What am I?

I feel this is a question I must pose to myself. I am a eukaryote, animal, mammal, primate and human, but none of these things define my individuality. There is so much of me I can lose, and still be me. I can lose my hand, my foot, my lungs and even my heart and still be myself.
I used to think I was a flesh machine powered by an everlasting soul where I was. I imagined my soul and physical body were linked, but the soul was where the real me resided. But without a soul I am relinquished to rethink my position.
I am inclined to think mostly that I am a composition of my genetic being and my memories and experiences stored within. I am quite certain that if I was able to upload my every memory to a machine that it would not be me, although it is a nice sentiment. Even into another body I don't think it would be me even if it thought it was me. I think it's quite obvious that if we could transplant the mind of a professional athlete into my body, it would cut his career short. So would it still be them? Or would some of me still exist?
Even now, as I replace and replenish the cells throughout my body I wonder if I am even the me I was years ago? If every atom has been replaced, am I still me? Or do I only think I am the same me?
Would it be the same if I slowly replaced my physical body with digital parts until all that was left was an  immortal consciousness? I imagine it would be incredibly difficult to perceive such a slow change and maybe that is a hope for a future in which each of us can experience a meaningful eternity. I have been unable to acknowledge my exchange of matter as a progression to a new self up until the point I considered all of this.
I have often speculated that if teleportation were possible, it would actually be the death of one consciousness and the creation of a new one which only thought it was the original.
What I think is most meaningful of all these questions is I am privileged to be of the only species which can even ask them. It is astounding that I am no where near the apex of intellect for our kind, yet I can ponder on such things and it leads me to wonder: what other questions are waiting to be mulled over which have yet to be even thought of? Because I know that aside from scientific knowledge, there is more of me to be discovered.
One day I will cease to exist and for me, everything will cease to exist because I will be unable to observe anything. The feel of the sand on the beach. The wind moving through the trees, the smell of a home cooked meal, the feeling of deep love i get when i see my wife, all of it will be gone someday. I am existing now in a small fraction of my eternity because I am experiencing everything I will ever know, or be able to know.
Regardless of what I am, I am.
I hope that everyone can enjoy their journey to self discovery as much as I am and that mine is lifelong, not for the sake of busywork, but because there is simply that much for me to learn about myself.

What I believe

I've talked quite a bit about different aspects of my religious transition, but I haven't talked to much about how it has changed how I think.
Over a year and a half I transitioned from a young earth creationist to.... something.
I don't really know about a lot of things. I wouldn't consider myself truly atheist, because I just don't know. I can prove the biblical story false on many fronts, but does that mean there is no God or spiritual aspect to life?
I wish I had direct answers to those questions, but I don't know.
It may be an artifact of my Christian beliefs, but I feel like existence itself may be evidence for God. I know it leads down a road of circular reasoning, but what is the cause? Even the big bang is a reaction. Hawking said time didn't exist before it, but I would disagree based on pure logic. Something happened, and if something is happening there is an element of time, and our universe came into being. So I wont discount there could be a God. (Every pure atheist is shaking their head asking what caused God right now.)
I believe my mind is my own, it's a private space that belongs only to me and I can share or keep secret whatever I like.
I have this one life to live, and even though I wish there was an eternity on the other side of it, I see no evidence for that, so I have to do the best I can with what I have.
As a Christian I took a lot of comfort in thinking I would have eternity to explore every crevice of the universe. I thought eternity with God would be awesome. I imagined millennia to spend learning everything I could possibly be interested.in. Now I have to learn and grow while I can and use my time wisely.
I have an obligation to treat others fairly and be respectful of their happiness.
The constitution of the U.S. was written for people who have a sense of responsibility, not a sense of entitlement. People with a feeling they are owed something mess up rules that work by taking advantage of the system. I cannot decide for other people what will make them happy, we are not all the same, but I can support others being happy as I would hope they would support my happiness. I cannot make decisions for people based on a set of rules governed by the authors of the book of the Bible.
I'm still on this journey and now that I'm not basing my opinions on the Bible, everything is fluid and changing on a consistent basis. Its wonderful to know I have the freedom to make up my own mind what works for me.
Having a Biblical standard works if you pick and choose, but following it in it's entirety?
I Timothy 2:9

