My Religious Conversion

I was born and baptized a Roman Catholic and went to private Catholic schools. So In hindsight, converting to Protestant Christianity wasn't such a big leap, but it wasn't easy either.

Being a Roman Catholic ran deep in the Filipino culture. The Philippines was under Spanish rule for more than 300 years. When they colonized the archipelago, they brought Spanish missionaries who were generally successful in converting the natives to Christianity. To say that I was born into Roman Catholicism is an understatement. It's more than that. It's tradition. It's the way of life of our ancestors. It's our culture. It's part of who we are. It's part of who I am.

Yet even with all those years of history with God, my young girl's eyes saw that many times, the teachings of the religion were at odds with the actions of its followers. There was so much importance placed on religion classes, first confessions, and first communions, but nobody knew how to navigate a Bible and nobody took the prayers sincerely. I admit that we made a game of our first confession prayers, bragging about who had to atone for the most and who can get through their atonement the fastest.

Around fourth grade I went with my family to a Protestant Christian church. My sisters told me about Sunday School and I was curious. When I attended and started learning from the Bible itself, I was hooked. I converted churches, and later accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, thus converting religions.

Being a Christian in a private Catholic school and a Catholic culture was not easy. Teachers isolated Christians from the class and told us we weren't allowed in the chapel. Family members disapproved. For a little girl, it was admittedly hurtful, but I had my own way of being defiant.

Converting religions taught me to stand up for what I believed in. In Christianity, I found the God I learned about in Catholicism, and I refused to give Him up. Unfortunately, I also learned how to be insolent. To develop a thick skin from the negativity around me, I learned how to disregard the authority of priests, relatives, and anyone else with silent protests, a raise of an eyebrow, or a snicker. Thankfully, now I know how to be flexible and to accept others so they don't feel the same isolation and disapproval I felt when I was only 10 years old.