I am what's called a cradle Catholic. That is, I was Baptized at 7 days old at St. Paul Apotre church in Quebec city and Confirmed at age 12 by Cardinal G.B. Flahiff.
 

While this was a great start, I started to rebel shortly after. As my independence and invincibility thrived, I ventured out into the world in search of truth.

I was certain that I was destined, maybe even entitled, to become rich! My ego and my bravado were competing for dominance. My friends were the same, hedonists and partyers day and night. All I ended up doing is jumping from job to job, living paycheck to paycheck.
 

In 1992, I started my own business in Vancouver's
video production industry. This is how
I was finally going to get rich.

For a start-up company with only
two owners, some contract employees
and a few part-time workers, it did well for about 9 years.

Through my own mismanagement, the company went bankrupt and all my dreams of wealth vanished - I was 40 then. It felt like it was my last chance to make it or...

That's when life took a shocking, yet pleasant turn. I realized that I was no longer in control. I was stuck, wondering and wandering through life still searching for truth. That's when I returned to my childhood Faith.

From then on, I have been on a quest for both truth and God. After all, from my perspective, they're both more than I can comprehend - which satisfies me endlessly.

You can learn more about my background and my truth-quest which led me back to God as I've written about in my journey as a missionary and about my relationship with God in my 'Rob In Peru blog'.

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​At this point, I expect some readers might have concerns
regarding proselytization.

 

While I've declared that I'm a Catholic Christian,
I won’t declare any religion to be superior to any
other religion.

I wholeheartedly believe that; any thing and every thing, any person and every person, any action and every action, any word and every word that brings any people and every people closer to God is good and right.

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"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:

for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.".

- Romans 10:11-13, KJV

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"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
-Matthew 11:15, KJV

Within this verse, 'ears to hear' refers to all people with ears that are able to hear the Holy Spirit of God whenever Jesus teaches and speaks in parables to mixed crowds. No Exclusions.

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Laconic #233
Everyone should do everything to get everybody into heaven.

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I’ll reiterate – Faith and religion are not the same. Faith is a glorious and mysterious gift that comes from God.

Religions have always been and always will be our human conceptions of Faith, which is something we cannot fully understand without Divine intervention.

I like to think of Faith as fitness and healthiness while religion is our preferred method of attaining our fitness and healthiness. We can argue for many hours over which sport, activity or exercise is optimal, but it comes down to personal desires, skills and abilities. If one sport, activity, or exercise isn’t to your liking, you can look for something more suitable. The most important thing is to not give up on your fitness and health. Don't give up on Faith over religion.

It might be more important to pick-and-stick with a religion suitable to yourself and your family. If you jump from religion to religion, you can't build communities. In my situation, I was born into Catholicism and I find it most suitable for myself and my family.

We all have been gifted with life. None of us created ourselves. Our parents were our pro-creators, but not creators.

To procreate means too many things like; reproduction, conception, propagation, impregnation, breeding, proliferation, spawning, sexual activities, regeneration, multiplication – you know, all the cell-dividing stuff.

To create means a whole lot more. Humans pro-create the body, but God creates the Spirit of the body. Our brain has a mind and our body has a soul or a Spirit at its heart. The brain and body are corporeal. The mind, the soul and the Spirit are non-corporeal.

 

From God, our brains have minds of God (His Word), our hearts have the Holy Spirit of God (His Love), and our lives have the Son of God, Jesus Christ (His Word made flesh through His Love), so that we can learn more about our creation from God. As a divine bonus, Jesus forgives us our sins (through His Love, obedience, passion, suffering, dying, rising and promises) so that we can return to our creator, God.

The human body typically lasts many decades. The Spiritual body lasts indefinitely.

This is why we worship beyond ourselves. We want to live beyond our  corporeal mortality. We don’t want to die after several decades.

Faith is one way God introduces Himself to humankind and lets us know more about our creation, procreation and His promise of everlasting life in heaven.

I’ll reiterate – religion is our human way of practising our gift of Faith.

 

Practice makes perfect, so don't stop practising, just find a better way to practice.

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Peace and Blessings to you all.

JRW Dubois