K.S. Elizabeth

Before I converted to evangelical Christianity, I was pro-choice. After I converted, I decided abortion was flat-out wrong.

The resurrection of Christ is central to orthodox Christianity. It is therefore unfortunate for me that I sort of don’t believe it happened, me being a Christian and all.

I’ve come to realize that rules can be good when they have a good purpose, but when they are used to decide salvation, things get thorny. Jesus had something to say about that to the Pharisees.

So I became a defender of biblical inerrancy, the belief that the Bible is completely true. By true, I mean accurate, a word carrying connotations of history, science, factual and physical observation, and impartiality. In my mind back then, there might’ve been a little room for poetic language, but I saw myth, fairy tale and realistic fiction labels as excuses not to take the Bible seriously and, therefore, out of the question.

I began to see Heaven and Hell as ways to live instead of ways of to die. Heaven was connecting with others and myself in empathy; Hell was disconnecting from my own needs and consequently from others’ needs.

This group of women saw the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law, and when they exposed how the law was being used against its purpose, change was made.

The end of the story is that I escaped my mental jail cell without losing my faith. But it wasn’t immediate or simple. It was a complicated process that involved trauma, unconventional theology classes, and listening to the unexpected, still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.