7. Research Different Religions. Choose One to Believe In Whole-heart-edly.

It is no surprise to those who know me that I do not believe in organized religion. The idea that God has all of his children (us) and he would like for them to choose different ways in which they believe in him, have different views about what he has accomplished, and some that believe in Jesus- others who do not. These are all huge reasons. Each different organized, titled religion has very different beliefs on what God has or has not accomplished and how important he should be in their lives. I find it very hard to wrap my head around that fact that any "father" would want his "children" to categorize themselves, their love for him, and their beliefs on what his accomplishments mean in the grand scheme of life. The kicker though is that certain religions despise other religions. I had a Christian Reformed friend in high school. She was not allowed to date or marry a Catholic- and it was frowned upon to even be friends with one. Huh? In my book- NO father wants that for his children. I can just imagine my father saying "Erica, you and Kayla can be friends, but Cecily- no you aren't allowed to socialize together. Kayla- you're good though you can socialize with both of your sisters."

In certain religions it is permissible to have divorces and abortions- in others you are scorned for it. It really makes no damn sense to me. That same friend from high school I mentioned earlier- I remember vividly her father saying to me one day after he picked us up from choir practice "Just because your mother is DIVORCED doesn't mean I can cart you all around town." Now besides the fact that her parents never drove us anywhere (no really that was their first time pitching in- even though my mother was divorced *shudder* she still did her fair share plus theirs) I had never encountered anyone hate someone because their marriage had failed. I'd like to send that man a postcard announcing that I had an abortion last week just to see how he'd handle that news. You would have thought my mother had 6 legs and tentacles being that she was divorced. I ponder on what wonderfulness would come out of his mouth regarding those who have had abortions. Really, I am sure it would be equally as ignorant.

Now, before you go thinking I am some Satan devil worshiper- I am extremely spiritual. I was baptized and raised Presbyterian- whatever that means I have no idea. I do know that my mother was not kicked out of the congregation when she got divorced the first time- nor the second time. No, in fact our pastor counseled her through both of those times. Which I find to be very easing. I pray every night, and in my tiny minuscule life, I have witnessed acts that are unexplainable by any other measure than there being a higher power, a God, up there looking out for me.

What am I looking for? I don't know. I do know that I am extremely liberal. That I believe in a God that doesn't judge us by our mistakes and our faults- but one that supports us no matter what decisions we make or roads we turn down. I can name 2 very UGLY religions right now that do not abide by those rules. I would choose not to research t hem at all- but I feel the need to be impartial in this process. I feel the need to research all aspects of religions- so I can be educated- unlike many people who just choose a religion without exhausting all possibilities of choices and follow that religion's rules like a damn lemming.

How did this start? About 6 months ago I decided to very briefly research the word "Atheism." I ignorantly thought it to be people who not only did not believe in God- but people who believed in the devil or some crazy satanic creature. (See what ignorance does to a person) What I found was that Atheism in its true form represents a lot of my morals and values. I would like to research it in depth because it was extremely interesting. But, a cliff's notes version would be that Atheists do not believe in a higher power because they do not rely on someone to solve their problems. They feel that believing in a higher power means you aren't taking responsibilities for your actions and aren't creating your own path in life. And, regardless of your beliefs- it makes damn good sense. Here is an example of things I hear every day- "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" or "It's in God's hands now" or "I will pray to God for the answer." Nothing wrong with any of these scenarios- but you can see how in each and every one of them- the person at hand is not making a decision. They are merely relying on a higher power to fix it for them. In an Atheist's point of view- they are giving up. Initiative has been a huge lesson for me over the past few years. I've taught myself that if you want something, you need to become more self-aware and do whatever you can to make it happen. You can't rely on other people to get you out of the scenarios you've gotten yourself into. I'm not saying that I don't believe in God- but I can really see, and more importantly, respect the views of an Atheist now.

So, this is why I want to research different religions. The end result is not for me to become some holy-roller. I don't want to attend church every Sunday- I don't believe in that either. A person can just as easily repent, pray and profess their love to God in their home as they can a building that demands x amount of your yearly salary be donated to them (ICK AND DOUBLE ICK- that is DEFINATELY not what God is about to me!) I want to research them so I can educate myself. Perhaps I won't despise those 2 afor non-mentioned but still mentioned religions any longer. Perhaps I will find one and devour it whole. That would be brilliant and I would accept that graciously. Bottom line, everyone needs something to believe in. At least the process will help me to make sound, educated, rational decisions about religions and perhaps it will make me more open-minded. Which is always a plus in my book.



***Wednesday, July 29th Photo of the Day***

I know it is dark, but I never got the memo that Marty McFly and Doc Brown were living on my block AND -as an added bonus- that they were selling the Delorean time machine for $4,000.