So I take it that you grew up the right wing type Southern Baptist church? Because the moderate Southern Baptist church is all about finding your own spiritual path, which is why they absolutely will not baptize anyone under 12. They don't believe children under 12 are mentally mature enough. It has to be your own free choice. We were taught to listen for that still voice within to know when we'd discovered the right path for us. I think that's good advice. It's what led me to wicca. I explored various spiritual paths and finally when I came across paganism at 17, that little inner voice finally said "yes, this is your home." My mother was a bit uncomfortable at first but made no objections, before long though she realized it was "a positive religion" and was totally cool with it. My liberal Methodist paternal grandmother was completely accepting too. My agnostic dad was kind of roll his eyes, not bothering to take it seriously, he thought it was the same as the "flakey New Age stuff". My moderately conservative Southern Baptist maternal grandmother took several years to accept it, but oddly enough she's always been a believer in psychic abilities.(Edgar Cayce, Sybil Leek, etc...) It was when she started reading the Sylvia Browne books that she finally accepted it. Apparently Sylvia Browne (even though I think the woman is a con artist) explained Wicca in a way that my grandmother could accept. It also helped at the time the SBC finally went to far right wing for her to tolerate- the stupidity about women being subordinate to men and not being allowed to be missionaries, deacons, or pastors. That made her really angry. She stopped going to her church, and switched to another SBC that had a woman pastor.