Gavin Luckenbach
Contrite Candidate-- Coddled Catechumen
Hello all. I was on these forums quite a few years ago but have since given up on my account.
I have a very mismatched and...flip-floppy background with religion. I grew up in a non-denominational Christian household, was baptized at seven at a non-denom evangelical church (that is another story, of which I am often troubled by what I can and cannot remember from it), but left (in my heart and mind) soon after.
Throughout my pre-teen, high school and teenage years I was at first very edgy, but eventually took interest in spiritual and religious things (still in an edgy teenager kind of way) and was interested mainly in Dharmic and neo-pagan religions. I still have a basic understanding and appreciation for some schools of Vedanta and contemporary devotional Hinduism, as well as a bit of an understanding of Buddhist (even Mahayana) metaphysics. I have much less admiration for my neo-pagan days, as with any way of looking "cool," and the more generally shallow and ridiculous, misled, and almost solely aesthetic draw, that I personally had to it.
College has forced me to think through things that I once found difficult, and as a result has me reevaluating the multitude of ideas I used to shun. Over the summer I began reading the Bible largely out of an interest in Liberation theology and Leftist politics (strange, but God's grace really seems to work in incredible ways) and through an opened heart and mind, looking at things outside of my old "black metal neopagan" lens, the Truth and Love of Jesus Christ was presented to me. I'm astonished at how much more there is for me to learn, and I really cannot attribute most aspects of this conversion to my own doing, but to God alone. As it stands, I am growing my faith and relationship with Jesus. I have a lot to learn, confess, and do.
Being drawn to tradition and historical claims has led me to RCIA classes at a local Catholic church. If I had no historical background, and if most of the people I know were not non-believers--- given my conversion experience-- I may have had been theologically inclined towards Calvinist or Baptist theological views of justification... but perhaps it was just traditionally...Augustinian?
I'm still very interested in casual dialogue between other faiths, and fellow Christians of various denominational persuasions. My main interests are comparative religion (within reason and genuine scholarship), Medieval mysticism, Church history, epistemology (especially important when it comes to comparative and inter-faith dialogue), and practical spiritual questions. Hoping to make some new friends!
I have a very mismatched and...flip-floppy background with religion. I grew up in a non-denominational Christian household, was baptized at seven at a non-denom evangelical church (that is another story, of which I am often troubled by what I can and cannot remember from it), but left (in my heart and mind) soon after.
Throughout my pre-teen, high school and teenage years I was at first very edgy, but eventually took interest in spiritual and religious things (still in an edgy teenager kind of way) and was interested mainly in Dharmic and neo-pagan religions. I still have a basic understanding and appreciation for some schools of Vedanta and contemporary devotional Hinduism, as well as a bit of an understanding of Buddhist (even Mahayana) metaphysics. I have much less admiration for my neo-pagan days, as with any way of looking "cool," and the more generally shallow and ridiculous, misled, and almost solely aesthetic draw, that I personally had to it.
College has forced me to think through things that I once found difficult, and as a result has me reevaluating the multitude of ideas I used to shun. Over the summer I began reading the Bible largely out of an interest in Liberation theology and Leftist politics (strange, but God's grace really seems to work in incredible ways) and through an opened heart and mind, looking at things outside of my old "black metal neopagan" lens, the Truth and Love of Jesus Christ was presented to me. I'm astonished at how much more there is for me to learn, and I really cannot attribute most aspects of this conversion to my own doing, but to God alone. As it stands, I am growing my faith and relationship with Jesus. I have a lot to learn, confess, and do.
Being drawn to tradition and historical claims has led me to RCIA classes at a local Catholic church. If I had no historical background, and if most of the people I know were not non-believers--- given my conversion experience-- I may have had been theologically inclined towards Calvinist or Baptist theological views of justification... but perhaps it was just traditionally...Augustinian?
I'm still very interested in casual dialogue between other faiths, and fellow Christians of various denominational persuasions. My main interests are comparative religion (within reason and genuine scholarship), Medieval mysticism, Church history, epistemology (especially important when it comes to comparative and inter-faith dialogue), and practical spiritual questions. Hoping to make some new friends!
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