My Religious Beliefs ... sort of

   I have been (of late) trying to explain what my beliefs are ... being an ordained minister ... to some people who I converse with on-line.
   I am a Christian ... nominally Episcopal / Anglican, and believe in Christ, baptism, and the forgiveness of sins. I believe that we, as humans can have the occasional drink, cigar, et al and still be Christian. I believe that we are forbidden to "over-indulge" ... in anything. 
   As a younger man ... before my being called to do what I do ... I taught my kids my three rules for alcohol (which some never learned, although it was repeated) ...
1) Never spend money on alcohol that you need for other things
2) Never allow alcohol to cause you to miss school or work (or to alter your performance at either)
3) Never let alcohol change the way you treat family or friends (indeed, anyone)
   I also think this list applies to many things ... if they interfere with your life ... such as golf, work, hobbies of many types.
   I have never been, nor expect to be perfect (in any way or in any sense of the word). I have been ... in my lifetime ... Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Baptist, Ba'Hai, Agnostic ... et al. I, like so many (MOST) of us, have done/said/been things that I am not proud of. I have been attempting to learn as much as possible about a lot of different religions, not just Christianity in it's many and varied forms, so as to be certain in my belief system ... as it exists now. If I am to perform religious rites such as weddings, Celebrations of Life (I cannot call them funerals) and baptisms, and if I am to teach others ... I must be confident in my thoughts and I cannot know what another religion preaches if I do not understand their religion as a student of same. 
   I do not have, nor want, a church ... in the modern sense of a building / edifice / et al. I believe that a church is a group of people, not a building. This holds true to the thoughts that Paul stated in his Epistles to the Ephesians and others.
   I am (still) studying and attempting to understand these things myself. I am an exegete ... one who indulges in exegesis/hermeneutics. I am especially interested, these days  ... especially since my religious inclination is Episcopal / Anglican ... in the study of the deuterocanical texts. I am making a study of the differences in thought between the Arianism (NOT TO be confused with Aryanism ... that racial oriented, pure race, doctrine of the Germans) of Arius and the conflicting thoughts of people like Athanasius of Alexandra. 
      I am also studying ... as my study of deuterocanical texts denotes ... the Apocrapha and other "discarded" religious texts.
       Now, if this doesn't make much sense to you ... you can disregard or you can Google or Wikipedia the terms.