Matt, why is this relevant? Would you not respect his religious views, had he identified as an atheist/agnostic? Shawn seemingly cheats on his wife, took illegal drugs for years and years, disrespecting God's temple which is his body. But yes, hmm good on him for spending a few hours a week at Church (assuming he even does, which I doubt).
I have no issues with religion (I come from a fairly religious family) but I can't stand the idea that someone's wholesome purely because they identify with a religion. The nastiest, most hypocritical people I've ever met happened to be religious and I don't suddenly "respect" anyone more or less for learning that they follow a religion.
Like you, I come from a religious family. My mother, mainly. My dad is more of an agnostic.
That's a part of the answer. Another part is...I actually like Christian values. Not so much the "don't do drugs/steroids" aspects. But more like the - honouring your mother and father, or pair-bonding with a woman for life.
Which I REALLY hope I can do with my new girlfriend, but she is massively paranoid that I will smell the vagina of every woman who lives in Northwestern Ontario. And...she's not entirely wrong to have this concern. I even find that women are more likely to cheat on their boyfriends with me, if it's just me going down on them.
Past tense. I've been in a relationship/monogamous since November 10th now.
A part of me wishes I could have the faith my mom does. I wish I knew what comes after death, if anything, and what we need to do in our lives to achieve eternal salvation, if that's even possible.
In this sense, I am a bit envious of God-fearing Christians.
I suppose you can really boil down the answer to your question to the fact that I've been having a bit of an existential crisis lately. I no longer take for granted that I won't just drop dead tomorrow. I could full well drop dead tomorrow. I don't think I will - I firmly believe I am not quite done 50% of my life, now at 38, but...I'm just not as confident as I used to be about that.
Am I prepared to meet my maker if I have one? No, not really.
So you could say that I wish I had faith. I sometimes wish my brain wasn't so rigidly scientific as it is...and why did God create me like this, and give me a brain to question his existence? That would seem to be damning me to hell, and that just doesn't seem fair to me.
I do like Christian values though. I honestly wish I could have faith, but...it may just not be in my genetics to do so.
