Denominations

When I first met my husband, Shane, he was 'Catholic' and I was attending a local pentecostal non-denominational church where my mother still attends. Shane had no issues with coming to church with me and I also went with him to the catholic church. I really enjoyed going with him. At this point in my spiritual growth I had come to the conclusion that all believers in the bible and Jesus were 'Christian'. I found the variety of denominations to be a very rational choice of a God that had created such a diverse array of personality types. Why would God only have one type of church when his creation was so varied? If God really desired for all men (and hopefully women) to be saved and come into this personal relationship and spend eternity in heaven, then God would have to find a way to appeal to the masses. The catholic church was rich with traditions and reverence, qualities that my current church lacked. Yet the catholic church seemed to also be lacking in the personal aspects of the God I had grown up with, while also being stuck or solidified, unable to evolve to reach the younger generation of today.

While I was readily accepted into the catholic church and Shane's family (for the most part), my church was not so accepting, and very critical of my choice to date Shane. In a way it felt like a circle of bodies closing in, and pushing me to the outside. The choice to date someone that did not fit the criteria of my cohorts was the beginning of another (one of many previously experienced) exclusion. This exclusion was really probably the most influential in my decision of walking away from the institution of 'church'.