. We are transplants to this area and spent a lot of time visiting churches before we settled on the one we have been attending for a couple years. I was hoping that survey would be able to aid in our search as far as thinking outside the box so to speak while maintaining our core spiritual beliefs. (we both raised meth. and bapt.) I have been a frequent visitor to some other denoms too but seem to always return to the two prev. mentioned. Jesus is Jesus regardless of the flavor and while I can accept some minor conflicts with a particular dogma over another I dont want to have to invest too much time in the search process only to research doctrine and discover WHOA!!! we cant have this! (i dont like visiting a new church every sunday for weeks on end)

I think perhaps our biggest problem here is the commonality of the "mega church" and the mindset of the "britney spears concert" church services. Dont get me wrong here, I find the liturgy and histrionics of say the greek orthodox church as boring as many others. Somewhere in the middle of the two is ideal for us both. What few smaller churches that are local to us are declining in membership and consist of a small handful of retired people. Nothing against retired people at all... we are both pushing 40 and have visited churches where the next youngest member was 25 years our senior. We need a church home that fits for our family.

Your suggestions are good and I thank you for your time. The friends advice is to no avail- that avenue has been investigated. What christian neighbors we have attend the local megachurch and we commute too far to work to take suggestions from coworkers. We drive an hour to work, am not driving an hour to church too. For the mrs. methinks the britney spears concert would be okay for her and for myself... I was happiest taking the theology classes for my minor in college. (too bad you cant find those on a sunday morning!!!) Compromise on more than one level and ive no problem with that. Maybe I'm just too picky?

Hello, and thanks for your message. There are many such tests in existence and, from my memory, all of those that have been put before us here on CF have produced a number of reactions along the lines of "it didn't do a very good job of categorizing me!" There was one that did a remarkably good job with me personally, by the way, but with others it struck out completely, and I have to say also that when I considered their findings in comparison to the test questions, their criticisms were valid.

So....what to do? This will sound presumptuous, I suppose, but I feel that the analyses given by members of this forum have "hit the nail on the head" in case after case. So why don't you give us a try while you continue looking (if that is what you want to do) for the right test that is already posted somewhere?

There are only two things I feel that I need to advise you of (from experience).

1. Some posters will just make a plug for their own churches, often with little regard for what you've outlined in your religious profile. You may just have to overlook them.

2. You have to give us as complete a profile of your beliefs and needs as possible for us to be able to assist as well as I know we can do.

For example, you could comment on the following areas--

--Liturgy/ceremony vs. simplicity in worship or unstructured worship services.

--What you think the nature of the sacaments is, especially with regard to Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

--How traditional the moral standards (women pastors, gay unions, divorce, use of stimulants, etc.).

--How much authority the church organization or hierarchy has in setting doctrines that the congregants are expected to adhere to.

--The government of the church itself--episcopal vs. regional convocations vs. independent congregations.

AND, it matters what makes you comfortable, apart from those things that are strictly doctrinal. For instance, you said you aren't too fond of the "britney spears" style or the ultra-ceremonial style. That's helpful.

The more you give us the better we can advise you. But I do think that it's well worth giving it a try, especially since you've already narrowed down the possibilities considerably, directing us towards "mainline Protestant" churches.

 

[bayoubear]

Thanks and i can see i finally posted this in the right place.
I've studied quite a few religions as well as many denoms of the christian faith and while most are pretty much the same outside of church government there are some that i personally do not support. RC, LDS, to name two.

to address your questions:

'plugs' for one's own, cant blame them a bit and if its presented with a well spoken argument ill at least read it and apprec. it for what it is.

i'm not a fan of ceremony. the very basic liturgy of the meth church we attend now is fine. my problem with the unstructured services is im left wondering "how long do i have to stand up before i can hear the preacher and be taught something?" (hence the comment about loving my theology classes) The last baptist megachurch i attended was normal to stand and sing christian top 40 songs for 45 minutes, a deacon would say a prayer, the pastor spoke for ten minutes, POOF, time to go home. FYI... this fall my minor will become my major- returning to school for a theology degree. (i work a while, school a while, work, school, etc..) i like the more academic approach and setting, i realize im in a vast minority with that and also need a compromise in regards to the mrs. she is more fond of the upbeat contemporary services while i like to learn anything new about the lord i can.

baptized in the holy spirit, baptized at birth in the meth church, baptized underwater as an adult in the baptist church, i think ive got those bases covered. LOL. communion, a symbolic act of taking the blood and body of christ into your own. part of the christian routine for sure but not required. John 3:16 is pretty plain and has no asterisks beside it.