I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

Go to a church and see how many women have gold or pearls, but homosexuality is an abomination. The truth is all Christians pick and choose and apply a few catch-alls to what doesn't work. Like Galatians 5:18 or I Corinthians 8 or simply citing the blessing of grace. I've used these same verses in my life, but the Bible can be used to argue against itself all day long. It's not the single cohesive work that I once believed it to be.
According to this article, God gives everyone enough rope to hang themselves in the pages of the Bible. What, in all the universe, is fair about that? God wants us to willfully ignore the contradictions in order to be saved?
There are a lot of excuses to explain these contradictions, but even the excuses tend to lead to contradiction. If all scripture is God breathed, does that mean he's points people in the wrong direction if they study too hard? I know the "Christian answer" here is that it's only me causing the contradictions and not all contradictions can be taken at face value because context must be taken into consideration but it still doesn't account for all.
My standard is looking out for my fellow humans with regard for their ability to be happy.
Who am I to make the rules for how someone else lives? As a Christian I thought that standard was set by God and was cut and dry, but life is not so simple. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of excellent lessons in the words of the Bible, but there are in any good story. If the Bible was 100 percent perfect and never contradicted itself, I would still believe in that standard as the word of God, but it does not stand up to that kind of scrutiny.
Even as I write this, I know my words do not perfectly explain every aspect of what I mean, but I will continue to flesh it all out in further posts as I don't think anyone has the time or desire to read a book of a post on that in one sitting.
I can also be wrong. As a Christian there was only one way and my biggest concern was always: does a person accept Christ as their savior? It was that exact thinking that lead me down this road.
Now that I'm beyond that, I have the freedom to view things through my own eyes, evaluate and re-evaluate them. Being wrong is okay. There are more lessons to be learned from mistakes than successes and I'm free to learn, change and grow as a member of humanity and not be a "slave to the law" as the Bible puts it.

In the beginning

To say I grew up in a Christian home is putting it quite mildly. My dad was a preacher for a large portion of my life. He would help churches grow and then we would move to another place that needed his spiritua]l guidance. I remember him being very well liked. His sermons always got laughs along wigh teaching a lesson.
My mom usually directed the music at the churches my dad pastored and worked other jobs during the week. She still loves music and leads at a church to this day.
I can probably count the number of times I missed sunday school before I was a teenager without taking off my shoes.
I had many "mountain top" experiences, or spiritual highpoints, in my teenage years going to Christian youth conferences and mission trips. I truly believed durring that and acted accordingly.
After high school I became more interested in girls than religion, but I never lost faith. I went to a Christian college and regularly played in worship bands all through those years. Eventually I stopped going to church all together, I got married, and I lived a life as someone who believed that Jesus was the savior of my soul, and everyone knew I believed it, but I rarely went out of my way to share that in a meaningful way with others.
Eventually I was divorced and I truly regained my faith. It didnt happen immediately,  but over time. I got remarried, had kids and attended church regularly. I even got back into playing with the worship band.
This was the time period of my life where I belived the most of my own volition.  No one forced me to be there, I wanted to be at church. I activly participated in the functions and was more forward about my faith to others.
Then I went to a family reunion about a year and a half ago.
With few exceptions my family are geniune Christians. They go on mjssion trips and share their faith readily with others. Beyond that, they go out of their way to help others less fortunate. So, as you can imagine, there is a lot of prayer and talks about faith durring these retreats.
One family in particular was conspicuously missing from the retreat. I learned one evening around a camp fire that the reason that family was missing was because my uncle had decided he was athiest.
My heart sank for him and his family. I wondered why he would do that? Why would he put his family through that? How would it affect the faith of his kids? He had searched for some time to be a minister. He even took jobs at churches in the hopes of making it onto their leadership team. This was quite a shock to me. We prayed for that family that night.
I thought at the time that he must be mad at God because life wasnt going how he thought it should, or that someone was misleading him. I felt genuine concern for the spiritual well being of his family and I felt I needed to do something. I was even a little mad at him for being so foolishly cavalier with the eternal consequences to his family.
When I returned home I saw a post on my newly outed athiest uncle's facebook talking about his new unfaith. I was upset by it, it just seemed so wrong to flip from belief to non-belief. I responded to his post, and a few more with open ended discussions about why he would make such a big change, but honestly, I wasnt really listening to his side. I was only arguing against it. I was applauded by others for standing up for my beliefs, and hoped, along with others in my family, that my uncle would realize his mistake and come back around. I feared for the souls of his family.
I decided I would track down the "proof" my uncle needed to bring him back to faith. I would search for the bread crumbs that must exist in this world that God created. I specifically prayed at the time,
"God, never let my logic overide my faith."
Then I started down a path that would change my outlook. On everything.