I am not Catholic.
But I need help.
I am not sure where I stand or how to classify myself.
Here is why.
I am a 51 year old believer. I always was a believer. In God.
I was raised fairly Christian.
I fell away from Christianity during my 20s and 30s, and into my 40s.
I am alcoholic.
But I always believed in God.
During my second divorce, in 2017, I turned to the church (Baptist).
I was baptized again, and I always wondered if a person could be baptized twice.
But to me this was very significant because it was me giving my heart back to Christ after so many years of falling away.
Anyway, I was very active within the church and leading a small group and serving and Christ was the way.
Fast forward several years and my alcoholism had progressed during this time, and once again I fell away from the church. Still a believer. But my faith had failed me.
So I went to treatment, and then to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. AA teaches its members to put religion aside and find a God of the persons own understanding.
Well I already felt I knew God, but I followed this advice.
So I began praying, alone, every single morning on my knees, asking God only for guidance, and asking for Him to reveal Himself to me, and to relieve me of my own selfishness. And to live in me.
This path led me to a relationship with God like I have never before experienced. And every day there is the Holy Spirit. I was not able to find this in my days with church. Despite my serving and trying.
Anyway. So back to AA, and I know scores of people who have gotten their lives back and a true relationship with God through this same method. By discovering a personal relationship with a God of their own understanding.
Today I went back to church after two years.
It was amazing.
But this is my question.
How can I call myself a Christian when the Bible says that Jesus is the only way to the Father, when I know so many people who plainly state that God has saved them, but they are not Christians. And I can clearly see the evidence that God is working in their lives.
I am having a hard time with the world in that I have been healed in a way I never thought possible by my new relationship with God and it has not included Jesus.
I want to invite Jesus back into my heart. But I don’t feel as if I am a Christian because I no longer believe that Jesus is the only way for everyone.
I am really struggling with this.
I feel like a hypocrite because I believe that Jesus has saved billions of people while I also believe that people are saved without Jesus.
Please help me put this into perspective.