Oh wow, from the age of five you had a pretty good idea of where you were heading. At the age of five we were a "normal" family, then the road to Damascus experience happened and by the age of 10 we were in NTM. I remember having reservations about it all in boot camp, because much of the adult behaviour was childish and irrational. Then we went to language school and I remember telling my father that I didn't want to be a Christian anymore and he told me I had to stay in my room till I changed my mind. In some respects that was probably the turning point, because I knew I had no option but to put in a minimal religious effort just to survive. Looking back, I was probably always an Agnostic, it just took a long time to get to the stage of feeling comfortable enough to label myself as anything.
And despite all the upheaval you have the graciousness to say "If your religion works for you hats off to you", those are words I have never heard or will never hear from my family.
What we call ourselves, be it Atheist, Christian, Agnostic or something else, it is only a label. It is how we live our lives as members of a functioning society that truly define who or what we are and that is generally only known to close friends and/or whatever deity is out there. Labels are cheap and disposable, actions be they good or evil defines who we really are.
|