Religion is a hard subject for me. It is one that I avoid most of the time, mostly because I'm sure to offend someone. I grew up in a Presbyterian church. The minister we had while I was growing up was fantastic. His name was Larry and he was someone who always seemed to understand the real life sometimes meant making decisions that weren't always covered in the bible. He also allowed his beliefs in humanity and compassion to lead him to make decisions that were deemed "wrong" in the bible.
Case in point, a young hardworking couple with a young son came to our church, needing a place to live for a few months. A series of events had occurred in the preceding year that took them from a family who were completely self sufficient to homeless. They were willing to work around the church to pay for the ability to stay there. Larry agreed. The members of the church were so against his decision, that they called for Larry to step down. Why were they so against this family staying there? They weren't married. (I can not stress enough that they were not irresponsible people.) Larry did not want to place this family, and especially the young son, under any more stress. They could have rented a motel room by the week, but they wouldn't have gotten ahead. Larry wanted this boy to have a chance at a stable home once again. It didn't matter to Larry that they weren't married, that young boy didn't know or care that they weren't married. They were Mommy and Daddy and he loved them both. Larry understood that to evict them based on their marital status would be more harmful to their family unit than it would be damaging to the church for allowing them to stay.
I give you that story because to me, it represents everything that is right and wrong with religion. What is right, is that we find that loving others is a sure way to show and spread God's compassion and love. It is wrong, because we sometimes use God's expectations and guides as a way to inflict cruelty to one another, simply because we don't believe someone else is living their life the way we think God says they should.
My controversial statement today is this; I do not believe that the bible should be a literal interpretation of how to live life.
I believe in God. I think that a lot of the lessons we learn in church or in the bible are good, valuable lessons, but I also think there is a lot of hypocrisy there, too.
My next controversial statement is this; I am not a fan of organized religion, for the most part, today.
If I could find a church that would practice the positive things in the bible, and leave out the condemnation of anyone who doesn't do exactly what they say you should do, I'd go faithfully.
If I could find a church who lived by, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" I'd go. I hate that there are people out there who think that because they are spreading the word of God, they get a pass for being intentionally cruel.
We all have the right to live our lives the way we want to. We have to raise our kids with morals and values. We all deserve to know God and feel His love. Those who may need it the most can't find it. They can't find it, because when they look for it, all they find is someone telling them how disgusting, evil, wrong and, in some cases, how unnatural they are.
Its kind of hard to feel love for someone or something that makes you feel like you shouldn't have ever existed.
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