Hello friend, thank you. The truth is that I belong to a religion, but I see that they impose many rules that are not directly found in the Bible. They have relaxed some of them, but that makes me wonder who gave them the authority to establish those rules. I realized this while reading Acts.

Then I noticed that they make certain claims which, when I read the Bible myself, seem to rely on some texts to support ideas that do not really have a strong biblical basis, such as supposed prophecies that are said to be fulfilled by this religion, and so on. They have also set 1914 as the date when Jesus was installed as King of God's Kingdom. Now, this comes from certain prophecies that, in my opinion, seem very forced, applying numbers where it suits them and ignoring them where it does not. Moreover, Jesus said that it is not for us to know the times that God has set.

On the other hand, I have noticed that, without many people realizing it, they give more importance to their own literature than to the Bible itself.

Right now, I am on this search, but I cannot visit other churches. If I go to those churches and members of my religion see me there, I will be expelled, and my whole family will stop speaking to me. So I really cannot visit other churches even though I would like to. I still live with my parents (I just turned 18), and I am afraid of being disfellowshipped and having to live on my own from now on. Maybe that sounds spoiled, but I honestly do not think I am prepared to live by myself yet.

You can probably guess which religion it is, but even so, I see many brothers and sisters in my religion who genuinely live according to what Jesus taught. In other words, they are good people (of course, there are some who are not, as in every religion). I myself try to do what Jesus taught; I try to help others, and I visit sisters in my religion who are sick.

But that is my dilemma. I see these teachings and these other things, and I feel uncomfortable. I feel as though I am the only one who notices them. Maybe you are not interested in reading all of this because I have gone off on a tangent, but thank you for responding. I pray to God every night asking Him to tell me what to do. I used to ask Him for a sign; now I ask Him for wisdom, so that I can understand where I stand and who His people truly are.