I consider myself a logical and rational person. There have been so many times in my life where I questioned things about my faith, with many times I considered letting go of my faith. I was raised in a mildly sheltered house, my grandfather was a minister, and parents were strict. Conflicting ideologies with societal standards really nagged at my soul and my thonker for ages, not to mention some things I was sheltered from I resented. (Some Examples: Corporal punishment (chancla to the face), Mom smashing a Pokemon game when I was 10 because my aunt said it was evil, never played shooters until my late teens because Ill turn into a school shooter, not having a girlfriend until 18).
Luckily, I got my rational thinking from my parents. As the years progressed and I began to make compelling and sound arguments (even citing the Bible) I was finally able play Pokemon, have a girlfriend BEFORE 18, etc.
There is a point to this. Christianity today makes the mistake of promoting a collective or established idea, but it works for the masses. This is why sometimes you see many people just spout out hate and Bible verses in judgement that maybe their pastor said or something. It causes people not to listen. Try arguing with someone who believes Pokemon is Satanic. “WHY?” “CAUSE IT IS” facepalm
I realized I didn’t resent my faith as much as I resented the way certain communities behaved like cults. Often times they were hypocritical, and often times people would spout things without knowing where the idea even came from. I take an individualistic approach to my faith, and in a way, that makes it more personal. As I analyzed the New Testament, I think thats what Jesus wanted for people to do. Thats why He expanded upon the commandments in the Old Testament because the capability of society to encourage individualistic thinking would allow everyone to know Him like Israel had for ages. It would be the same if instead of liking a restaurant for its good service, you personally knew everyone who worked there, where the waiter greets you by name, the owner jokes with you, and the food has an extra scoop of mashed potatoes because they already know you were going to order that.
As someone going into scientific and engineering based fields, fellow pursuers more often then not are shocked. (This has been my experience.) I admit it’s at times unnerving. There are years and years of research behind evolution, the Big Bang, etc. How can I refute it? Out of respect for the minds behind the research, I guess you could say it’s in the back of my mind and I don’t directly refute it. Although recently, the credibility of the theory in my head is not that high. The point is, because not logically considering something because of bias is the very thing I resented, I consider alot of perspectives
Basically the biggest reason I stay with my faith is because I’ve come to realize there’s a certain peace with believing in a benevolent higher power that you know as well as you would a best friend. The self-control, self-improvement, and self-awareness that comes with applying the teachings of the Bible has benefitted me every day of my life. And it brings me great joy to tell people about it, and their response being “So that explains why you’re so chill.” People are also more apt to listen if you’re chill.
TL;DR It also made passing NNN a breeze, and I think Jesus would enjoy my memes. However, expect me to personally grief your house if you curse on my Christian Minecraft server (please curse).