I dont care for female pastors. the bible's instructions notwithstanding of course... i just dont care for female teachers. the moral issues? gay people.. live and let live. love the sinner hate the sin but i disagree they should hold positions of authority in the church. ive been married before and drink a pot of coffee a day so i guess im okay with those.

authority exercised with common sense and restraint. its not the church's business how i wear my hair or what jewelery i have on my fingers. suggestions are fine but a "do this or else" mindset isnt for me. LOL i remember once seeing a fellow bapt church member in the store.. "bear? why do you have a bottle of scotch in your grocery buggy? my reply... why is there the cap end of a wine bottle showing burried underneath a bag of premade salad in yOUR buggy?" hahaha

church government really isnt that much of an issue. i cant stand the meth denoms habit of playing musical preachers.. you find one you like and get used to then they get changed. its a throw of the dice and an admittedly minor factor in us looking to relocate now. the indy's- i have a slight issue with them in that there is no control, no sense of belonging to a bigger picture, and perhaps most importantly no accountability or responsibility. these "prosperity gospel" snake oil salesmen are a prime example of this but certainly not the only ones.

needs? we are looking for a church home and family. we want grow together spiritually in an environment with others of the same. we enjoy the social aspects of it also. cooking for the covered dish suppers, participating in the live nativity at christmastime, etc. while we do not want church association to dominate every waking moment of our lives we certainly desire it to be a major key element. moderate sized churches seem to suit us best. under 1000 members, the pastor actually knows your name and you know the other families there with you. i was once involved with the production side of things in a 6000 member televised megachurch... never again. our current church has a few hundred on the books but easter/christmas not included im guessing 25 a week show up.
thats a little too far the other way.

thank you for taking the time to read my rambling. looking forward to ideas.

'bear


ps.. the shift key is busted on my keyboard, only works when it wants to and even then i have to hit it so i rarely bother. no disrespect meant by my capitalization or lack therof.

 

[Albion]

Thanks and i can see i finally posted this in the right place.
I've studied quite a few religions as well as many denoms of the christian faith and while most are pretty much the same outside of church government there are some that i personally do not support. RC, LDS, to name two.

to address your questions:

'plugs' for one's own, cant blame them a bit and if its presented with a well spoken argument ill at least read it and apprec. it for what it is.

i'm not a fan of ceremony. the very basic liturgy of the meth church we attend now is fine. my problem with the unstructured services is im left wondering "how long do i have to stand up before i can hear the preacher and be taught something?" (hence the comment about loving my theology classes) The last baptist megachurch i attended was normal to stand and sing christian top 40 songs for 45 minutes, a deacon would say a prayer, the pastor spoke for ten minutes, POOF, time to go home. FYI... this fall my minor will become my major- returning to school for a theology degree. (i work a while, school a while, work, school, etc..) i like the more academic approach and setting, i realize im in a vast minority with that and also need a compromise in regards to the mrs. she is more fond of the upbeat contemporary services while i like to learn anything new about the lord i can.

baptized in the holy spirit, baptized at birth in the meth church, baptized underwater as an adult in the baptist church, i think ive got those bases covered. LOL. communion, a symbolic act of taking the blood and body of christ into your own. part of the christian routine for sure but not required. John 3:16 is pretty plain and has no asterisks beside it.

I dont care for female pastors. the bible's instructions notwithstanding of course... i just dont care for female teachers. the moral issues? gay people.. live and let live. love the sinner hate the sin but i disagree they should hold positions of authority in the church. ive been married before and drink a pot of coffee a day so i guess im okay with those.

authority exercised with common sense and restraint. its not the church's business how i wear my hair or what jewelery i have on my fingers. suggestions are fine but a "do this or else" mindset isnt for me. LOL i remember once seeing a fellow bapt church member in the store.. "bear? why do you have a bottle of scotch in your grocery buggy? my reply... why is there the cap end of a wine bottle showing burried underneath a bag of premade salad in yOUR buggy?" hahaha

church government really isnt that much of an issue. i cant stand the meth denoms habit of playing musical preachers.. you find one you like and get used to then they get changed. its a throw of the dice and an admittedly minor factor in us looking to relocate now. the indy's- i have a slight issue with them in that there is no control, no sense of belonging to a bigger picture, and perhaps most importantly no accountability or responsibility. these "prosperity gospel" snake oil salesmen are a prime example of this but certainly not the only ones.

needs? we are looking for a church home and family. we want grow together spiritually in an environment with others of the same. we enjoy the social aspects of it also. cooking for the covered dish suppers, participating in the live nativity at christmastime, etc. while we do not want church association to dominate every waking moment of our lives we certainly desire it to be a major key element. moderate sized churches seem to suit us best. under 1000 members, the pastor actually knows your name and you know the other families there with you. i was once involved with the production side of things in a 6000 member televised megachurch... never again. our current church has a few hundred on the books but easter/christmas not included im guessing 25 a week show up.
thats a little too far the other way.

thank you for taking the time to read my rambling. looking forward to ideas.

