How I Ended Up Here ~ Part 1 (The Story Begins With Jesus…)

Tonight I am feeling nostalgic, so I thought I would share a bit of the back story of how I ended up here – at The Conscious Perspective.

The story begins with Jesus. But it’s probably not what you think…

Many years back, after the birth of my first son, I started toying with the idea of devoting myself to one religion. I’ve written briefly in the past about my upbringing, being raised by a Roman Catholic Mother, and a Muslim Father – neither practicing – and the lack of faith of any sort in my home. I celebrated both Catholic and Muslim holidays, but almost everything I learned about religion as a child was from my Muslim side of the family.

After battling some serious emotional demons throughout the majority of my years, I was left believing that I could provide my son with an easier life, if he had a little faith.

Roman Catholicism was the obvious choice, after all, my husband was raised this religion. But I really did have a hard time wrapping my head around a lot of the concepts and ideas (this is coming from a person who never heard the real story of Noah’s Ark until she was in her twenties!) And an even bigger problem was that my husband had no interest whatsoever in bringing up our kids Roman Catholic. So – scratch that.

Next up was Muslim, but to be honest, this was never really an option for me. For many reasons.

So I decided to start from scratch. It was quite liberating. I tossed aside the fears I had from any previous beliefs I held, and began really searching.

My search led me to Judaism – Reform to be exact. I appreciated a lot of the views and beliefs and found that they aligned with some of the more innate ideas I held. We seemed to be a perfect match… Except for the whole Jesus aspect (or lack thereof).

I cannot describe to you how deeply I have contemplated the role of Jesus in various religions off & on for the past 5 years. Researched, discussed with members of different faiths, posted on discussion boards, etc… I can’t say why for sure – but I think it is because I still have some lingering beliefs from what I learned as a child.

For those who don’t know, Muslims do believe in Jesus, they simply believe he was a Prophet and not the son of God. While, from what I know (correct me if I’m wrong), Jesus was born Jewish, but  those of the Jewish faith do not believe he was the Messiah. This is where the religious road divides.

So this was always my conundrum… How could I get on board with this religion when there is no acknowledgment of Jesus – who was  clearly a very important figure in many other religions?

Check back for Part 2 tomorrow!