I understand that there are many people who get offended by references to religious differences and religious topics in general. If you are reading right now I have to preface this with an apology, I really don't aim to offend anyone, this is just an attempt to express a lot of different ideas and feelings that are specific to me. Nobody has to agree, in fact I thin I would almost prefer if ppeple didn't and had their own views..
Religion is such a touchy subject, and to be quite honest, I never understood why. Growing up I was raised in a very neutral household when it came to religion. My fathers family was very Catholic and my mothers family was very Methodist, neither of my parents were terribly religious and neither of them wanted to step on either set of grandparents toes by baptizing me as the 'wrong' religion so I spent 17 years of my life without being baptized and without going to church.
On the occasional weekend I'd spend with my moms parents I'd attend church with them but I thought of it as a nice time to go and play with some new kids at the Sunday school. To be honest I didn't think about religion at all growing up, I had indifferent views. I would catch myself 'praying to god' on occasions but without really thinking about if I believed in a god or not. I never found it important or worth looking more into.
My father died when I was 17, after that happened my mothers parents (my only living grandparents) urged me to get baptized. My grandfather especially was pushing me and my mother, he was always a bit of a bully and so it became a power struggle until my mother finally guilted me into doing it by saying it was what 'my father would have wanted'.
So there it went I was baptized Methodist when I was 17, I did it kicking and screaming at least figuratively speaking. I can remember the priest asking me if I agreed to be the lords servent and to stay true and believe in him and all of that and in my head I was screaming "NOwaitIDONTKNOW" but I said yes and that was the end of it.
Throughout middle school and highschool I had been interested in Wicca and Pagan beliefs. Initially it was more of a fad, in thinking that being some sort of modern day witch was cool but over the years I looked more and more into it and realized that there ere really some great principles to the religion. In college I took a class called 'Science and Spirituality' it was basically a course paralleling modern physics and easter religions. That was when it really donned on me that there is something to be said looking into different religions.
I realized that up until that point without realizing it I had thought of being religious as an all or nothing situation.. I thought that if I was going to be religious at all that I would have to be labeled or I would have to go to church and read the bible and believe in Jesus and God and everything preached. I was so wrong. I don't know when it really hit me but sometime within the past few years I have really found faith.
I realized that there really is something to having faith, and that you could be spiritual without being religious. I realized the importance of having a foundation of beliefs and that you can make your own. I realized just how important is was to create your own 'religion' if you will because there is never going to be one that is already tailor made for you.
Once I embraced the whole thing I really got into it, into learning, and looking at religion with an open mind, constantly trying to gain understanding and while I was doing that I started feeling better about myself, like I actually was becoming an individual like I was developing a specific belief system just for me and it felt surprisingly good.
One thing I have a huge problem with is the fact that most people think that they have to believe absolutely EVERYTHING that their religion speaks of. Most people don't even fully understand how judgemental and hypocritical orthodox religions really are. I hate ignorance and blind faith, not thinking for yourself and believing everything written in a book that is a billion years old that is essentially just a story book.
The bible and all religious texts are beautiful pieces of literature, they are speial and I think they should be respected but they aren't EVERYTHING. I don't believe that there is a person sitting up in heaven on a cloud decided who is a sinner and who a saint and who should be punished and judged nd who shouldn't. I don't believe that much power should be given to something that is not tangible and that is supposed to be all loving but who punishes anyone who doesn't believe.
I feel that there are too many inconsistencies and hypocrisies. Each individual person should take what they feel is special and important to them, regardless of what religion its from or regardless of whether other people agree, faith is soley for your personal benefit so it should match you.
For me, my religion consists of a whole plethera of different things. I believe that there is no such thing as sin. I think that when it comes to that it's intention that matters. People do things all the time that aren't right, that are mistakes, some learn and some don't but I think that if they did them with the right intentions then they shouldn't be punished. I believe in the human race and their ability to know right from wrong, and they will suffer the consequences on their own throughout the course of their life if that's what is mean to be. I believe in karma that what goes around comes around. I believe in the natural world being a source of hope and faith, it is the most tangible the most accessable, beautiful resources that are taken for granted every day. I believe in energy, there is energy all around us in everything, everyone and it has unbelievable power that nobody is aware of. I believe in postive thinking and that it can spread if you're open to the idea. I don't believe in heaven or hell, I believe in recycled energy. When you die, your energy goes back into the earth and becomes something else. I'm interested in the concept of reincarnation as I think the soul is forever. I believe that you can get answers out of reading the bible and religious texts. Not because some prophet wrote them but because you can find the answers and inspiration in anything if your eyes are open to it.
Anyway, that's a taste of that. I am going to start doing posts frequently hopefully that address many different topics and my feelings about them, in between those will be my pointless novel posts as well.
Cheers!
