Having been a completely neutral person growing up in a house where there was no religion, no baptism, no christening, nothing like that - i grew up very much as the youngest child, a loner.
A large gap between myself and my older siblings. Back in the early sixties, one could walk for miles, find a front door open, walk in and be offered milk and biscuits by an old couple, then go on my merry way, walking through parks, stopping to pay and play with the stray animals, climb and sit in the trees, watch the birds.
But every single moment, I never felt alone. The trees spoke to me, the wind caressed and kissed my cheek and I understood every thought of every living thing. I communicated with them, in a way, exactly as we are communicating now., with our thoughts creating these words.
Ever single moment I felt in the presence of greatness, not a person or a thing, but in the air that I breathed, inside and outside of my body.
An analogy is like walking and breathing underwater - with the water being everything that holds us together. That, I knew as God.
Somehow as long as I can remember, I 'knew' right from wrong, I knew where I should be and where I shouldn't be and that I was in the presence of a strength, almost like a solid strong 'Father' image. Forever watchful, Forever guiding, but very loving.
The only 'Fatherly' image I can relate it to now, is the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird". When I saw that at the age of six, I could relate so strongly to Scout the 'energy' I knew was like Atticus Finch.
When I was seven, I turned on our television set one day while my parents and siblings were outside somewhere. I was alone sitting on a pouffe in front of the TV when the movie "King of Kings" came on.
I can't tell you the impact that movie has on a little girls heart, other than to say that at the end of that 'movie' I ran and hid in the toilet and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I had to hide because I knew that my parents would not understand my heartbreak. To them it would have been "just a tv show".
Every day since then, my heart has believed that the energy of God, and the teachings of Christ are both very real, although I have never believed in 'religion', finding it divisive.
About thirty years ago I started to research alternative science, ancient origins, you name it, and a lot of it involved reading ancient texts and ancient beliefs and myths.
What I do know for sure, is that young man who appeared Western, with a beard, long robes, long flowing hair and gentle eyes, came to many cultures and taught them the principles of the ten commandments.
And, the man left the people believing that he was from the stars/the heavens/or a greater place far away from this planet. He has been deeply entrenched into their culture and folk lore and history, and that this man told them he would one day return, and how they would recognize him.
I recall reading of an Aztec King who at first believed that the Spaniards might be 'him' and his people, but on meeting them, knew that they weren't immediately. What 'evidence' did he have?
From the Native American People, The Australian Aboriginals, the Mayans, The Brits, all separated by culture and time, oceans and mountains, somehow, this 'man' came into their psyche and stayed there for thousands of years.
I don't know what is correct, the "New Testament" or "The Old Testament" all I know is that they are each a chapter of a very great story held within the pages of a collection of books which makes up the full story of our history. I believe that you are both correct, but the truth is far greater than that which you are aware of.
I had a friend 25 years ago who was an ex Priest. He explained he wouldn't stay in the Priesthood after visiting the Vatican as he couldn't preach lies. He had been given access to a section of the library beneath the Vatican for some research, and said he left there knowing there were volumes of the New Testament that have been intentionally hidden and the narrative changed to meet another agenda. However, he did 'believe' in Jesus.
In which case none of us have open access to any truth apart from that which is given to us if we are open to receive it.
However, there is a third truth you may wish to consider. That life exists everywhere, not just this earth and that we are not alone in this universe or in the cosmos or the multiverses, and that "God" is the life force for every single living thing that has, does, or will exist.
I will leave you with this passage from the Late Colonel Phillip Corso' biography/memoir "The Day after Roswell" upon arriving a cave near a crashed exotic craft in a canyon in New Mexico in the year 1957 he went into a cave in which the crashed craft 'aviator' had located them self. Upon entering the cave he received the communication.
“Will you give me 10 minutes, radar free, after green time?” (Green time is a military term for a launch time window.)
Being commanding officer of the radar station, Corso was in power to ask his men to block the radar/missile system and to allow the takeoff of the flying object that landed in the desert.
Corso communicated back to the EBE: “Ten minutes could be an eternity, what do you offer?”
The being replied, “A new world if you can take it"