I am not looking into Catholicism because I am trying to become Catholic. Right now, I am thinking more about my kids and what I am going to teach them.
I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. I believe the Bible is the Word of God. But once I start thinking seriously about explaining Christianity to my children, I realize how many things I have always assumed without really studying them for myself.
Christians can agree that the Bible is true and still give completely different answers to some pretty important questions. Baptism, Communion, salvation, authority, and even the basic shape of the Church all seem to depend on which Christian I ask.
WHAT I AM STUDYING
This is not a deep study of one doctrine yet. I am reading more broadly and taking inventory of what I believe. I am paying more attention to the differences between churches instead of treating all of them as minor.
A FEW THINGS I AM NOTICING
Saying “the Bible is the answer” does not settle every question. All of these Christians are reading the Bible.
I have also accepted several beliefs because they are familiar to me, not because I have seriously compared them with the other possibilities.
WHAT I AM STILL UNSURE ABOUT
Pretty much all of it. Catholicism still seems strange to me in several places, and I am not trying to defend it. I am trying to understand why Christians have such different answers in the first place.
WHAT I WANT TO LOOK AT NEXT
Communion seems like a good place to begin. Almost every church practices it, but they do not agree about what it is.