Have you ever heard the saying,  God works in mysterious ways?  Or you can't put God in a box?  But most (Christians) do just that. We say things like,  I'm baptist, or I'm catholic etc. When we do that we're saying,  we have all the answers for you. We've already covered the bases you're circling. Christianity becomes a legalistic Christianity. we have a law (Belief) we follow. Follow us and it's all good.  And if you don't follow us we put you in jail (Kick them out) When you're excommunicated from the Catholic church, you can never come back. That's cruel and unbiblical.  You can't grow that way. You're stuck. God no longer works in mysterious ways for you, because His mysterious ways are out side the box.  I was watching (Not going to name them)  a church on cable TV one Sunday morning and at the end of the service, they called people up-front who wanted to receive Christ.  And when the prayer was finished he said,  you'll know when you received Christ and eternal life because you'll begin to speak in tongs.  WHAT! The thief on the cross didn't speak in tongs and Jesus said to him today you'll See Me in Paradise.  In fact the thief was never baptised, confirmed, or any other legalistic burden we put on peoples backs today in the name of God.  Jesus said the same things to the pharisees when He was here.  They had the people boxed in.  The law was made for man. Man wasn't made for the law. There are hundreds of Christian denominations active now.  The body of Christ wasn't mean to be divided. A house divided can not stand.  I almost get a lump in my throat when I think about what happened to the Holy Spirit that spread like wild fire in this country during the late 1970's and early eighties. You'd see grown men walk into a church service and begin to weep because the Spirit was so much present with them.  Even some catholic priest got touched by it, which means God, as good as He is to us can over- look the legalistic stuff.  It's the condition of our hearts toward Him, and our fellow man.  How could it not be that?  Today religion beats the golden rule in many, many of our churches.  And we can't put all the blame on the ministers. They can't control you. We're yoked up with Jesus Christ, not a pastor or a priest.  But, here's the good news. God isn't limited to the 4 walls of a church or a particular religion. He's showing up in some surprising places. IV felt the Holy Spirit in some AA meetings within the last 3 years. Their hearts are in harmony, and there pointed in one direction. Sobriety, and following God's will for their lives. >Step 11<  God is good.

Even If your doing solitary confinement somewhere, If you've got Jesus you can make it. God never lets us go through something we can't handle. I think that's why God urged Paul to write the book of Philippians (Gospel of joy) in prison. If he can have that kind of joy in prison then we can too even though we're going through difficult trials and tribulations here. The joy of the Lord is our strength.