I love the humility expressed in this piece. My favorite passage is "a loud conviction is not necessarily strong. It’s a thin faith, a fragile faith. It alienates people from the truth."

You've done a wonderful job expressing the personal journey toward Truth when one embarks on a Biblical study.

My spiritual teacher said that he was not able to discern value in the Bible until he learned two things. 1) The stories should be contemplated symbolically and not literally. 2) When reading the Bible, pray for the holy spirit to "read" for you, guide you to the appropriate passage and process the words in a way that is personal for you.

Before he died, my teacher reminded me that "God did not give you his life so you can have a better life. He gave you his life so you can have HIS life."

This is a beautiful story told with sincerity and an open heart.