God

Okay here comes the blog that might make some uneasy.  We are always taught, you don't discuss religion or politics in public!!  But why?  Why can't we be taught at a young age to have tolerance for other people's thoughts and views on things.  Can both of these topics get emotional?  yes!  But both are supposed to teach understanding of each other, and how to work together.  Yet we are taught not to talk about them?  Maybe if we talked more about them, we could better understand each other, and learn to use emotion in the right ways-not in the way of anger.

This is a lengthy post, but I think it needed to be.  To make it easier to read, I broke it into mini-posts, the BOLD titles being a new thought.

My Base-

I said in my first blog that some would find my views of religion interesting.  Some will not agree, some will say I don't have a 'good' base.  Some will say I am to 'wishy' on topics, that I don't have a strong stance.  Othesr would say I believe in to many things that can't be proven, or that they are based to much on blind faith.

Let me settle all of that.  As you read this, keep in mind a few things.  I wouldn't win a debate on Bible facts.  I couldn't tell you a bunch of quotes or verses from the Bible(although I have a personal goal of learning more).  In fact, I have never read the Bible all the way through.(again something I am working toward).  I dont' have a 'defined' religion.  So while you read this, please remember, I have a lot to learn, but I would argue so do those have have studied religion for years and those that say they are religious

The specific religion topic.

I actually once had someone who didn't know what to believe, say this description made sense to them.  They were asking, which denomination was right, which was wrong, etc.  They asked for my opinion, and I simply told them this(he was a former football player):

Think of religion as football.  In the analogy below I use football terms followed by my comparison to religion in ( ).

In football you have coaches(leaders in the church).  Each coach has his philosophy on how a team should win(denomination).  Some think the power running game is best, others like the spread offense, some the option.  On defense some like the 3-4, 4-3, etc.. The common thing each of these coach's have though, is to get their players to win games(become better in life).  Each coach wants to make sure his players experience the thrill of winning a championship(ultimate goal in life if you believe is to go to Heaven when you die). 
Now please note.  I am not trying to disrespect religion by comparing it to something as simple was football, most understand I am not saying that, just want to make that clear though
What that analogy does do, is allows me to explain why I think so many people have hate, in the name of religion.  I believe in the Bible and what it says, that I know.  I don't think they are made up stories, or something that was written by man just 'because'. 

But I do believe the Bible like anything that is written, is open for different peoples interpretations.  I think that is natural.  The core of it remains the same, but some might think of a verse one way and someone else another.  But don't Christian religions have the same goals?  To make people followers of God, to make them better people, to serve others, to have them strive for the ultimate goal, of being with God when it's all said and done?  I think when broken down to it's simplest terms, Christian religions, all want the same, or at least they have the same core.   Just like football coaches have the same core when teaching the game, and set their players up for sucess.  Each has a different way of doing it, and each way over time has had proven sucess.

So which one is right?  Which one will get you to your ultimate goal?  Much like life or in football in my analogy, does just one have to be right?  Haven't different coaches helped their players get to their ultimate goal with different philosophy's?   So should I believe that just because someone is Catholic they will go to Heaven and the person who is Baptist won't?  Didn't they believe in the same God?  Didn't through their religion, they try to know God better and do right as people? 

This is where I think not accepting or accepting others based soloy off religion can be very dangerous.  In my opinion the answers to the questions above, will be a personal search.  My opinion is your relationship with God should be a personal one first, and not one based off a specific religions thoughts.  I think starting with the personal relationship, God will lead you to a religion that fits you best.  But my point is, as long as the 'core' is the same, but the interpretation on how to teach it is different, why should that matter?


How I got where I am with my beliefs-

Growing up my parents didn't have a specific Church.  What they did have was an expectation for us as kids.  They expected us to treat people the way we wanted to be treated.  We learned this through their actions.  They encouraged us to have a personal relationship with God.  They talked about God with us, they talked about life with us, and they made sure we had a good foundation of knowing who God is. 

They all worked a lot especially on Sundays, so many times we would go to church on Sundays with other family.  I don't know if it was the teaching that we received from one of those churches or something I saw on t.v., but very early in life I feared God.  One thing I know, it wasn't the teaching my parents wanted me to have.  They would hammer home, that God was a loving God.  But somehow I got this idea that God punished you if you didn't do right.  If you weren't prefect, if you didn't go to church, if you didn't have a religion.  As you can imagine this placed a huge burden on a young child, especially one who wanted to know God more than anything else.  So, needless to say I went through much of my childhood, in fear of God, and not truly knowing him. And again, this was against all that I was taught, at least by my parents and those in my family. 


It all changed

It all changed when I met this person, who totally changed me forever.  Her name?  Heather, who is now my wife.  Heather will have her own posting.  If I were to write a book, Heather would have her own chapter.  She totally changed my life, with a simple smile and hello.

First I think, just meeting Heather started to change my thinking of who God was.  After all, I had done many 'bad' things in my life, yet, I got to meet this person, who took my breath away?  And who by the way, happened to like me too?  So I started thinking, maybe this isn't a God I should be fearful of.  One that I should respect, yes 100%.  But one who I thought punished us, even if we asked for forgiveness?  Maybe not.  Maybe, I started thinking, maybe I was wrong.

