I'm glad people are enjoying this thread! I'm definitely learning a lot. Soror ChooChooAKA, your question would not be considered a hijack. What I am trying to stay away from is people getting hurt feelings and offended behind people's views. This is the reason that I wanted conversion stories ONLY, to make sure people were protected from jump.
The reason that I posed the question is simple, really. All my life, I've looked at different religions, even as a kid. I was raised Baptist. Each summer, I attended Vacation Bible School at both Baptist and Methodist churches (I'm goin' on a journey, through time and through space...
). My grandmother worked for a Jewish family, and would teach me a few principles about that. Then in high school, I had a good friend who was Baha'i. I thought that one was the most interesting of all, but not enough to convert. I continued to go to events with him, though all through college. Then I got to college and met a guy who is a Hebrew Israelite. All these years, he and I have communicated and debated each other, or even just listened, about religion. I don't know a lot about it, but he's sending me stuff in the mail about it soon. After having the conversation with him, I just wondered how many people actually covert to different religions or even denominations. I am SO grounded in my faith that at times it's hard for me to even THINK about the idea of another religion. But I like to learn about them, still: how they are the same and how they are different. It's just really interesting
I've been Christian for 29 years, y'know? And I don't necessarily have a problem with the religion. I just sometimes wonder, what if I'm wrong about some things? So it made me wonder who had converted and how they felt during that time period. I imagine that it's really hard. And that seems confirmed by some of the stories here, because people take religion probably more seriously than anything else in life. I knew that there would be stories of families not speaking and things of that nature. I was just interested in hearing the stories. I'm not necessarily thinking of converting, but sometimes it's a trip to even READ about a different religion because I'm constantly debating points with myself inside my head. Weird, huh?
I'm glad you all think this is an interesting topic, too. I hope we can continue having a healthy dialogue about it!
