My Story Meets Your Story

Hello ATS
My story is simple and complicated. One minute I think I finally understand what is going on in the world, and the next a curveball is thrown my way which knocks me off my feet.
But to start at the beginning.
I grew up in a fundamental Christian home. I'm very thankful to have been raised in this environment even though I now disagree with a lot of what I was taught. I grew up knowing that there is more than what can be seen with our physical eyes and that good and evil are fighting for control behind the scenes.
My 'awakening' can be said to have started in November of last year. It started with one story that was at odds with what I believed. It was a near death experience. This person who had died was not a 'born again' Christian, yet they claimed to have gone to heaven and learned some amazing things. I shrugged it off at first, but then I read another NDE, and another, and another. The weird thing was that all these people were non-Christians who had died and gone to heaven, and there stories even backed each other up. They were coming back with similar information.
Now this was not something I could ignore, and so I prayed that prayer which has since changed my life: I asked God to reveal the truth about these accounts. Were they true or the tricks of the devil. I wanted to know.
Since that time I have literally read hundreds of NDEs and have found a pattern which has actully strengthened my love for God. I learned things that turned my world on its head and spun it in circles.
There is no permanent hell?
Wow! I knew it!
God loves everyone and is more concerned that we learn to love each other, over what we do and say?
What! Doesn’t God want everyone to be a born again Christian?
Apparently it isn't as high on his priority list as we've believed.
I'm not being sarcastic. These things really surprised me. I prayed long and hard on these things but I couldn't ignore what God was showing me. So I chose to believe him even though it went against everything I had been previously taught.
Once I learned these things other far out there ideas didn't seem so far out there. My view on life had just exploded in size. Anything was possible now.
I learned that 9/11 was planned, that a small select group controlled the world, and that everything I had ever read in fantasy books was bad writing compared to the real world. (I can tell you I haven't finished a fiction book since.)
Anyway to make a long story short, that is how I found this site. I am a drastically different person compared to the person of the same name who walked this planet one year ago. Amazingly I don't feel any regret. I know this is where I am supposed to be right now.
I look forward to sharing ideas with everyone here, and continuing on the ever twisting road called this life.
May each of you discover that spark which burns deep in your heart, and let the love of the Father flow from you to others.

Challenging your beliefs is a dangerous thing. It's something we all should do but it will lead to a lot of internal conflict, as you are well aware of. All paths will converge until you choose what you believe in. You won't find that on ATS. You won't find that anywhere but inside yourself. Look inside yourself and see what you believe in. Then you will find peace.

Yes I Know.
I had many moments where I felt lost, but now I know where I stand.
I didn't come here to find myself, but to share my ideas and hear new ideas from others.