I figured I'd bring you along for the ride.
It starts with questions so this is just Part One.
Think about your Spiritual DNA :: what traditions religious or not did you grow up with? Were you ever introduced to a faith? Faith being the assurance of what we hope for and what we cannot yet see...
* faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, dying on a cross in crucifixion so that you can receive grace for your sins (debts against God)?
* faith in a humanity that all people are good?
* faith in a prophet or a person? or an inner strength?
* faith that there is or is not a Higher Power?
My Spiritual DNA includes ancestors in the Reformation Movement and denomination of The Church of the Brethren. My maternal grandparents and their parents and their parents' parents were very devout. My paternal side had Christian beliefs yet did not have involvement as much in their local church.
Today the descendants of the 16th century European movement (particularly the Baptists, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Brethren in Christ) are the most common bodies referred to as Anabaptist. Early history of the Brethren began in 1708 when a group of eight Christians organized themselves under the leadership of Alexander Mack (1679–1735) into a church and baptized one another in Schwarzenau, Germany, now part of Bad Berleburg in North Rhine-Westphalia. Hence, the Brethren Church that I eventually attended from 5 years of age to adulthood is one of several groups that traces its origins back to the Schwarzenau Brethren of Germany.
The reform issue precipitated a three-way split among the Brethren in the early 1880s. The beliefs and practices of the Brethren churches are reflective of their early influences. They accept no creed but the teaching of the New Testament and stress obedience to Jesus Christ and a simple way of life. In fact, I grew up near a church camp called "Camp Mack".
Of course I didn't know all of this when I was growing up. I simply knew and was taught that the Bible is the God's Living Word. And I believed it and still do.
"What is the living Word? What does it mean that the Bible is the living Word of God?"
Answer: According to Hebrews 4:12, “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” The “word of God” here is the written or spoken Word, not the Logos of John 1. The ESV says that the Bible is “living” and active.
The description of the Bible as “living” means that it has a vital power inherent to itself. The written Word of God accomplishes God’s purposes (Isaiah 55:11); the preaching of the Holy Scriptures brings about God’s desired effects. The Bible is unlike other books, whatever emotional or social effects they may produce, in that it brings about lasting, supernatural change within a person. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17).
Jesus likened the Word of God to seed in His parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1–23). Seed, like the Bible, is not dead, but living, and it has the ability to bring forth more life abundantly. Seeds produce a crop (verse 23).
The Bible, as the living Word of God, is not inert or powerless, as seen in the actions attributed to the Word in the rest of Hebrews 4:12: the Bible “penetrates” deep within us and “judges” our hearts and motivations. It is “active,” not passive. The Bible is resisted or ignored to our own peril (Hebrews 2:1–3).
We see the living Word of God in action in the pages of the Bible. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached the Word of God, and his audience “were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37). Three thousand people were saved that day (verse 41). Later, as the apostles continued to preach, the number in the church grew to five thousand, because “many of those who had heard the word believed” (Acts 4:4, ESV). God’s Word, living and active, does not return to Him void.
The Bible is the living Word of God because it is the message given to us from the “living God” (Hebrews 3:12). The God who is alive works in this world through His living Word in conjunction with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 6:17). Jesus spoke of the life-giving property of His words: “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63). The word of our Lord is efficacious for our salvation and sanctification (Acts 13:48; John 17:17).
Other indications that the Word of God is alive include the facts that it sustains man (Luke 4:4), it brings faith (Romans 10:17), it has freedom to accomplish God’s will (2 Timothy 2:9), it can be maligned (Titus 2:5), it gives spiritual birth (1 Peter 1:23), and it abides within believers (1 John 2:14).
We see the living Word of God in action every time a sinner repents and turns to Christ for eternal life. The believer’s changed life bears testimony to the living, active power of the Bible. Commentator Matthew Henry wrote of the Bible that it “convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that have become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It will discover to men their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of many, the bad principles they are moved by, the sinful ends they act to” (Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, Hebrews 4:11–16).
The living Word is active in the lives of those who receive it. According to the psalmist, the person who meditates on and delights in the Word will be “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:2–3). The Scriptures today are often downplayed in favor of man made philosophies, personal experiences, or a “new” word from God. But the Bible cannot be ignored as if it were dead or obsolete. The Word of God is still powerful and very much alive. “We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).
My Memory: I remember sitting with my dog, Tippy in the back yard and telling him at the age of 5-6 about Jesus' love and the gospel message that Jesus died and came back to life as a sacrifice to atone (make-up) for my sins. He was the best listener as a collie/beagle mix.
So were there any Scriptures or text that your family considered Sacred? Were you Catholic? Were you brought up to respect the Koran?
I grew up with prayer before almost every meal and sometimes at night before bed. Occasionally we would do devotions. I would go to classes at the church, attend Vacation Bible School and eat fellowship meals then play in the gym. My mother would play the piano and sing hymns. I also learned to sing along with her and to develop some skill on the piano (some is a very loose term). I enjoyed church for the craft activities and the continually learning of how this man was born as a baby (Christmas!) and then had a ministry with his rag-tag group of friends (disciples) going throughout the country side speaking of God's love and doing miracles also became hated and was killed. He rose from the dead, "how cool is that?" I remember Palm Sundays holding Palms and waving them to imitate Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem before Passover.
We sang songs (I loved singing) and coloring Bible pages. It was just something that I did and didn't think much of it until middle school when my worldview was challenged and trauma entered my life.
At that time, I realized that my faith...really wasn't mine. It was my parents' views and I had a decision to make as to whether this would be my own beliefs or not. I couldn't shake the faith in Christ or God-existence piece. I felt a presence of peace and calm even when I was in devastating-to-me circumstances. I read on Biblical topics of love, acceptance, no favoritism, sexual purity, compassion, kind words, heaven and hell and how to live through struggle. As I read more about suffering that's when some seeds were planted for my own faith; yet, I did not understand why people particularly in the church didn't have any helpful dialogue about issues of the day (i.e. sex and young people living together, LGB subjects
Through a friend I was exposed to differing worldviews and ultimately groomed to view this person as an idol. This person was older and "so much more mature and wise". Now I look back and realize they were definitely abused somehow, part of a dysfunctional family living through the experience of divorce and having no faith background.
I can see why I began to crave answers to my new questions and new emotions that adolescence and of course puberty brought up. You may ask, where were your parents?
They were right next to me...concerned. VERY concerned and could see the change in me. But during this time I read and wrote and read more Biblically than I had before and now I realize...through pain, rejection and suffering...that is when MY Faith was beginning to come alive.
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