Faith’s Rollercoaster: From Lazy Sundays to Bible Drills

Hey there, fellow travelers on the winding road of life! Today, I’m taking you on a little stroll down memory lane—into the murky, sometimes amusing, and occasionally baffling journey that was my early dabbling in the world of religion. Spoiler alert: it’s a tale of Lutheranism, Methodism, and a whole lot of Seventh-day Adventist quirks. So, grab your coffee, tea, or whatever poison keeps you going, and let’s dive in.

Lutheranism and Methodism: A Religious Stew with No Real Flavor

Let me paint you a picture of my childhood Sundays. Picture this: a home where religion wasn’t exactly the centerpiece of our lives. My dad? Lutheran by upbringing. My mom? A good ol’ Methodist. But if you’re imagining a family dutifully trotting off to church every Sunday, think again. Our Sundays were more about sleeping in and postponing chores than about piety or pews.

Religion in my house was like that distant relative you only see at weddings and funerals—acknowledged, but not really involved. God and the Bible? They were as much a part of our daily conversation as calculus is in casual chat. Meals were just food to be eaten, no divine blessings needed. But here’s the kicker: despite this laissez-faire approach, my dad was a seeker. He wasn’t satisfied with the religious spoon-feeding he’d gotten as a kid. He wanted answers—big ones—and that led us to a new chapter.

Seventh-day Adventism: Where Things Got Real

Now, here’s where the story takes a turn. My dad, always the spiritual explorer, stumbled upon a shiny new church in town that was hosting a study on End Time Prophecy. Yep, you read that right—End Time Prophecy. For reasons that still elude me, this tickled his fancy. After soaking up a few sessions, both my parents decided this church was the real deal. Boom—baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1979. I was around seven or eight years old, and suddenly, we were in deep.

And when I say deep, I mean deep. Religion went from being a whisper in the background to a full-blown concert in our daily lives. I was shipped off to an SDA-run school where Bible study was on the menu every day. Family devotionals became our morning ritual, with scripture and Sabbath School lessons as the main dish. This was no casual dip into religion; we were doing full-on cannonballs.

The SDA Church had some…let’s call them interesting beliefs. For starters, they were big on the idea that Jesus was coming back any day now—so we better be ready. The Sabbath wasn’t your average Sunday; it was Saturday, starting at sundown on Friday and ending at sundown on Saturday. And let’s not forget the Old Testament dietary laws and a firm stance against anything fun—smoking, drinking, dancing, you name it. If it brought joy, it was probably forbidden.

But what really stuck with me was their obsession with Bible memorization. They drilled it into us that one day, the Bible would be banned, and we’d need to have whole chunks of it memorized. To this day, I can still recite scripture like a good little SDA, even if I’ve moved far beyond those teachings. It’s funny how some things stick with you, isn’t it?

Exploring Christianity and Beyond: The Quest for Meaning

Fast forward to 1986. My dad’s death hit me like a ton of bricks. I was just a teen, grappling with the loss of my father and the confusion that comes with it. In my early teens, I started exploring other flavors of Christianity, trying to make sense of a world that felt pretty damn senseless. Was there a loving God out there? If so, why was He playing hard to get?

But here’s where things get interesting. My curiosity didn’t stop at the usual Christian fare. In my late teens, I stumbled upon the writings of folks like Aleister Crowley and Scott Cunningham—names that probably wouldn’t have been too popular in my old SDA circles. These guys opened my eyes to a whole new world of spiritual paths and esoteric traditions. It was like going from a black-and-white movie to full technicolor. Suddenly, the rigid boundaries of my faith were being pushed, and I was starting to see the world in shades of gray.

To Be Continued…

So, that’s the start of my journey. From a childhood where religion was more of a footnote to diving headfirst into the deep end with the Seventh-day Adventists, and then on to exploring everything from mainstream Christianity to the writings of Crowley and Cunningham. But this is just the beginning.

Stay tuned, because in my next piece, I’m going to take you through the time when my search for meaning led me down some unexpected paths, including my stint in the Mormon Church. Trust me, it’s a story you won’t want to miss.

Until then, embrace who you are, live your best possible life, and conquer your perceived world!