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Because I could see things that others had given up the ability to see was no reason, in my estimate, for others to look at me as if I were a bad person. Still that little nagging feeling was there that when I started to really open up and talk about what I believed, the people in my world would look at me totally differently.
At an early age I had realized that if someone wants to talk badly about you, they will.
My mother and father were divorced in the 1950's, a time in which divorce was not supposed to happen. Consequently, my brothers, my father and myself were isolated and looked at scornfully by most in my world.
My world was the church. Because of the divorce, the church could no longer recognize my father's ordination. He could, however, continue to preach as an evangelist. Living for those days, he kept his ministering powers in tact by preaching to his children.
As a member of the Assemblies of God, I was used to being called names such as Holy Roller and a few other not-so-nice names. We were taught to be peculiar in our church, not to be like the world. As a result we wore those names as a badge of our Christianity.
At that time the church did not want women to cut their hair, wear makeup, or show their limbs (arms and legs). Women could not cover those appendages with pants because that would put them in a man's clothing. Being unable to tell the sexes apart was a sin.
My contention was that in Biblical times everyone wore robes and had long hair. That little shared tidbit of mine brought on dire consequences for me.
According to our church, no one should question those beliefs but instead they were to practice blind faith. My problem with this doctrine was if God gave me one thing for sure; it was intelligence, the intelligence to ask questions. If He had not wanted me to look for answers, why would He have given me this questioning mind?
We were also taught that works took you to heaven. The only way you could see the streets of gold was to be sinless at
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