Why I read Milton the way I do (maybe)

It struck me, randomly, that I've never actually shared this info with anybody, and I thought this would be the fitting venue.

When I was in high school, I became a devout evangelical and biblical literalist. I had identified myself as Christian since attending a small parochial school from kindergarten to grade five, but my latter conversion was somewhat peculiar--a combination of Christian radio and self-motivated reading of the Bible. (I would go on to read it cover-to-cover six times. I have to confess, though, that without much scholarly or editorial apparatus, this doesn't lead to very comprehensive knowledge. A big part of the problem is the ordering of books in the Christian/Protestant Bible.)

But this much people know about. What I haven't shared is that, early on in these studies, I rejected Trinitarian doctrine. And for a simple reason: the New Testament doesn't really say a whole lot to support it. 

Once I wanted to join a religious community, though, it became clear that my views were heretical. And so I caved by coaxing and convincing myself that, yes, Father, Son, Holy Ghost were three distinct persons but one God. But doubts persisted for a long while.

NB: Miltonista now considers himself something like an anti-theist; he believes that even if there were a God, ample empirical evidence exists that that God would likely be incompetent and/or a jerk, not someone worth getting to know.