Neither. I was born a Catholic, got baptized as an infant into the Catholic Church, went to mass, confessed my sins to the priest, went to church on Sundays, received communion (host), got confirmed, but found too many inconsistencies in some of their teachings such as you had better confess your sins to a priest in order to erase any mortal sins simply by reciting some number of Our Fathers and Hail Marys. Also, the Catholic Church had a history of selling indulgences, making up venial sins and purgatory, and torturing other Christians. I went through the motions but I didn't think about religion that much. We moved to Florida in my sophomore year in High School, finished high school, went to college and got a degree in math education. In my first year teaching, some of my colleagues commented on the strange behavior of another teacher who prayed before he ate lunch in the teacher's area and he carried a bible everywhere he went. He was somewhat ostracized by some teachers but one day I decided to sit with him because I thought he couldn't force me to believe something I didn't believe. So I started asking him questions. Instead of answering my questions orally, he simply turned to different scriptures and had me read the biblical answers to my questions. I'm thinking, "boy, he really knows the bible. He invited me to his church. That is when I first felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. People were actually standing up one at a time and each praying to God aloud in worship and expressing their gratitude for their blessings from Him. That was a far cry from the Catholic mass where everyone just prayed in unison, stood in unison, kneeled in unison, recited in unison, and followed a preset ritual of worship.That is what made me realize that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are real. Eventually, I prayed to God to help me to believe, if He was real. I got baptized with water and started to attend a non-denominational church whose main source for their beliefs was the bible (unlike the Catholic Church who has the order of authority in their beliefs as the pope and clergy first, the traditions of the Church second and the Bible third). Before all this, I was a sinner and committed great sins that I was repentant of, asking for His help and strength to overcome. My sorrow and repentance was and still is deep. I knew and trusted in Jesus' death for the forgiveness of my sins, but I was still under the influence of the flesh and the world. It wasn't till about 4 years ago that I was overcome with the Holy Spirit. I know this because I was filled with love for the Father and Son, and extreme desire to know them more, and just like the Son, to do the Father's will. Also, with His help I have overcome my demons.I made God my reason for living. The church I was going to refused to discuss certain topics with me (neither in an assembly nor individually) because the subjects were too controversial and that it would cause friction within the church. That is when I decided to not depend on people and started to do my own research. We have more resources now than the early Christians did. I have different Bible versions, concordances, commentaries, dictionaries, the internet, history books, etc. Understanding lead to more understanding and the desire for more. I give myself and people zero credit for my understanding and give all the credit to the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and my Bible.
