re: #52 Surabaya Stew

I’ll tell you the path that brought me to this point religiously. Although I go to OU, I’ve lived much of my life in Colorado Springs. As time went on, I got involved in a church group in a large evangelical church. At the same time, I was reading up on history and learned a little about the world. However, during the 2004 Election, the church group I was in became very political, and I began to have doubts about faith in general. Eventually, a speaker from India came in and spoke to the group, and was saying how Hinduism and Islam were ruining India. Being a little 9th Grader, I didn’t know the details of the history, but did know that colonialism has played a much bigger role in the state of India today. At that point, my faith flamed out, and I became de-facto atheist for a while. However, as I learned about other religions, I learned what the Muslims thought on Jesus, and gradually drifted back towards Christianity, though by this point I no longer believed in the Trinity, and was a Nontrinitarian (When I lived in Colorado Springs, I never met anyone of a religion other than Christianity, or those who were Atheist. Make of that what you will). When I came to OU, I eventually became involved in a Southern Baptist church because of the kind hearts and the people. I was able to ignore the issues I had with the Trinity, I guess by repression (My best friend recently did some gentle criticism of my ability to repress doubts, feelings, and thoughts, rightly so looking at it.). Then about 2 months ago, the churches atmosphere became much more acidic towards disagreement, and I began to feel like I didn’t belong anymore. As a result of this, everything I reviewed my thoughts again, and did some more research into Islam. This time however, I was able to actually find Muslims to talk to about theology in close proximity. In doing so, I began to believe much more in Islam. The few doubts I had were extinguished by the Imam I was referred to by my big at APO, and I decided Sunni Islam is my path.

Slightly related, my younger sister is has turned into a flat-out atheist in Colorado Springs in the last two years. I believe Colorado Springs somehow actually has the effect of damaging ones faith unless it is exetremely strong, or belongs to a few narrow band of theology.