I grew up in a Presbyterian family that was very conservative and church going but not particularly outspoken about their faith. I attended a Presbyterian college and went to Princeton Theological Semiary where I attended for 2 years. Princeton has a very vigorous and unsentimental approach to biblical studies and like all of the seminarians that go through PTS I lost any illusion that the Bible was a magical book but rather learned how and why it was written and how to read it in context.
After the second year I took a leave of absence and accompanied by Thai wife (we had met at college and she was a Thai Christian) for a one year break in Thailand so she could do her masters. I had an eventful year and ended up talking my way into the UN refugee administration and extended my break. Eventually I became chief of operations and ended any idea of returning to Princeton.
While I was there initally I was active in the Thai Protestant Church there. My first marriage ended and I eventually fell in love and married a Thai Buddhist. I had taken a serious intensive Thai language course when I first arrived and I was somewhat overwhelmed by the tolerance and general good feeling that the Thai monks provided in their daily televised sermon.
Over time I would see dramatic 'Christian' acts by Buddhist lay people that led me to the conclusion that the most 'Christian' people I had ever met were Buddhists. I remember one story in particular where a woman who was in her 60's had spent her whole life working hard and had lived a simple life. On her 60th birthday she got on a bus (she didn't own a car) and went to a local charity and gave all of her savings (some $ 150,000) away, went home and returned her simple life.
Bangkok elected Chamlong Srimuang as Governor. He was a devout layman and lived an a strict asthetic life style that included no longer having sex with his wife, simple peasant clothes and living in a house that had no walls.
I still attended Church and even gave sermons when asked but I was also reading and studying the Buddha. My Buddhist wife attended Church cheerfully. I studied the Buddha to became a better Christian. I eventually realized that Buddhism more clearly matched my values and I enjoyed the tolerance and lack of coercive psycho drama more.
I eventually decided to convert.
Now I read the bible from time to time to become a better Buddhist.
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