/lit/ - Literature

>>21456762
I encountered Gnosticism, then found Christianity by moving from reading the Nag Hammadi library to reading the Holy Gospels. Started attending the nearest Baptist church for a few months then found my way to Orthodox Christianity.
Reading the Bible and praying did infinitely more for me than anything related to the occult, which nearly made me completely mentally insane a few times.

>>21457437
This is really interesting, could you point me to where I can find more information on this? I've never heard of this before.

>>21461095
I formerly enjoyed R.A.W. quite a lot but at its logical conclusion he's basically just a moral relativist who likes to do drugs. His critiques of materialism hold up pretty well though.

>>21262007
He's quite intelligent and well-informed from a theology and philosophy perspective but I'm afraid his confrontational nature and general toxicity reflects poorly on Orthodox Christianity

>>20459973
I don't know that much compared to most people at my Church but I was in the same place you are so a lot of the questions you had I explored quite a bit already.
I used to be quite into western occultism and eastern religions a few years ago, reading through existentialist authors (Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky and especially Pascal) is what pushed me to read the Bible and then I became Christian. I would say what convinced me the most from an intellectual perspective is the specific Old Testament prophecies and types about Christ, Pascal lists many in his Pensées and it became obvious as I read through the Old Testament (especially Psalms and Isaiah). Repentance and prayer is what actually lead me to attend Church. I think other religions can have good teachings but come short of the extraordinary historical evidence Christianity has for Christ's miracles, birth, death on the cross, resurrection and ascension to Heaven. Buddhism for example, to me is basically "I sat under a tree and became enlightened so whatever I say is true".