What's this blog about?

Why write a blog? What's the point? 

One day, I decided that since I've been sitting around thinking for many years comparatively about Christianity and other religions and those thoughts have led me to seek truth, that I'd just go ahead and start up a blog talking about some of my experiences and thoughts on the Christian faith from the perspective of someone who has been a part of three major branches of Christianity: Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic.

The truth is that I've always been a religious seeker, and I'm not afraid to tackle the hard questions and go where the evidence leads. For many years, I lived through a crisis of faith when I was trying to figure it all out.  After all, faith is the most essential aspect of one's life as a Christian, and if I am to live out that faithfully, I need to seek out historical, logical, and biblical truths wholeheartedly and without reservations. Just taking someone's word for it wasn't and still isn't good enough for me!  Leaving no stone unturned in search of truth is my modus operandi. It has been since I sat in the pews on Sunday mornings in a small Southern Baptist church and keeping my grandfather awake late at night asking questions about what I was reading in the Old Testament.  I am proud that God allowed me to grow up in a Southern Baptist family, where I was given the precious gift of faith.  Likewise, I am thankful for my experience as an Eastern Orthodox Christian and finally as a Catholic Christian in communion with the See of Rome in the universal church going all the way back to Saint Peter and Paul.

It is my hope that through this blog, you might learn some new insights, or you may read something that might make you think a little deeper. Getting you to think is my objective in writing this blog to share with the world and, most importantly, bringing the good news of Christ to others.

Where did the name come from?  

The significance of the name comes from an experience I had of walking into a Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian) Church in April of 2008 at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church in Fairfax, Virginia.  I went to Divine Liturgy on a Sunday morning, and I was treated to a display of the beautiful smoke and heavenly smell of incense, the sounds of bells and chants, and the physical postures of the bowing and the signs of the cross. It didn't take me long to realize that I was "home."  I had been searching for a connection to the ancient church, and that's initially where I found it after fervent prayer.  Only later did I find out that the ancient liturgies that you see today in the Orthodox and Catholic churches were patterned after heavenly worship in the Book of Revelation!  So, because of this experience, I decided to name this blog "Called to Tradition" in reference to the sharing of thoughts and the mystical experience of the smells and bells of ancient Christian liturgies.

What to expect?

This blog will have comments on current issues, particularly within the Catholic Church, as I am now in full communion with the See of Rome as part of the universal church.  "Catholic" means "universal" in the original Greek.  I will also comment on interviews, opinions, and anything and all things related to faith and daily life.  I may include some apologetics, some Church Father quotes, biblical passages, and reviews of books, podcasts, and videos.

Stay tuned for more on Called to Tradition!