The Foundation of Faith

Greetings, and welcome to my personal blog that digs in and openly explores the fine details of the Christian faith & biblical scripture that many may not have thought about, or simply took for granted feeling that they already knew.

I personally was raised in a “Church of God” originally, but have been a part of multiple denominations throughout my overall Christian experience. Protestant, Catholic, Baptist, and Jehovah’s witness to name a few. What I had come to find as a Christian in my own personal journey is that many of the things I believed and accepted about my faith had been verbally taught to me. Those close to me such as members in the church, my relatives, and friends that shared the faith. As a child, I simply accepted many of these things without opening the bible for myself and verifying whether or not it was true scripture.

It would not be until I reached adulthood, when I began to realize that certain things I’d heard, and even some of the practices of the church…might not be in the bible. Then likewise, there were also many things found in the bible…that we as Christians were not practicing in real life. So, like most Christians when they had questions about scripture or ways to strengthen their faith, I went to speak to the leader of the church, who of course directed me to attend sessions of bible study to strengthen my understanding of scripture.

I took his advice, accepting the fact that I was weak in my knowledge of scripture as a whole, and attended bible study for quite some time. However, what I found was that instead of truly addressing the questions that I needed answered, more time was spent on “reinforcing” the things we already knew. In addition, there was also the constant disagreement of another’s interpretation regarding what a scripture really meant. Which subsequently brought another issue to light… 

What I would eventually find out, is that apparently, even when something is written in plain English, it could still have different meanings due to context, metaphors, parables, etc. Not to mention the fact that the bible wasn’t originally written in English to begin with! It’s a safe bet that not many Christians are spending their time looking at the original Hebrew language versions of the bible to make sure their interpretations are accurate according to translation.

At a certain point I tried to lead bible study myself in hopes of drawing out others who had the same questions as I did, but with no success. Due to certain elders, and other closed-minded individuals within the church, they simply weren’t interested in deepening their understanding of the religion. 

They seemed to be more interested in group prayer, and magnifying the glory of Jesus Christ. As if additional praise of him in front of others would somehow increase their chances of making it into heaven. So, for me, bible study only succeeded in being an extended version of Sunday School for adults. That and making me accessible to those who needed help with church ministries and random events.

Therefore, it goes without saying that I eventually stopped attending bible study. Although I never stopped going to church, I did reduce the number of services that I attended. Yet I never stopped having questions. In fact…as the years continued, my questions increased. At a certain point, I decided to sit down, and simply read the bible from cover to cover by myself. I would come to my own understanding and reach a conclusion in my own right. Besides, I am just as much a person as any preacher, right? Did not God also grant me the ability to tell right from wrong as well?

 So I did just that, and what I found was layer upon layer of enlightenment that answered some questions but also led to some new ones. This is what caused me to create this blog. I know I’m not alone in my quest to deepen my understanding of Christianity, and so I wanted to create a forum in which I could engage others about these topics as well to get as many perspectives about these things as possible.

Listen, I am no Preacher, I’ve never been to any sort of seminary school. I do not possess any degrees in theology, or religious studies. I am just a guy with a bible and a computer, looking to understand as much of my faith as I can before my time in this world is over. This way when I die, I do so with a clean conscience, knowing that I tried my best to understand the “true” word of God while I was alive.

For those of you who feel the same as I do, I welcome you to join me in my journey. Then perhaps we can learn and grow together. I wholeheartedly appreciate any who assist me in doing so along the way!

-J.G. Robinson