'bear


ps.. the shift key is busted on my keyboard, only works when it wants to and even then i have to hit it so i rarely bother. no disrespect meant by my capitalization or lack therof.

Well, bear, you've given us plenty to mull over! Thanks. Sometimes it is hard for people to put their thiniking into words and that makes it harder for us to comment...but you've given us a real overview. I am certain that you'll hear from a number of folks (after the Super Bowl, that is ).

For myself, I think this offhand:

Confining ourselves to mainstream Protestantism, which seems indicated at the start, I feel that...

Lutherans and Episcopalians are out. Your theology is not theirs, even if the ceremony were not too much for you (which I believe you'd find it to be in 9 out of 10 of those churches).

Methodism (which you know well) does seem a possibility. It's not ideal, however, when we think of the church's policies regarding ministers. But, moreover, I'm not doing you any good if I leave it there, am I?

One little gray area I have concerns baptism. You said you'd covered the bases, which I understand. But I wonder if you mean to say that you feel strongly, one way or the other, about any part of that? It might not be critical, but it could be. You're moving out of mainstream Protestantism IMO with some of that, depending upon whether or not you make an issue of it, of course. Maybe you're telling me that the fine points are not a big issue with you, so long as there is a baptism. (?)

What I feel at this point is that mainstream Protestantism may NOT be where you ought to be. No, I'm not thinking cults, megachurches, or anything like that. However, your concern over the disappearance of the sermon, if I may put it that way, seems to me to be a reaction against what mainstream Protestantism has become, i.e. too often, in too many congregations, a feel-goodish, generalized, and non-threatening style of instruction. The sermon, as you know, was once the feature of these churches. No more, as you've noted.

Just where this leads us, I am not sure. It could lead, I'm thinking, to a less well-known denomination such as the Assemblies of God, the Church of God (either Anderson Ind or Cleveland TN) or some conservative offshoot of one of the mainstream denominations. Presbyterian, perhaps, or Reformed. We have to keep in mind your emphasis upon academic sermons, as opposed to merely longwinded ones.

It could take some doing to accomodate your wife's worship preferences within this frame, and it generally is the case that the churches that are the most academic and focused on the instructional side of the service are often inclined towards being more socially conservative than I think you'd want.

Where the real issue may be joined, though, concerns which churches are available to you in your locale. It is not going to do us any good to settle upon one that is perfect in theory only to realize that there isn't a congregation of that denomination anywhere near where you live.

I feel that this is still young as a discussion. Do you have anything to add at this point or comments about my ramblings?

 

[bayoubear]

thanks and good food for thought.
ill reply in depth later.
food cooking for super bowl party.

just a quick.. baptism. personally... either you accept john 3:16 or you dont. for lack of a better term here. getting wet isnt a requirement beyond the symbolism of being born again. ... i was lost, now im found.
to get technical from an objective standpoint water baptism is no more than an initiation ritual.

our current meth pastor is female but thats not the issue, she's just a lousy pastor. no offense to her. she is sweet and a great person, just not a good teacher. pastoral style... think of your mom or favorite aunt up there preaching.

ill have to consult my comparative relig books during the game, ive attended a presbert church before and not sure what it was i didnt like. if i remember correctly you see episcopal refered to as "diet catholic" and presbert could be called "diet episcopal" or am i mixed up here?

mrs is yelling at me, have to go for now.
thanks,
bear

 

[Zoness]

As someone who was raised Catholic and has attended many different churches I feel the need to spout my opinion

If you have any preference to the Methodist doctrine of Free Will then Presbyterian is probably not for you doctrinally. They base their doctrine on the works of John Calvin who believed strongly in Predestination (that is God actively saves and damns some and we cannot change that in any fashion). Maybe you knew that and you didn't like that? I don't know.

When referring to Episcopalianism as "diet Catholic" it is still pretty ritualistic but a little bit less so than Roman Catholicism. There is what is called High Church and Low Church. High Church is very ritualistic like Roman Catholicism and Low Church is mainline and has less ritual, more comparable to say a United Methodist service. I don't know if I would call Presbyterian "diet Episcopal" because they are a lot less ritualistic often times than they are made out to be, they can have contemporary services as often as traditional.

