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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up going to a UMC church that was barely Christian and more of a social club.  I became Catholic in high school, then fell away after suffering a very traumatic event that led to PTSD.  I spent years as a bitter self-described anti-theist before coming back.  [b]I felt myself start to believe again and believe me, I fought against it with [b][everything that I had.[/b]  I really agree with that saying, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”  If you have your mind closed to believing, no one can convince you.  Anyway, the last year or so has been filled with church-hopping as we decide where to attend long-term.  Trying to decide between Orthodox and Lutheran.  Right now we're attending an LCMS church.[/quote]

Former atheist who also fought against belief...I still don't talk about it with people I know....but after so many experiences that just seemed to be coming from another more benevolent realm, I just surrendered myself to having faith.  I'm curious, what experiences did you have that led you to faith? [/quote]

I remembered how when I was younger, my prayers were answered.  Not anything stupid like "Please let my mom buy me this thing I've been bothering her about," but there were times I'd pray for something, and then I'd literally feel this indescribable sensation, and then it would happen.  I've never actually "heard" God and I tend to be skeptical of those who claim they have, but I can't deny that something supernatural happened.  I also looked back at the way certain things in my life had played out, and to me it was very clear that fate was guiding me.  When my husband dragged me to Mass a few times, I felt this great sensation of peace and of being with God.  When I prayed, I felt warmth.  I'd always had "feelings" that something specific was going to occur in my life, and looking back, I realized I had been right all along.  And I remembered that a few years before the traumatic event, I had prayed and asked God that if he would spare someone else, that he allow me to suffer through that specific type of thing instead.

Some people might read this and accuse me of being a superstitious idiot, and that's fine.  I'm happier now.  I'm not angry about things all the time.  And as stridently as I proclaimed I was "good without God," I have become much more compassionate and, IMO, moral, since I've come home.[/quote]

Based on what you've written, I think of you as being very impressionable, not a superstitious idiot.  When you say something like " I can't deny that something supernatural happened"  you are simply making a claim based on an emotional reaction you had.

You also seem to see yourself as very special -- and somewhat of a martyr -- who can convince God to spare someone pain by giving it to you instead, without thinking of why it had to be a trade at all.  Why would God cause suffering and then respond to a request to pass on the suffering to someone else?  Did God have no choice but to make someone suffer, but gave you the power to take on that suffering? 
[/quote]

I think it's more of a specifically Catholic thing.  I remember reading about some saints back in Catholic school who asked to suffer on behalf of others.[/quote]

So pp thinks she's saint like?  Nothing humble about that -- but humility wasn't mentioned in the post -- just the ways in which she's improved since God started paying attention to her.[/quote]

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