Page 123 Saturday, march 26th today I would like to try and sort some things out that have been part of me since I was a child, what to believe in, when I was a child religion seemed to be a lot more popular than now days, I vaguely remember my grandpa making me go to bible study, I don't remember learning anything or even what the church looks like, I don't remember anything about it at all, just that I had to go. Some how through all of this the image and idea of god and Jesus were burned into my brain, and as I got a little older and began my journey through foster care I lived with Catholics, Jehovah witnesses, Christians, and people that didn't believe in any religion at all, everyone of them trying to push there beliefs on me, it was all very confusing. To this day I am not a fan of religion at all but I do believe in god, I do believe there is a higher power watching over us, rewarding us when deserved and knocking us down when he thinks there's more for us to learn, I find myself thanking him constantly, I have done this throughout my hole life, as for Jesus, I do believe in Jesus and that he was gods son, but so am I, we are all gods children, and in my mind I see Jesus as a normal person just as you and I, but he chose to live by his morals and values and trust in the love in which his heart had for humanity, and he was unwavering, he would not compromise what he believed to be just and true, unlike the majority, he set an example for others to follow, so they to could feel pure in there hearts, and he was murdered for trying to do what is right, he had a belief in his heart and followed it, and died for it, just like martin Luther king and many others who have died for their beliefs in what is right. I have not read the bible or have any knowledge of all the religions that are out there but I do believe there are a lot of selfish, greedy and just plain morally wrong people that hide behind these organized religions trying to draw you in and convince you that there way is right, but who's to really say which one is right, I am not in fear by any means of not going to heaven because I know in my heart, even though ive fallen flat on my face countless times, my heart is pure, and as I get back up, I grab as many people by there coat tails and bring them with me, I believe all I can do is try to be caring and compassionate to everyone around me, and do my best to stay away from selfishness and greed, and try to set an example by actions, not words, I believe I will start my own religion, the religion of good, it has one main rule, live good. No donations required.
james
I love this Jimmy.. I've been in the church for many years and many different ones. Since I've relocated back home it has been the hardest.
ReplyDeleteI have been very discouraged in the churches and haven't been to church in a looong time. Looking for a church home has really turned me away. Everyone in all these places believe they have all the answers to teach lately. If we had all the answers we wouldn't pray, cry out, and praise God for our growth.
Just as Christ lived his life set apart for the example to every extreme we must do what God leads us to do. This is what makes the church the ones that fullfill what God is calling them to do, the ones that hear and obey his voice leading your heart. You got it bro! Keep going strong in the name of God and the power of his will. God Bless You My Friend!
Hi James,
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the most revealing comments I've ever read from you! Thanks for sharing your perspective on religion. I've always wondered what you really thought about it.
I've never really had much use for religion either as a rule. I grew up in a relatively Godless home. I mean, depending on who my dad was married to at the time, we might go to church on Easter Sunday once in a while when I was really young. The impression I got from religion mostly came from what I saw on television, from people like Oral Roberts, Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Earnest Angely, amd the like. None of them impressed me very much, and Earnest Angely cracked me up with the stupid sounds he made and the crazy way he acted during his "healing" services. I thought to myself, if that's what Christianity is all about, I don't want anything to do with it.
But there were other Christians I met in just everyday ordinary life who made a different impression on me. There was the family that lived next door to my home when I was a kid. They were Catholic, but they truly lived their religion. One of the things that impressed me about them was that when ever anyone had a birthday party and would invite their kids, they would invariably send their kids over with a birthday gift, but they were not allowed to stay for the party. I thought that was kind of mean at first, but after getting to know them I knew they weren't mean at all. I became really good friends with their kids and envied them in many ways concerning how much their parents cared for them and protected them from bad influences. In my teenage years and later in adult life, I loved it when I had opportunity to go and visit with Mrs. Tomasek, the mother of the kids I was talking about. She always seemed so wise to me about many things, and I learned a lot from her. She died in 2007, just a few months after the last time I got to see her, and I felt almost as if my mother had died. (to be continued)
(continued) There have been other people who have had similar influences on me from various religious backgrounds, but their Christianity was always what made them different from most people. What I mean is, a lot of people claim to be Christians, but not as many live as though they are Christians. I have met good Catholics and bad Catholics, good Jehovah's Witnesses and bad Jehovah's Witnesses, good Baptists and bad Baptists, good Adventists and bad Adventists, etc., etc. I've even met decent non-believers, but they've obviously been influenced by believing friends or by God Himself in spite of themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm trying to say is, at some point I had to come to terms with God in a way that made sense to me. I knew I could not be an atheist, because as far as I'm concerned the universe is way to organized to have just happened. I also knew that something had gone wrong with humanity, because it was just way to hard to do what I knew to be right, even though I wanted to, and I knew I wasn't alone in that respect.
Having come to the conclusion that there is a God, I knew He must have found a way to communicate with us, and the Bible made more sense to me than any other so-called religious writing. I had not studied deeply into other religions, though I was a half-baked Buddhist for a while when I was a teenager, but I knew enough about other religions to know that their approach to God and heaven was a works-oriented, merit-based system. In other words, in most if not all other religions beside Christianity, the way to heaven is to become a better person, or at least to do some kind of work or sacrifice to please an angry or at best an unfriendly god. The same approach is often used in Christianity as well, but I found out that's not what the Bible teaches.
(continued) God does not hate us. He loves us. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. Jesus, God's Son, who is referred to as "the Word" in John 1:1-4, & 14, was "in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him. Jesus is our Creator, not just a man. He came to this world and "was made flesh and dwelt among us" so that we could begin to comprehend who God is. Jesus said, "if you have seen me, you have seen the Father" (see John 14:9). Jesus was a man, born of a woman, but He was also God's only begotten Son. He existed before He was "made man" and "without Him was not anything made that was made."
ReplyDeleteJesus was the one that formed Adam out of the dust of the ground. But when Adam sinned and as a result the human race became infected with sin, it became necessary, in order to save us from the the ultimate consequence of sin which is eternal death, for our Creator to "be made flesh" and dwell among us, living a sinless life as a human being, and ultimately to paying the price for all our sins by dying the equivalent of eternal death in our behalf.
So, you see, though it may be commendable for you to start your own "religion of good," ultimately you cannot succeed because "there is none good, but One," (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:18) and that is God. Jesus is God the Son.