I was a member of the Church of God (Anderson, IN) for 3 or 4 years and I can say that was probably the biggest influence on me to consider myself fully protestant from my Catholic roots. CoG Anderson is a loose confederation of churches with somewhat independent governments but they all get together for a church convention and what not. It leans more on the conservative side and can be very light pentecostal at times (random laying on hands for healing prayers etc.) but not much more. There is a good balance of (often contemporary) music and a good sermon but then again that is something else that varies church by church. The pastor at that church had good messages but often not distracted so it was hard to follow him all the time and it made his services long winded.

If I may inquire as to some of your political stances? Sometimes that influences peoples church choice. Praying that you find a church all your own!

 

[bayoubear]

no, im not a calvinist. i've visited my grandmother's presbert church a dozen times i guess over the years- very formal, AWESOME choir, too liturgical for my tastes but no real problems with it. politically right of center, to ans your ? but i wouldnt call myself right wing. im a patriot first and foremost- God bless the usa!

is looking more and more im going to have to start a shotgun approach and eventually we will find what it is we are looking for. perhaps ill get frustrated enough ill just go start my own. LOL

as a child i was raised in the meth church, high school i split my attendance between the meth church and a couple of charismatic churches i would visit with my step mom. (the every other weekend thing) one was its own animal, the other had roots in the pentecostal branch of the tree but was considered a tad extreme by the pentecostal friends i had. my interest then was more academic than anything else. no stranger to gifts of the holy spirit by any means but whew,,, times a factor of ten. got bored with it when i realized that people were trying to simply "out jesus" one another. the own animal... time has shown that to be a crackpot outfit and has long ago closed its doors.

since then its been pretty much meth or baptist. ive always visited other churches occasionally to learn about other denoms. most were at least interesting, all loved jesus, and some were just full of bologna. only got up and walked out of one... preacher went on and on about how the lord has blessed him with his cadillac car, his designer suit, rolex watch, all for a lifetime of working for the lord, who was going to be the first one this sunday to put $1,000 in the collection plate? i dont know about the thousand bucks, but a thousand + pair of eyes watched me walk out the door.

i didnt fit in with the baptists too well, im no hypocrite. ****im not calling all baptists hypocrites, most of my family, the mrs. family, all baptists.. just making a point here*** the comment in an earlier post about the shopping buggies really happened. i was baptized in that church as an adult. at the time i was running sound for a hard rock band. they had a gig that night and all of them came to my baptism. some of whom had never been inside of a church before that night- were treated like leppers. i knew better than to invite any of them to a service after that, one of my friends made the comment to me "if thats what this church thing is all about then you can keep it." ran sound for the praise band with the church too but not after that ordeal. was pretty much shunned anyway for not participating in a big pro-life rally the church was putting on. called me a baby-murderer because i had a more productive way to spend my sunday afternoon. bye-bye

ive a friend thats an episc priest, ive visited his services a few times too. he doesnt bug me about converting and i dont bug him about the boring liturgy. ive been to an RC mass a time or two just to observe. never again, nuff said. unitarian univ was interesting... clever how they wrap paganism around christianity instead of the other way around. LDS, nuff said. yeah, i guess im running low on options here- hence the search.

opinions, comments, discussion.... welcome

 

[Zoness]

I'd say LCMS Lutheran but you have stated many times that you don't like liturgy and they are very formal and liturgical.

Have you considered more conservative methodist-like churches such as Wesleyan and Nazarene? They are very contemporary and may be something you are looking for. As far as I know they don't cram any particular lifestyle or political belief (although they are typically conservative) down your throat so there are some more options. I'm trying to think of Churches off of the top of my head to best line up with your criteria.

 

[Albion]

Bear,

I think my thoughts are running along the lines of Zoness's.

It's clearly easier to eliminate churches than to find good suggestions for ones you might join. All the liturgical churches (Episc, Cath, Luth) are out, as I see it. So also any which make a lot out of baptism. That would include the Churches of Christ. The Methodists..maybe...but probably the best answer lies in one of the other Protestant denominations such as have been mentioned. Could also be that a mid-sized non-denominational church would be the best fit, from all that you've told me.

I'm sorry to let it go at this, but I think you may have to take stock of what's in your driving range and do some visiting. Alternately, you could eliminate all those that everyone here has said probably won't work for you and tell us which ones remain as possibilities, given the limitations of geography. We might do better commenting on your list than working on building one ourselves.

