I once was visiting a rural church for a service where all the parish congregations came together for that Sunday. Even still it was only ~40 people, all elderly. During the sermon I looked at one of the centuries-old windows and saw a little play area that had been set up in the corner. As the sun shone through I saw it covered in dust and cobwebs. Somehow it made me tear up a little, it was such a poignant sight.

it is definitely sad to see such places in a dilapidated state. I suppose its because all those generations of people invested their efforts in a place only for times to change

But why stop at denominations? You don't have a PhD in Isl*mic theology, but you reject the religion anyway :P

I haven’t studied Islam in any depth so I’m not in a position to “reject it”. I have Muslim friends who are good people and as far as I can tell endeavour to worship God sincerely as they understand him. So I am certain God loves them and offers them just as much grace for their ignorance as he does for my ignorance.

In that case, why do you personally choose to believe one faith over the other if you say you're an expert in neither of them?

Because we have to choose to live somewhere. I can't say I have chosen Christianity OVER other faiths, because I haven't even attempted to evaluate those other faiths. For example I only have the vaguest notion of what Hinduism is all about. But if I spent all my life evaluating every possible truth claim systematically I would never be able to make an actual decision. So the decision to be a Christian is a ...

combination of actual (non expert) investigation, feeling, experience, sentiment. I don't think we make these sorts of decisions like fact sorting robots. And even if some of us do, most of us wont. We could remain agnostic but that has it's own costs. So basically its a choice, and certainly not an expert one.

I you wanted to buy a car, you could try to systematically compare every car on the market. But if you found that task too extensive, would you be agnostic towards cars and never pick one? Or would you pick one, even if that decision was not completely rigorous.

I understand your perspective. Personally, I don't think I need to be a car expert to tell that a broad range of cars suck. Similarly, it's just obvious to me that certain faiths stink and I don't need a lifetime to see that. I ain't worshiping a clown

Yeah fair point. We can certainly narrow the range of options down

IMO there is value in learning about other denominations and faith even if you're not seriously considering them for yourself. Every faith has chinks in it's armor. Common reasons that people who subscribe to it begin to doubt and then fall away. That's basically what professional apologetics is, is knowing these vulnerabilities and how to hit them. You can't do that if you don't understand it.

My biggest thing is just remembering to do it. Not letting the time pass without doing it and not realizing it. Once I sit down to do it, I'm really happy to be doing it. Of course Ive only been a Christian for a year so there's plenty of time to have some of the experieces described in the video.

For this reason I really enjoy the Liturgy of Hours. It makes it time sensitive, with "It's time to pray." It has a familiar pattern as well but it goes with the rhytmn of the liturigcal calandar so it solves that problem where you might need some variety. Obviously I'm not praying every hour of the Divine Office but I try to do at least Lauds or Vespers everyday and on good days both.

And if you're really feeling it you can tack a rosary to the end of the hour.