“YOU ARE ONLY A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE YOU WERE RAISED IN A CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD..."

There comes a time in everyone's life where they have to answer hard questions. The doctrines they have held onto since their youth will be put to the fire of reality, and they will have to pass the burning test. They will reach the place where their long-held beliefs will not match the experience they are living out, and that state of cognitive dissonance will force some decisions to be made.

What brings those raised as Christians, to this place?

For some, it is the question of God's place in the current turn of world events.

For some, it will be the seeming inadequacy of religious facts to match up to new scientific findings, or the discomfort with the un-intellectuality of religion.

For others, it will be a tragedy, or personal failings, or unanswered prayer requests.


Many respond in different ways:

Some dig their heels further into their religious customs, silencing their soul's questioning with cookie-cutter religious phrases.

Some adjust their moral standing, hoping their good works or being perceived as a good person will ward away the disconnected experiences they are observing.

Some delve into spiritism, seeking answers in the world beyond the physical sphere, hoping to curry the favor of spiritual elements and beings in getting their beliefs and reality back into alignment. 

Others go far in the opposite direction to materialism (the philosophy) and hold their experiences in higher regard than their long-held beliefs. They subsequently shed off their religious beliefs and transition to agnosticism or atheism as their response.

And others, commence a search for the Truth.

The position in searching for the truth is this: My beliefs may be important, and yet they might not be. My experiences may be a wake-up call, and yet they might be a small part of a bigger journey. I consider them both (doctrines and reality) secondary right now. What I want to know is: what is Truth?

Sometimes this search lands people right back where they started, with some little revelation for their effort. Sometimes it is an entire course-correction exercise.

Today's Christianity unfortunately allows little opportunity to decipher which of the four above pathways people have taken to get to their current standing in the faith. And that is why the titular comment, is a gross generalization.