The thing that really drove me to see the Bible how I do was, ironically, listening to atheist philosophy.

It wasn’t wrong on a lot of things, of course, or no one would ever listen to it, but on others I kept noticing shifting sands…

What they did manage to point me at were the blind spots of different sections of the church, and different things that are very difficult for people that have to be wrestled with, which just drove me back to scripture.

I am by no means an expert. (…ugh. no pun intended), but the scripture makes rational sense now (except, oddly enough, for Paul, who is extremely difficult to understand, and also a favorite citation of a lot of people who like to take him at low context face value), and constantly turns over new jewels when I read it. Hopefully one day my habits will be better built to it.