A Place to Lay Your Head- Peter

When I was young (10ish), I was very interested in Catholicism. I liked the idea of the rituals, the spiritual trappings, all laid out meticulously in the church, all aimed toward appeasing the Holy Spirit. My mother saw this interest, but chose not to foster it. That is, she didn't encourage me to take a more active role in the church. I don't see this as a bad thing, it's just the way things turned out. Years later, I was a young man (17), and I began to question all of the things that Catholic doctrine had taught me to believe. I questioned the need for the ritual, the need for prayer, the need to attend church at all. When I chose to leave the church, my parents didn't try to stop me. My mother simply told me that the church (religion in general) is just somewhere that you can go when life doesn't make any sense. The rest of the time, it's not important. It only matters when you begin to lose faith in the rest of the world. Religion is your anchor. Religion is a place to lay your head. I always kinda liked that idea. Its a very post-modern view of faith. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's an interesting viewpoint.

Bryan's views on Jesus are very unique. They are very similar to early Jewish views on Jesus. The Jews saw him as one more prophet, among the many that came before and after him. According to the majority of the New Testament, he's completely wrong, but that's the difference between a personal faith and a religious system of faith. A person can change his personal faith with relative ease. A religion very rarely changes.