I appreciate you sharing this. I am still Catholic. I've been listening to your Christian music for over ten years now. (Just this past Sunday, after Mass, I had to move car seats around in our SUV, and after blasting some Relient K (it was cold. The neighbors weren't out to be bothered by it), I turned on some of your music.) It still feels strange when I listen to your music, knowing that where you are now is vastly different from the songs I sing along to, the music that still moves my soul.
I went through so much of this, the questioning that you write about here, when I was 19, and while I cannot claim to have read as much as you have of the Church fathers, or the Catechism, or any of it, I became convinced of the truth of the Church. I still grapple with questions, fifteen years later. (I assume I always will.) As a homeschooling mom, I teach my children the faith, and sometimes the way the textbook (which I like!) says things... It presents difficulties for me. (For the record, I'm not trying to say that I went through a phase, and it's the same as what you're experiencing now, nor that what you're doing now is going through is a phase. Simply that I'm familiar with these questions and this line of thinking, but I came back to the Church, while you did not. And while there is a significant part of me that is confident about Catholicism, I will not claim that I ended up where a person is supposed to end up and you didn't, nor that the Church is, ultimately, where you will end up, or should end up.)
And so I'm not going to say, "I hope you will come back to the Church!" as I've seen people do on your Facebook page. I feel like, if I were to say that, it would be mostly motivated by wanting to feel more certain about my faith, not a desire for the best for you. But for whatever it's worth, I do pray for you, in the most genuine way I can. I don't know you (at least, you and I do not have a personal relationship, and you sure as heck don't know me), but as your music has walked with me so meaningfully over the last 10 years, I feel like you are some kind of a friend. And I want good for you. And so I ask God, the Creator of the universe and all that is good, to give you what is good. His will be done.
Thank you for continuing to share the deepest parts of yourself. I hope we can all help each other get to where we need to be.
May we all have or be a Ms. Debbie for someone. And may we each find a priest, pastor, teacher, or friend to assure us that doubt is not a sin. -signed, a former SBC kid turned Episcopalian 😁
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I pray that the Good Shepherd will bring his sheep back into the fold in time. The gospel of self realization and actualization is false. We are not enough, but that's ok. We need the one who made us in His image, the one who died for us. Without God, there is no right or wrong, good or evil. It's not about following a religion and all it requires. It's about following Jesus. His word contains the answers. Praying for you and sending you love as you navigate things.
I appreciate you sharing this. I am still Catholic. I've been listening to your Christian music for over ten years now. (Just this past Sunday, after Mass, I had to move car seats around in our SUV, and after blasting some Relient K (it was cold. The neighbors weren't out to be bothered by it), I turned on some of your music.) It still feels strange when I listen to your music, knowing that where you are now is vastly different from the songs I sing along to, the music that still moves my soul.
I went through so much of this, the questioning that you write about here, when I was 19, and while I cannot claim to have read as much as you have of the Church fathers, or the Catechism, or any of it, I became convinced of the truth of the Church. I still grapple with questions, fifteen years later. (I assume I always will.) As a homeschooling mom, I teach my children the faith, and sometimes the way the textbook (which I like!) says things... It presents difficulties for me. (For the record, I'm not trying to say that I went through a phase, and it's the same as what you're experiencing now, nor that what you're doing now is going through is a phase. Simply that I'm familiar with these questions and this line of thinking, but I came back to the Church, while you did not. And while there is a significant part of me that is confident about Catholicism, I will not claim that I ended up where a person is supposed to end up and you didn't, nor that the Church is, ultimately, where you will end up, or should end up.)
And so I'm not going to say, "I hope you will come back to the Church!" as I've seen people do on your Facebook page. I feel like, if I were to say that, it would be mostly motivated by wanting to feel more certain about my faith, not a desire for the best for you. But for whatever it's worth, I do pray for you, in the most genuine way I can. I don't know you (at least, you and I do not have a personal relationship, and you sure as heck don't know me), but as your music has walked with me so meaningfully over the last 10 years, I feel like you are some kind of a friend. And I want good for you. And so I ask God, the Creator of the universe and all that is good, to give you what is good. His will be done.
Thank you for continuing to share the deepest parts of yourself. I hope we can all help each other get to where we need to be.
May we all have or be a Ms. Debbie for someone. And may we each find a priest, pastor, teacher, or friend to assure us that doubt is not a sin. -signed, a former SBC kid turned Episcopalian 😁
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I pray that the Good Shepherd will bring his sheep back into the fold in time. The gospel of self realization and actualization is false. We are not enough, but that's ok. We need the one who made us in His image, the one who died for us. Without God, there is no right or wrong, good or evil. It's not about following a religion and all it requires. It's about following Jesus. His word contains the answers. Praying for you and sending you love as you navigate things.
Thanks for your candidness. I’m learning to trust myself more as I follow your journey.