My Christian Experience Was Not Without Some Doubt Filled Moments

In the beginning I understood my Christin faith as an academic. I did as I was told, I read my bible, and I followed the Ten Commandments as any teenager does; when it suited me. I wasn’t a horrible teenager, I was raised in a small farm community that really didn’t understand someone with a vole at the end of their name, or someone who wanted to walk to the library and read rather than hang out on the steps of the malt shop/gas station. My formative years were the 1960’s. There was so much conflict and rebellion and hatred. By the time I graduated and was supposed to go out and make my way I was thoroughly confused with and rebellious. Problem was I wasn’t sure what I was rebelling against; the “rebel without a clue.” But, in the end I wound up being a successful trial attorney; I even ran for Congress! I became a Master of the Universe; I was a Goddess that walked on the earth. I believed that God already had enough on his plate, wars, famine, disease, atrocities; why should I plague Him further? After all, the Bible says: “God

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

Becoming a person for others is a core Jesuit value. Please describe your own development in becoming a person for others. How have you demonstrated this value?

I grew up knowing this gospel, I lived in Salt Lake City, my parents were extremely emerced in the church with callings like young women’s president, primary president, Sunday school teacher, elder quorum president, 2nd counseler to the bishop, stake relief society president, and 1st counsel to the stake Sunday school president. Their testimonies and examples help me understand the principles of Christ’s teachings. I grew up knowing what was good and what was bad, and from an early age I hated being in the wrong. I liked to please people and felt so uncomfortable with the feeling of guilt. Looking back on it now I can see that is a gift that God gave me, it was great it kept me out of trouble for the beginning years of my life, but it wasn’t

As a Christian there are theses moments in life when you begin to question your faith, these moments of “am I really saved?” At five years old Melissa (Jackson) McCloud accepted Christ into her life as her Lord and Savior and was baptized by her father who is the Pastor of their church. The next twenty years Melissa would have theses uncertainty moments of whether or not she was truly a Christian or just going through the motions with her faith. Melissa felt like an outsider growing up with being homeschooled and then starting private school at Christian Heritage Academy. During her walk with God she first had this questioning of her faith when she was 17 years old and her brother in law died in a car wreck, she did not understand why God

For all seventeen years of my life, I have grown up in a Christian home and attended a Seventh Day Adventist church and school. I believe that growing up in a Christian environment has provided me with the foundation of my spiritual life. I 've been taught fundamental aspects and ideas of Christianity and have studied most of the common stories and messages of the Bible. However, even though I am equipped with these study materials and spiritual strengths, I believe that my relationship with God is shaky and not as strong as it has the potential to be. Even though I can proudly acknowledge that there is a God, I often don 't feel His presence and sometimes doubt His existence. I always find myself questioning my spiritual life and relationship with God. If I 've grown up in a Christian environment all of my life, why do I not have a strong relationship with Him? Why is my faith so weak? I believe that the answers to these questions can be found by acknowledging my spiritual weaknesses and using my spiritual strengths to improve them. I believe that acting on some of my spiritual weaknesses, such as an insufficient amount of time devoted to God, unfocused time with spent with Him, and biblical unintelligence, can help me to improve my spiritual life and walk with God.

Growing up I was always told religion was false and that I was above my friends who were Christians because I believed in science. My mom was raised by Catholics, but when she graduated High School, she vowed to never be religious again. My father enjoyed feeling more elite over the “religious plebeians” that worked for him. I remember having an argument with Victoria Henderson in 3rd grade because I believed in The Big Bang and she was a creationist. Everyone took Victoria’s side, and I learned it was better to just not talk about religion. In high school, I began reaching out of my comfort zone, and also questioning what my parents had ingrained on me as a person. My first religious experience was dating a boy named Luis who was Catholic, as my mother was raised. He was only allowed to date Catholic girls, so I

Over the span of four months, each week I would regularly meet with a former colleague of mine by the name of Terrion Austin. Terrion recently moved from Nebraska to Tennessee, due to his job opening that presented itself that would allow for him to be closer to both him and his wife’s family. Terrion reached out to me over the summer, due to the fact that he was extremely unsure in his faith. He felt that whenever he read the bible he was never felt satisfied once done reading. This frustrated him tremendously. In addition to his frustration, Terrion was often confronted by members from his job that would frequently ask him questions that he did not feel he could answer. Moreover, his inability to answer did not come from a lack of knowing the bible; however, it was quite the opposite. Terrion, like most young Christian, grew up

Ever since I was a young boy, my family would pile into our old 15-passenger van and drive to church each and every Sunday, without fail. I didn't really understand it at first, it was just something I had to do. When I was around 6 years old, my mother encouraged me to accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. I hardly understood what it meant, but I went through with it, much to my mother’s excitement. Years passed, and my understanding grew. Up until I was around 13 years old, my faith had no correlation to my actions. I could recite bible verses for hours, yet I couldn't say what any of them meant. That all changed one year at Camp Selah, a Then, in the year 2014, my faith took a turn for the worst. I’d had a testing first year of high

I have to admit that my undaunted convictions as a Christian on issues such as gay rights, the right to die, abortion, and many others have been steadfast, that is until now. With all that I’ve said, and all that I’ve done, the question of whether I truly trust God has become “the” issue. To quote a question that was asked in a discussion many, many years back; “Does having a gun denote I have NO trust that God will protect me?”

I'm being raised in a Christian home by two incredible parents who have taught me to hold on tight to my faith and morals. In today's society, I've discovered that "holding on tight" isn't enough. I have to grip even tighter to where my knuckles are white because it's so easy to conform to the ways of the world and drift away from God. I think that's why it was so refreshing to step back and disconnect from the world for the 8 days I spent in Guatemala. My understanding of how great Gods love increased. My prayers were more sophisticated, I witnessed with more eagerness, and my relationship with the Holy Spirit became finer. I'm blessed to have carried back home more confidence and openness about my beliefs.

My faith journey, began when I was born I was basically born and raised to be a Christian going to church every Sunday. To praying every night, to accepting the body a blood a Jesus, to understanding that all the holidays weren’t just for the gifts but it was meant for my savor Jesus Christ.

My journey with God started in February of 1993, when I went to a ladies’ conference in Columbus, Texas. It was while the speaker was explaining that she knew there were some of us out in the audience, who felt guilty about something they had done in their past, and they did not feel that God could forgive them for it. But then she quoted from God’s word; “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, no things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39 NASB) The speaker continued on to say that all we need to do is

Sitting outside on the sturdy back porch in the middle of a brisk night, listening to my casually Christian friend, Cassie, tell a very vaguely intriguing story about her mother to another one of my casually Christian friend, Shelby, was the first time I realized I wasn’t a Christian.

Growing up I always lived in a religious household. We always prayed before we ate, prayed before we went to bed, and always went to church on Sunday and Wednesday night. While I never questioned these actions and never tried to rebel against them, I still didn’t understand the importance of them either. I was merely walking in my parents footsteps, doing what my parents told me, singing along to the children’s songs in Sunday school, gave a tithing of my allowance every Sunday, but my life was void of the real meanings of my actions. This went on for years. Because I had not yet read through the Bible to understand why these actions had any meaning, they were just things I did all the time and I thought that was normal and that was what it meant to be a Christian.