Christian conversion experience: descriptions/analysis/links: input invited

Of course, the proverbial "mind-control cults" prey on troubled young people. The more mainstream churches probably just think they're "helping".My experience was exactly the opposite of a life crisis. I never suffered any abuse, hardships, etc. I had a pretty easy life.I was raised in evangelical churches, literally from birth. When I was about eight, at a church-sponsored summer day-camp, we were all invited to tell how we had been "saved". I was the only one who had no story to tell. There had been no "conversion" because I had always been there, so to speak.The teacher didn't see it that way. I was told, in so many words, that I had better get saved (with an implied "or else"). That was the extent of my being "led to the Lord".As an eight-year-old, I was left alone to "get saved". Some time later, I mumbled a prayer which would supposedly do the trick.In that church, baptism by immersion was done when the person decided he/she was "ready", typically in the early teens. I was never baptised because I was never "ready". Quite frankly, I always thought that being "dipped" was a little silly.I've seen lots and lots of "speaking in tongues", etc., often by people that I know well. I am sure it isn't "faked", but I am equally sure it isn't real. I have no clear explanation for it.As a teenager, I drifted away from the church. I tried to feel guilty about it, but I was never a really "bad" kid, so I compared pretty favourably with the kids who were "saved".My real "conversion" has come over time, with the realization that God is everywhere, but He tends to avoid the buildings. He also tends to avoid the people who talk the loudest about Him.

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People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.

Actually, I have never "reconnected" to the church. I haven't been inside a church, except on business, in decades. Maybe I didn't make it clear, but what I consider my "conversion" was moving away from the building and away from the dogma and, to some extent, away from the "professing" Christians.Scientific answers? I fully accept science for what it can answer. I also fully accept that it doesn't pretend to answer everything. I have the greatest respect for scientists and science. (My BSc is lying somewhere unused in a drawer.)I have looked into Eastern philosophies a bit, but I prefer to think things out for myself.As of now, my communion with God consists mostly of going down to the lake and watching the ducks, smelling the trees, talking to the birds, (looking over my shoulder for the men with the nets)....

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People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.

I hope I don't sound bitter about the church. I don't think of my experiences there as unpleasant, just empty. In decades of church-going, I never felt like I belonged there.If "churchy" things work for some people, I have no problem with that. Some of the best people I know are "churchy" and some are not.I'm certainly what some would call a "back-slider". I may be sliding, but I'm facing forward.

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People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.

If there was a deity, it's silly to think prayers would be necessary. So is watching the ducks.