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Grant Heath
Mr. Lemmons
World Religions
4 September 2019
Personal Religious Experience
I was born in 1999 to two wonderful, devout Christian parents. My parents were raised in

separate denominations, my mother being raised Methodist and my father was raised primarily

Southern Baptist. My grandparents on both sides are still alive and still attend churches of their

respective denomination, which has had a huge impact on my life. My parents met on a blind

date set up by my father’s two sisters and from there they were married and moved to Dallas,

Texas with two wonderful children and attended a Presbyterian church called Park Cities

Presbyterian Church. This is the church I attended from age two until I was about seven years

old. We left Park Cities for a church plant from the same church called Providence Presbyterian

Church. This is what I consider to be my home church and where I have grown up, learning from

the pastors there and attending Sunday school. My father is an elder in this church and that has

had a huge impact on me, watching him serve and take care of the church in addition to his job

and our family.

I would say my walk in faith began as soon as I was born. My parents raised me to be a

Christian, I remember being read various Bible stories before bedtime, learning who Jesus is and

what it meant to be a Christian. It was not until I was twelve years old that I really began to

consider what it looked like to live my life pursuing Christ. It was when I was twelve that I

interviewed with the head pastor of my church and discussed my faith with him to show that I

had a basic understanding of what my faith would look like. After talking with my pastor, I

became I communing member of my church and really started to develop a passion for my faith.

I was still very much in a bubble, being raised in a Presbyterian church in the PCA
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denomination, only learning from that. I had very wonderful youth ministers growing up, one of

which is now the head pastor of a small PCA church in the Pittsburgh area and another who is

the RUF campus minister at Stanford University. These men were wonderful to me and so

critical in helping me define my faith and answer the many questions I had regarding it. My

mother was also incredibly helpful in my spiritual growth, constantly motivating me in anything

I did with Bible verses and other spiritually based devotionals to help me get through anything.

My older sister was also incredibly helpful when I was preparing to leave for college. She

attended and graduated from OSU and she introduced me to the Reformed University Fellowship

(RUF) group that meets on campus. This has helped me tremendously because it has allowed me

to connect with other people my age who are living away from home and trying to maintain their

faith in an environment where it may not be easy.

Being a Christian conservative white male in 2019 America is not easy but it is how I

define myself. I was born into a Christian family but I consider my faith my own. I made the

conscious decision to pursue glory through Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and I will stand by that

decision until I die. I do not consider myself a Christian because I wake up early every Sunday to

go to church or because I have a Bible with my name on it but rather because I understand the

personal impact the Crucifixion had on me. I believe that 2000 years ago a virgin girl conceived

and bore the Son of God who came into this world to redeem it and I cannot stand idly by and let

that sacrifice be wasted. I had the benefit of attending a private Christian school in Flower

Mound, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, where not only was I educated on all the necessary subjects

but I was also able to have theology classes and attend Chapels that helped me to expand my

knowledge of how other people worship and go to church and ultimately made me appreciate my

upbringing and my faith much more. Beginning college was a bit of an awakening because it was
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the first time I had actually met fellow students and professors who could not relate to my history

because of how they themselves grew up. Many of my professors seem to not take a particular

stance as to avoid controversy but I have taken several biology courses and those have really

made me evaluate what I believe about the Creation story and how I think of the Earth but at the

end of the day I always return to the same realization that the Bible is totally true, I just may

have interpreted certain passages in a way that closed my mind to other ideas. This has been a

great benefit, expanding my horizons and allowing me to open up to people about my faith and

not limit my circle of friends to those who share the exact same beliefs and ideas as me.

I mentioned in the first paragraph how my family and my mentors have shaped my faith

growing up and I am very grateful for all of those people but I do feel like that experience gave

me a very rigid mindset growing up. I was raised and taught that many things were sins and if

you did any one thing on that incredibly long list then you would go to Hell and that was the end

of the story. Once I got to high school, my rigid mindset began to loosen up as I looked around at

the world and saw changes to laws and changes to the country and realized my outlook does not

have to be one of shame and hate but one of love. I would look at gay men and women as

nothing more than sinners doomed to die but it was not until I was a senior in high school that I

became friends with these people and I realize that, while I do not agree with their choice of

partner, they need love and care in their life because that is what Jesus would do and that is the

type of man my mother raised me to be. I try to keep an open mind when talking to new people

but as the saying goes, old habits die hard. Living in Stillwater, with an incredibly diverse

campus it is very interesting to meet new people and hear their stories but I was fortunate enough

to have a loving, kind family who took the time to teach me so much, the very least I can do is

extend that love and kindness to those around me.

My exposure to other religions has been very limited because I went to private Christian

school, so nobody at that school came from a religious background that was all that different

from my own. I have made a few friends that say that they are Hindu but I am not sure how true

that is because in my life, I never saw them make any decisions that were faith based or heard

them discuss what they believe in enough detail to really say how that affects me. The biggest

thing that has affected me would have to be Gnosticism. Many people who I have met from

various activities, whether it be working or school, tend to not acknowledge any specific higher

power and just believe that their lives will run their course and eventually end. It has been a

learning experience because most of the conversations that I have with my Christian friends have

a much different tone and we talk about much different material than when I talk to those who

are more agnostic. Most people I meet who do not believe in a higher power would probably not

even label themselves as Gnostics but ideology seems to fit their beliefs so I would attribute that

to having an influence on my life.

Without my family, my youth ministers or any of my friends I would not be in the place

that I am. I have a deep and passionate love for Jesus Christ and I want other people to share in

that love with me. A love I acquired not just from my family or my church but from school and

learning about the world and its vast history and many facets. I have met so many people in my

life that have come from some very diverse backgrounds and without meeting those people I

would not have the open mind and open heart that I do now. I am looking forward to learning

more about what other religions believe and diversifying myself that way but in a very brief

overview, this is what makes up Grant Heath.