From day one, I put Heather on this huge pedestal, way above any girl who I thought would give me a look.  She was popular, played sports, her friends very all very attractive and popular, she drove(i didn't at the time), she was smart, knew what she wanted out of life, to me she just seemed prefect.  (just for a time reference this was my Jr year in HS).  The more Heather and I got to know each other, the quicker I feel in love and the quicker I learned about who God really was.  Yes, even at the age of 17, I recognized that God had sent me my soul mate.   

You have to understand.  At this point in my life, I was pretty lost.  Scared of disappointing God, didn't like school, didn't have the drive to do anything really.  I was a confused kid on the inside, but on the outside put on a 'front' that everything was okay.  And while I know Heather was brought into my life for many reasons, since this blog is about God and how I found Him, I will keep it to how Heather helped get me there.  Often times not even knowing she was doing it.

Heather and I would talk about God, and what we thought life was about.  The more I got to know her, the more I realized she wasn't 'perfect' either, although my love for her kept her on that pedestal.  She too would make mistakes in life, just as I did.  However I noticed, she had a much different attitude than I.  She knew that if she asked for forgiveness for those 'sins', and meant it, she didn't have to worry, they were forgiven.  Now, I knew this to be true, but I up until this point, I never have enough 'confidence' that it worked.  I always felt, if I didn't still feel bad about it, then I wouldn't be fully forgiven.  Seeing this attitude from someone whom I had put so high in my life, allowed me to give this 'new crazy theory' a try. 

Heahter's foundation came from the religion that she grew up with.  One that I always heard people talk about in a negative light.  She was one of those crazy Catholics!  You know 'the ones that think they can drink one day, and just because they ask for forgiveness they think they will be forgiven,  and they didn't have to mean it.'  'You know the ones, they worship Mary, not God.' ' The ones that you have to be all dressed up to go to their church.' 

I hope you can see my sarcasm in those statements.  But as crazy as those sound, those are the type of things I heard from people.   These are statements of people who didn't take the time to learn about a different religion than theirs.  It was easier to just pass on those statements as truth.   My experience the Catholic Religion would be much different.

Catholic Religion and Me

The following is my experience with the Catholic Religion.  Of course different people are going to have different thoughts and experiences.  It might have been the specific church I attended, people who I associated the religion with, etc..

So while God put Heather in my life to show me who He really was, I also think he wanted to show me other things as well.  I started to attend church with Heather. 

For the first time ever in my life, I felt like I was in a church where it was okay to make mistakes.  They of course make it known, like any religion, that you have to be sincere when asking for forgiveness, but attending made me feel free and confident with my relationship with God.

I learned a lot about God and what the Bible talked about.  I was finally learning what it was like to not only have a personal relationship with God, but also how having a specific religion or church to go to could help me build on knowing Him.  I even learned that you wouldn't go to hell if you wore jeans to church.  I know that might sound funny to some, but my mindset was such, that the first time I went to the Catholic Church and saw someone with jeans on, I felt so bad for them, just knowing they were doomed.  As I write this, it is amazing to me how far I have come with my thinking and relationship with God. 

I haven't yet 'converted' to the Catholic Religion.  However, I am thinking about doing so in the next year or so.  I really like the Presbyterian Church as well.  I am doing a lot of soul searching and asking God, which he wants to use, to help me become closer to Him.  The one thing I know and believe in my heart, I don't think He loves His Catholic children anymore than His Presbyterian children, or any other of His children from other religions.

My point in talking about the Catholic Religion and how it shaped me is to show a couple of things.

God put Heather into my life at a time where He saw a young kid lost and scared.  At a time where that kid wanted nothing more than to know Him, but didn't know how.  He used Heather, someone who total blew me away; to show me even though I wasn't perfect, good things could happen to me too. 

I believe He used the Catholic Religion, to show me that while having a personal relationship with Him important, a church and being around other people of faith was important too.   He has shown me the good of other religions since then, to let me know He doesn't favor one over the other.   It is up to us to choose one, that we can learn best about Him based on our thoughts and 'inner' feel we have.

I believe during that time in my life, when I met Heather and really found God, He was teaching me that He loves all, no matter the religion we are seeking Him through.  Think about it; I was a scared kid at the time, who knew nothing about religion, and He put the person of my dreams in my life, let me get to know her as a PERSON first, to then show me she her faith that I admired, came from the religion I heard the worst things about.  By Him doing this,  it's easy to see, He was showing me to look at the person first, get to know them, and not define them based off thier specific religion.

Final thoughts

God has done amazing things in my life.  I try and live a life that allows other people to see Him through my actions.  I think the best way to show or bring people to God, is through our actions and treatment of them.  They will become curious and want to know how they can have the same happiness.  Much like I did with Heather.   The humbling thing is, I fail to live up to this every day, in one way or another.  But I also live up to it in many ways.  The consistent each day though is my effort and intention is pure.

What I don't think is good is to point out to people how bad they are, how God is so disappointed in them, how if they don't believe everything your religion interprets, then they will go to hell.  A while back the phrase WWJD was going wild across the country.  What Would Jesus Do?  Do you think he would love the sinners?  Do you think he would forgive those who stole?  Do you think he would treat the Catholic down the street any different than the Baptist next door, being they both were seeking a relationship with God? 

I thought it was important to talk about God early in my posts.  Because, much of what I do in life is with the thought of how I can best accomplish the purpose He has for me.  My hope also is that someone who is lost like I was, will read this and know- who God really is.  He is neither the fear that I had, nor the God of punishment because I wasn’t perfect.  Yet, He is the God that amazes and humbles me by blessing me with this life and the people in it.  He is the God; I hope everyone gets to know.