Beyond Baptism: My Journey to Christ
On the 6th of February, 2022 in the year of our Lord I was received into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ, the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church. Long will I have waited for this moment, the moment I will be able to receive the most precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, in order to understand where I will be, one must understand where I came from.
I was born in a mixed religious family, I had religious family members and as a result of this I have attended various denominations of Protestantism with them. Methodism, Lutheranism, Pentecostalism, being the primary ones. Furthermore, the attitude of my immediate family on religion is that something that is to be figured out on your own. Religion was never something that was pushed on me, and perhaps as a result of this I naturally fell to atheism. This stage of my life was by far likely the longest, and quite possibly the darkest. Throughout this stage of agnostic atheism, I would delve further and further down the rabbit hole of atheism. Ultimately I would end up being an anti-theist for quite a few years, and this stage of my atheism was without contest the most toxic.
Anti-theism is a fundamentally separate ideology from atheism or agnosticism, as the latter ideologies merely reject the existence of God. Generally with no malicious opinions or intentions towards religion, typically that of the organised religions. Anti-theism however is quite a radical departure from this worldview. Given the propensity of anti-theism to hold that the world would be better off without religion in general, as well as malicious attitudes towards those who practice religion. I do not envy those who talked with me about religion and my attitudes towards it during those times. I was indifferent at best, and condescending or mocking at worst.
At this stage, my anti-theism was influenced by some contemporary atheist thinkers such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. I acquired two books which would heavily shape my perspective on religion, those being God is not Great and The God Delusion by Hitchens and Dawkins respectively. My personal philosophy was heavily influenced by nihilist thinkers, such as Friedrich Nieztche. Although I did not know what hedonism was, my personal philosophy was also heavily influenced by it as well.
My initial trip into atheism was at a rather young age, when I found certain YouTubers who made videos on atheism. It was rather unwise to discover such content as young as I was, given that it ultimately ended up shaping my personality and attitude for quite a few years. Some of the individuals worth mentioning are MrRepzion, TJ Kirk "The Amazing Atheist", Hugo and Jake of "The Bible Reloaded", and Greg "Armoured Skeptic". These individuals had a great impact on my attitudes towards religion and those who were themselves religious. Admittedly, after a time of consuming their content my attitude towards religion actually softened. It was through the content that I saw religious individuals less as naive fools and more as people who hold a set of beliefs.
Things would eventually begin the slow process of change in the year 2018, sixteen years and nine months after my birth. I met an individual in Politics Amino who would introduce me to another. This individual is well known among these circles, and has gone by many names, the most well known of which is Fetti. Fetti and I met in a particular Amino, the RED Debate. RED is an acronym, which stands for Resolutions, Enquiries, and Discussions. It was essentially a more formal and respectable version of Debate Amino, but not limited to debate.
At the time we met, both Fetti and I were atheists. In 2018, however, due to a reason I never ended up learning she became a Christian. Through our conversations, we became rather good friends. In 2019, however, through our discussions on the subject of Christianity, I ended up becoming a Christian as well. This is a rather big turning point in my life, as I had never truly believed in anything other than what I could tangibly see and scientifically prove. I had become a non-denominational Protestant for around a week or two, before I would meet another individual who would greatly influence my spiritual life.
