I was raised as a Christian without much of a solid education in the faith. When I questioned that faith, I found many skeptical objections applied to my shallow beliefs. So I became an atheist and continued to study philosophy/theology. After a time I realized that my initial objections to the Christian faith we themselves quite shallow and lacked rigor. I always felt there was a missing piece. I did not and still do not believe that physical reduction adequately address the stuff that life is made out of: meaning, experience, truth, and values. I did not assume that thinking about these things required a God, much less a Christian God, nor did anything exclude God. Continue studying, but now the existence of God became a reasonable possibility.
Meanwhile back on the ranch, I developed some bad thinking habits and became prone to making very poor jugdments. Some of these stemmed from disbelief. I also had a minor mystical experience that confirmed some of my philosophical speculations. That prompted me to delve deeper into Swedenborg’s theology. It was a good match. My thinking about certain thought problems became more clear and I learned to resolve some of the doctrinal difficulties that prompted my initial loss of faith. But more importantly, I started to experience the victory promised by Christ.
Meanwhile back on the ranch, I developed some bad thinking habits and became prone to making very poor jugdments. Some of these stemmed from disbelief. I also had a minor mystical experience that confirmed some of my philosophical speculations. That prompted me to delve deeper into Swedenborg’s theology. It was a good match. My thinking about certain thought problems became more clear and I learned to resolve some of the doctrinal difficulties that prompted my initial loss of faith. But more importantly, I started to experience the victory promised by Christ.
