My Testimony – The Early Years
Recently I have been reading through the documents I presented to my local draft board back in the year or so before receiving my notice for induction into military service in November 1971. I had applied to the board for a deferment as a conscientious objector. I was asked by them to explain my beliefs and from where, from whom and how I arrived at them. I will quote from the documents I presented to the board in this first part of My Testimony. Remember, I was twenty-one years old when writing this.
"I am the second son of Roman Catholic middle-class parents. My parents are good people. My father is a good-natured man who reads only the comics and the sports page. My mother passes the time away with television soap operas.”
I need to interrupt here and confess that the above statement was how I was viewing my parents at that time. The truth actually was that my parents were a lot deeper and intellectually and politically aware than I thought. Now that I have made that point, let’s go back to my letter to the military draft board.
“I have never talked seriously with my parents, but I remember in high school my mother’s words in regard to my sister's dating.... ‘Do what comes naturally,’ which I interpreted as, ‘Do what you think is right, or what your conscience dictates.’ It is from my parents that the philosophy of love has been so deeply ingrained in me, though I suspect they are not aware of it."
My article to the military continued.
"I attended public school and with childhood resistance the Tuesday afternoon Catechism classes. As a young Catholic, I learned to fear the ‘Almighty Lord’ from nuns who seemed out of the tradition of Jonathan Edwards. In my childhood years, I would every night before sleep say prayers for all the people I liked and especially for those I disliked. My fear of God made me overly conscious of my thoughts and actions. I constantly watched and scrutinized my behavior to be aware of sins."
"In the sixth grade, I was appointed captain of the safety patrol, though I hated the leadership position because of my shyness and my inability to tell others what they should do. With the advent of Junior High School came puberty and peer group relations. At 15, I had a complete falling out with my father and our relationship remained distant until just recently. In High School, I was very religious and obsessively conscious of the churches commandments. I tried to imitate the life of Christ. I was an average student, with friends that were ‘jocks,’ and friends that were ‘nerds.’ The most intriguing reading I did in High School was Thoreau's Walden Pond. I also enjoyed Ralph Waldo Emerson. One quote of his still remains with me,
Every Stoic was a Stoic, but where in Christendom is the Christian? [1]
"In my senior year I gained a deep relationship with a girl, my first intimate girlfriend. I seldom read a book or the daily newspaper. I graduated High School as president of my senior class, with the American Legion School Award for courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship and service. I had a vague hope of becoming a social worker or ‘something like that.’ I toyed with the idea of joining the military ‘to do my duty.’ But I was accepted to a college in Ohio and decided to go there instead."
Notes:
[1] Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Self Reliance, essay. http://www.quotery.com/quotes/for-every-stoic-was-a-stoic-but-in-christendom-where/ (accessed 03/2016)
To go to the previous chapter click HERE
To go to the next chapter click HERE
To go to the index of the chapters for the book click HERE
All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.
Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images for educational purposes only) The full text can be found on archive.org at the following link: Full text of "Where is America in Bible Prophecy?"
0 Comments:
Post a Comment