If you were ever a theist...

[*Deidre*]

That's one the only message. Some of us believe faith is an experience.

I have wondered of this too, and you can't really say that the experiences accumulated by the world's scientist's aren't more varied, and often more intense than for people who spend their time in churches.

Do you think you can be a little more specific about this "experience" which you (and so many others) refer to?

Hello, and sorry, it was busy @ work today, so didn't have a chance to reply sooner. 

I would say that what led me back to Christianity, was an experience with what I'd consider to be a holy spirit. As bizarre as that might sound, I can't explain away what I felt in secular terms. I was not practicing any faith at the time, had grown indifferent to God and the idea of a person named Jesus even existing, wasn't attending church, reading the Bible...nothing. I had explored different religions last year and came to the 'conclusion' that atheism/agnosticism was where I was going to reside. And there were a few more experiences after the initial one, that led me to think that maybe...just maybe...there is more to this life than meets our eyes, ears, and everyday senses. Others could explain it away perhaps as coincidences, but I had a witness for one of the occurrences, and even he tried to explain it away, but had a hard time because it really didn't make logical sense. (he is a believer, but didn't really want to believe that it could be something other than a 'normal' explanation) Maybe we just have a hard time believing that a deity exists...Idk. But, it brought me back to believing again, and my faith is not wrapped up in do's and don'ts and rules and rituals, and reciting the Bible. I feel like my faith is real, now. It's personal for me, which is what is different. That's the best way I can explain it to you.