I'm a man in his early thirties. I come from a part of the world that has been secularized very aggressively and where traditionally everyone is a Catholic. We have some baptist and pentecoastal churches, but they are marginal and tend to be picked by people who acquire different convictions, not by people who frequent them since their childhood because their parents brought them there. They are seen almost as sects, little different for instance than Jehovah's Witnesses.
I have always believed, though I stopped going to church when my mother stopped bringing me to it more than 20 years ago. I went to a catholic private high school, but once I left high school I stopped having access to a Christian environment.
I didn't go to a catholic church, because I didn't felt at ease there. However I recently realized that the Bible commands us not to forsake the fellowship with others in a church, so I realized I must change that attitude. Also in this very secular society I feel very isolated, I see no one who shares my belief. I am rather dismayed at all this modernism and decadent behavior which is not in tune with me.
I ended up wondering if I would feel more at ease in an evangelical church. I went to see the pastor of a Baptist church who welcomed me in. We had a discussion about the faith, and of course about salvation through faith alone, which is the most important tenet of protestant denominations and which I had slowly started to lean toward in the last few years. So we got along well and I agreed with most of what he said to me.
When it came to the requirement for adult baptism however that is where I started to feel very bad. I shared these feelings with him, and he gave me a book to read explaining why it is justified. I found myself agreeing with much of what was written in the book.
However I still feel really bad and traitorous with establishing links and frequenting a protestant church. I don't know what to do with this, I feel like an outsider and like someone who doesn't belong.
I have always believed, though I stopped going to church when my mother stopped bringing me to it more than 20 years ago. I went to a catholic private high school, but once I left high school I stopped having access to a Christian environment.
I didn't go to a catholic church, because I didn't felt at ease there. However I recently realized that the Bible commands us not to forsake the fellowship with others in a church, so I realized I must change that attitude. Also in this very secular society I feel very isolated, I see no one who shares my belief. I am rather dismayed at all this modernism and decadent behavior which is not in tune with me.
I ended up wondering if I would feel more at ease in an evangelical church. I went to see the pastor of a Baptist church who welcomed me in. We had a discussion about the faith, and of course about salvation through faith alone, which is the most important tenet of protestant denominations and which I had slowly started to lean toward in the last few years. So we got along well and I agreed with most of what he said to me.
When it came to the requirement for adult baptism however that is where I started to feel very bad. I shared these feelings with him, and he gave me a book to read explaining why it is justified. I found myself agreeing with much of what was written in the book.
However I still feel really bad and traitorous with establishing links and frequenting a protestant church. I don't know what to do with this, I feel like an outsider and like someone who doesn't belong.