Friday, April 17, 2009

Let Me Set The Record Straight!

A few weeks ago my neighbor K.K. came into my home. She also homeschools her 3 kids. In her case I will use that word homeschool loosely.

We have had many conversations over the past few months concerning God, religion, beliefs, etc. by her choice of course.

I have learned from the past that for whatever reason most Christians want to know what your beliefs are, what church you attend, and what faith you are when you first meet them.

To be fair, I will say that the other end of the spectrum...the nonreligious I will call people like me, usually run the other way when they find out someone is a person of strong religious conviction. Confrontation about your beliefs is never a fun or productive thing.

I am amazed at the Christians that I have met that think just because I don't practice organized religion that I don't believe in God. I get the impression they don't even think I can love and cherish my family or have any moral standards because I am not a Christian. Small mindedness runs rampant in our world doesn't it?

True, I am not so sure of the role of Jesus. Personally, I believe Jesus was a very enlightened form of who we all can be. A teacher for us all and just a really cool kinda guy that we should all model ourselves after. We are ALL sons of God because we are ALL a fragment of God. Jesus, Buddha, and many other great teachers have been there for us to listen to, learn from, and pay attention to.

I will continue by saying that I have some very good friends that practice Christianity. They are the ones that know the difference between being a Christian and being Christ-like. There is a very big difference.

Fear not though, this is just my story .

This one will really blow you away! I really don't pray for anything but thanks and gratitude and the strength to endure what comes my way. I learned many years ago that prayer doesn't get you any further that what God has planned for you anyway. It doesn't matter how much you pray for something, if it is not meant to be or meant to happen..or in some cases not to happen, that's the way it is.

I am always amazed by the people who pray for someone to get better and think just because they got better for a little while God answered their prayers. What does this mean about the ones that spent hours praying for someone that ended up dying or having something bad happen to them anyway?? Did that mean that God was out of the office for the day or that he just plain didn't give a shit? I think not. It was just meant to happen at that time in that way no matter how much you wasted your breath.

God has a reason and a time for everything and no amount of begging (praying) changes it. Bad things that happen to people end up being blessings in disguise anyway. Again, just my story.

So onto my neighbor K.K. While she was in my home she saw this on my stair wall.



She looked at me and said.."I thought you weren't a Christian." I guess to some Christians God and Christianity go hand in hand.

In a nutshell for anyone who has not done their homeschool homework, there is a difference between spirituality and religion.

I AM NOT a follower of any organized religion BUT I do believe in a higher power of some sort. I'll be honest in saying that I don't know what sort of power, nor do I have an answer. Let it be. There will be an answer for us all of us one day won't it?

3 comments:

  1. I believe there is a saying that you should never talk about religion, politics or money in polite conversation. At the risk of being impolite, I always pray to win the lottery. If it is God's will, he will even buy the winning ticket for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey sweetie,

    There are times when I wish I could believe so whole heartedly in one faith that I could believe that there is an all powerful being who can make sense of life. It must be very comforting. However, those of who are rebels are just bound and determined to meet life on our ground and take full responsibility for our actions and out lives. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey there,

    I had a lady stopping by my house a few times this Spring to chat about God and The Bible. Had a few good chats with her and she seemed like a nice soul. She left me a few fliers and a small book that was written to help folks understand more about what's written in The Bible. I read them.

    I wonder if she'd freak out if she knew that I'm a pagan and just enjoy chatting with folks who are passionate in their belief.

    I wonder if there will come a day where people can truly just give up their need to squash others beliefs and ideals.

    The benefits and ironies of living in a republic are multitudinous.

    ReplyDelete