Questioning religion?
Over the past few months my life has been undergoing a huge change. I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. When I was a baby I was baptized. I also received my First Holy Communion and I was Confirmed while in grade school. It was evident that I had a good understanding of my faith or so I thought.
When you are young you accept your faith for what it is, and you never question it. But I found myself questioning my religion more and more as I grew older. I asked questions, but I didn't fully understand the answers. My parents were never too much help because they had never been very religious people so the only sources I had were the church and friends. I tried for years to understand religion, but it never made sense. I then started thinking to myself, "If God doesn't want me to understand religion, then I will not try." I still went to church every weekend, but I just didn't understand why. For years I went on believing what I wanted to believe and doing whatever felt right in my mind.
Just recently, in the past few months, someone very close to me started talking to me about faith. While we were talking about faith he raised the question in my mind, "What do I believe?" Now up to this point in my life I had set forth my own beliefs, but he got me thinking about Catholicism again. I have always considered myself to be a Catholic, but now he had me asking myself the question "Am I really Catholic?"
After this conversation, I spent the next several weeks trying to figure my faith out for myself. Figuring religion out by yourself is a very scary and very difficult thing to do. But it was lucky for me that he was trying to figure out his religion at the same time I was. I think he was God's way of telling me that I need to become more in touch with my religious beliefs. Ever since that day we have been helping each other to understand religion more and more.
It was now apparent to me that I did not have a good understanding of my faith. I now realized if I was never forced to question my faith, I don't know if I would have ever been able to get in touch with my religion again. As I began my new life, I wondered "What would have happened to me if this person had not been in my life?" To me it is scary even to think about it. It is so comforting to think that God loves me so much that He sent someone here to help me with my problems. I came to the realization that, no matter who you are, you are a helping to someone, even if you don't know it.
When you are young you accept your faith for what it is, and you never question it. But I found myself questioning my religion more and more as I grew older. I asked questions, but I didn't fully understand the answers. My parents were never too much help because they had never been very religious people so the only sources I had were the church and friends. I tried for years to understand religion, but it never made sense. I then started thinking to myself, "If God doesn't want me to understand religion, then I will not try." I still went to church every weekend, but I just didn't understand why. For years I went on believing what I wanted to believe and doing whatever felt right in my mind.
Just recently, in the past few months, someone very close to me started talking to me about faith. While we were talking about faith he raised the question in my mind, "What do I believe?" Now up to this point in my life I had set forth my own beliefs, but he got me thinking about Catholicism again. I have always considered myself to be a Catholic, but now he had me asking myself the question "Am I really Catholic?"
After this conversation, I spent the next several weeks trying to figure my faith out for myself. Figuring religion out by yourself is a very scary and very difficult thing to do. But it was lucky for me that he was trying to figure out his religion at the same time I was. I think he was God's way of telling me that I need to become more in touch with my religious beliefs. Ever since that day we have been helping each other to understand religion more and more.
It was now apparent to me that I did not have a good understanding of my faith. I now realized if I was never forced to question my faith, I don't know if I would have ever been able to get in touch with my religion again. As I began my new life, I wondered "What would have happened to me if this person had not been in my life?" To me it is scary even to think about it. It is so comforting to think that God loves me so much that He sent someone here to help me with my problems. I came to the realization that, no matter who you are, you are a helping to someone, even if you don't know it.