 

[bayoubear]

i'd like to thank those that replied here.
give me and the mrs. a lot to think about for sure.
you are correct in that about the process of elimination being easier which ive seemed to have done a pretty good job of already. we have plans in pencil as far as where to visit the next few sundays. one of which we have visited before for the traditional service, will try the contemporary service this time.

half an hour commute isnt too far and i would assume there are several hundred at least places from which to choose in that radius. staying within our own community is important to us. it will all work out in the end, no worries.

again thank you for the time, thought, and efforts put into my humble thread.

'bear

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

'bear,

From what you've said so far, I think you might like my church very much. Our senior pastor is an outstanding scholar and teacher, who gives meaty but thoughtful sermons, usually just over a half hour long. He knows his gift is for teaching, not preaching, so he delivers them more like a funny, likable professor than a preacher.

We have a good mix of all age groups, and are growing slowly, not shrinking. We are not legalistic or especially socially conservative, and not political at all. Our services are mostly casual and contemporary, and though we take the sacraments of baptism and communion seriously, we consider them symbolic in nature. We're charismatic, but in my church at least we don't especially emphasize that. Otherwise, our theology isn't much different from more conservative Methodists, having developed from the same Wesleyan tradition.

We're Assemblies of God, though AG churches do vary widely, so I don't expect most other AG congregations to be the same as mine. We're located in a liberal big city in a liberal region, and I think we are on the liberal side for the denomination -- but liberal for AG is still on the conservative side.

 

[Albion]

i'd like to thank those that replied here.
give me and the mrs. a lot to think about for sure.
you are correct in that about the process of elimination being easier which ive seemed to have done a pretty good job of already. we have plans in pencil as far as where to visit the next few sundays. one of which we have visited before for the traditional service, will try the contemporary service this time.

half an hour commute isnt too far and i would assume there are several hundred at least places from which to choose in that radius. staying within our own community is important to us. it will all work out in the end, no worries.

again thank you for the time, thought, and efforts put into my humble thread.

'bear

Thank you, Bear. We would really like to be of help, and perhaps when you've whittled the list of possibles down somewhat, we can do a better job of it. Maybe the several hundred that are theoretically in play because they're within an acceptable driving distance could be compressed into, say, a "Top Ten" that look the most promising to you and your wife...and then we can see what everyone knows about them. We look forward to hearing back from you when you think the time is right.

 

[bayoubear]

im still new enough around here to be a little delightfully s'prized at the gracious attitudes of everyone. thanks.

whittling down that list will be quite easy actually, process of elimination and all that and if the marquis out front of the church is in a language ive never seen before then that narrows it down even further. LOL (extremely diverse area here on a global scale)

something in my last post got me to thinking, with so many services each sunday being offered in both the traditional and contemporary varieties that pretty much takes our "short list" and doubles it. if we found one that say i prefer the former and her the latter... we could simply alternate which service we attend on other sundays but still be part of the same church family. everyone wins. looking forward to this sunday- trying the progressive service of a meth church here by the house, the traditional was good too.. but even if we like it we will still keep visiting others for awhile. something else i thought about too is that i will be able to get my "academic" fix when i go back to school this fall. mmmmmaybe this summer but by fall for sure. LOL i dont think jesus will mind if im studying a theology textbook while the rest of the congregation is singing all of amy grant's greatest hits.

 

[bayoubear]

what follows is something i wrote several years ago, its been passed around certain circles so is a very slim chance its been seen before by a CF member or two? anyway, i thought it may give you a little insight into how i think. "theological philosophy,, or philosophical theology" depending on point of view i guess? typical of my style and genre but this is perhaps the most personal. the scrip ref is the title. if one isnt familiar with the scripture... it wont make much sense.



First Corinthians- Chapter 12- Verse 1 thru 8​

Primordial grunting, unified chanting.
Stepping on diamonds while fervently grasping at stars.
Secrets kept from the cynics.
Hope is the antithesis of Faith.
Uncertainty is the thorn in his side.​

The dawn of time, the lighting of a candle.
The mustard seed in your eye.
No one ever sees.
I hear the diamonds rustling underfoot.
Nietzsche was right about one thing… (okay, only one)​

The Academics will never know, neither will the mystics.
Blind faith in that which can not be seen.
Look in your own eyes, not into mine.
Pleading, Chanting, Hoping, Believing?, Wanting, Screaming!
Needing.​

Most believe out of necessity, many more out of desire.
Faith can be transcended!
Unfortunately all but a precious few must wait.
Do you believe in faith, or do you have faith in your belief?​

Men with conviction are but a single grain of sand.
Dualism’s bridge is opened only once every hundred generations.
Absolution of Nothingness, Omnipotence comprehended.
The singularity of Everything, Alpha and Omega.
Overwhelming peace.​

Unquestioned recognition.