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Faith in Something…
Shortly after my birth, I was baptized. At six or seven, I was attending Sunday school. And shortly after, I was making my first Communion. We even attended church on a regular basis. I hated it all. Half my family is made up of God-fearing Catholics, the other half only attends church when someone is getting married. I think I take after that half.
Sunday school was just boring to me. But the part I hated the most was having to go to the confessional. We’d go weekly to “confess our sins’ and at seven years old, what the fuck kinds of sins could I possibly have committed. But we HAD to go—there was no choice. Talk abot stress. So I’d go in and basically lie to the priest, make up some sins and then he’d have me go out and do a few “Our fathers”. What a joke. Is it a sin to lie to a priest about your sins? Eventually, it got to be too much to handle and I asked my mom to take me out. She did, saying that it was my decision.
My mom considers herself a Catholic, even though she doesn’t really practice it much. I think her main reason for trying to get some religion in our lives was her parents, both deeply religious hispanics. So much so, that when my grandmother was found dead in her home from a house fire, they found her kneeling and praying. That’s how she died—kneeling and praying. Ugh.
Personally, I don’t like the idea of organized religion. I’d rather be able to believe what I believe from anywhere in the world and not be pigeon-holed into one specific religion or another. So what do I believe? I believe that there’s something that happens when we die. What? Who knows. I probably won’t know until I actually die. When I think of dying, the vision I get is that of joining the other people in my family that have passed on. And that’s about it. I don’t really believe in a heaven or hell, just a place where you spend eternity with your family and friends. I also don’t really believe in meeting your maker and having to justify your actions.
When it comes to other religions, I’m more than happy to have a discussion about them. I welcome your points of view, as long as you welcome mine. The problem I tend to have is that most religious people aren’t willing to welcome a different point of view. I certainly don’t think Christianity is “garbage”, I just don’t agree with their methods of “spreading the gospel”. Religion is personal, and although I’m willing to listen to your views, I don’t want it pushed on me. I respect people with faith in a higher power, because it helps them get through life. It certainly helped my grandmother in her last moments and helps millions around the world. But one religion isn’t better than any other and part of having an open-mind is being able to hear other points of view.
I found this article and found it kind of interesting, because some of it is in line with what I’m trying to get across here.
People often confuse religion with spirituality. Religion is the outward form of worship and spirituality is the inward form of worship.
Heaven is not about religious beliefs, but about spiritual actions. It is not true, as some people believe, that we get to heaven by giving verbal assent to belief in God. It is love, not religious doctrines, that creates spiritual growth. Religions are cultural institutions but love is universal. Those religions which claim superiority over other religions or exclude people for various reasons, go against God’s law to love others as we love ourselves. Although religion, in itself, is not important to God, all religions are necessary because there are people who need what they teach. For this reason, all religions are precious in the sight of God. All religions refer to the same God. All religions are different ways of trying to describe the same God. After death, if you insist upon searching for an old man on a throne as God, you will do this for awhile until you get the idea that you are following an illusion.
Everyone, religious or not, believing in God or not, transitions to the spirit world as part of the natural process of life. Just as one does not need to be religious to live in the physical world, one does not need to profess a particular faith to live in the spirit world.
According to John 5:22, the bible states that God judges no one, but all I tend to see is a lot of judgmental religious people pushing their beliefs and judgments on the rest of us. The fact that they are religious doesn’t bother me, nor does their religion. It’s just the fact that it’s being shoved down my throat that bothers me. I’m willing to discuss your point of view, but don’t force it on me. That’s all.
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