somewhat related but both my mom's parents were apostolic Christians missionaries. her dad was also a minister. they spent 20 years founding churches throughout Argentina and Mexico. they also take the bible literally, these are the no TV, no "rock music", no electricity on Sundays people.

my dad's side wasn't any better; DEEP Irish Catholics a thousand years back. his sister was a nun and principal at a Catholic school.

I was in Catholic boarding school for all but 3 years, when it was just regular Catholic school.

I was as devout as it gets.

until I went to LSU. and focused on world history and literature. because when you do that, much like Joseph Campbell before me, you can't help but see the same basic stories over and over and over again. stories that sound like they're right out of the gospels, but are thousands of years too old, or from people who had no possible way to ever hear about Jesus.

at that point you basically have to convine yourself that ALL of those other stories are obvious bullshit, but the ones about Jesus are fact, even though both versions are more or less identical.

or you can open your eyes and realize they're all simply made up and spend two years on the floor crying like I did because my faith meant so much to me.