The Gospel According to Me!

Two lines have been drawn in the sand.

One was drawn by those who practice religion, daring me to feel the way that I feel, and then telling me that I am blasphemous if I do.

The other is drawn by the atheists, who practice an absolute hatred of those idiots who claim to have any kind of faith at all.

Yes, I am that blasphemous idiot.

If I was Catholic, I would go confess that I do not blindly follow a religion. I don't tithe 10% of all I earn to a church, and am sarcastically waiting for lightning to strike me down.

If I was a non-believer, I would throw down all my "not-so-worldly" possessions and join PETA or the FFRF.

Instead, I sit at my computer and I respond, sometimes aggressively, and sometimes logically to all those who question who I am, or what I am.

Make no mistake, I am a Christian. You can dip that in your holy water, or stuff it in your pipe and smoke it. I will not deny God.

Every morning, I get up and say a prayer. Before I go to bed at night, I kneel and say a prayer.

Do I believe that an omnipotent deity is listening somewhere? Yep!

You can snarl and sneer at me, toss me in a pit of lions, stone me, or mock me. But I walk both lines with dedication, and sometimes I like to scuff them up a bit and cover them up.

Yes, sometimes I like to kick sand in their faces. How un-Christian-like of me!

Over the years I have discovered that atheism is all about anger.

Look at the blogs and the posts, the attacks and the sneers. If a person says they are an atheist, they are an angry atheist.

But atheists take this even further. If you are not an atheist, you are an idiot. They don't want to see any pictures of religious symbols, billboards with Biblical sayings, or Christmas decorations on top of grain elevators.

This means that they are not content with their lack of belief, they want everyone else to be and feel just the way they do. God forbid (pardon the pun) that one professes their undying faith, let alone continues to believe even after they have been verbally shredded by an atheist!

According to the "book" of atheism, man descended from apes, the world began with a big bang, and the Bible was written by Neanderthals.

But the reality is that if they were truly content with their own lack of faith, then they would have no problem with Christmas decorations, religious billboards, or any other symbols that involve faith.

They would love themselves, and they would accept others even if they have faith or practice a religion.

I guess acceptance is not part of their book of atheism.

On the other side of the beach are the very religious, not to be confused with those of faith. Because those that profess their religion are usually not faithful. They follow a leader in their church. A good example of this is the Pope.

After working for a Christian Publisher (the least Christian-like job I ever had) I discovered that the Catholic church has their own editors that filter out what is taught to the children in their church.

The biggest edit that offended me was the fact that children can't pray directly to God. Only the Pope can pray to God. So the children and other members of the church have been taught to pray to saints, priests, and of course, the Pope.

It's like this big blockade has been setup to prevent any access to God.

So not only is there this line in the sand, there is also a very tall wall.

As I approach my theories on evolution (yes I do believe in it), I also logically approach my faith.

When I was a child, it was an easy surrender to my faith. I blindly followed because that was what others did. Now I follow with my eyes wide open. I am not afraid of being blinded by any light. It's carried me through some dark times.

I have spent a lot of time reading the Bible and researching its changes.

The big change was in 325 AD with the Council of Nicea.

The big debate was the origin of Jesus and His association with God. They decided that Jesus would have more validity if he was immortal, and the Son of God.

This was determined by primitive men who had no idea that the world was round and that there were more lands to be discovered.

And while most edits toward the Bible were applied with meticulous care, they forgot two very important aspects of the Bible which invalidate their decisions:
            1. Jesus was a Jew. It says several times in the Bible that Jesus was a Jew. If God was truly His father, then Jesus would not be Jewish, He would be elemental and eternal, and his bloodline would be undefined.

2. When Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer, he didn't say: My Father, who art in Heaven. He said: Our Father, who art in Heaven. Jesus believed that all of us were the children of God.

That was His message.

And because that was his message, I love Him as my prophet, and my savior. Without him, we would be dancing around the fires in pagan worship of something or another.

Other edits over the years, have backed me into corners of fury.

One of the most offensive was the Bible release in 1946 by Pope Pius the XII.

Influenced by Mussolini and Hitler, were the edits that struck pedophilia from the Bible and replaced it with homosexuality. In fact, there was no mention of homosexuality in the Bible before 1946, because the word hadn't been invented yet. (Ref: askjohnmackay.com by Diane Eager)

But this was a lesson learned well for the church. You see, Hitler and Mussolini taught hatred and developed a following so devoutly intense, that it took the entire might of the Western World to knock them down.

Hatred is a strong motivator.

Not only did Hitler hate Jews, he killed over 50,000 homosexuals in his death camps.

The church used this powerful motivator (called Hate), to lure ignorant people into their fold and then indoctrinated them in the ways of hate, forgetting John 3: 16 (For God so loved the world...), Matthew 7: 1 (Judge not, lest ye be judged), and Matthew 5: 22 (But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment).

It's so easy to overlook these passages for convenience, but faith isn't a convenience. It is a way of life.

Over the years, I have learned to think of myself as Spiritual with Faith. Yes, I deny that religion is a necessity to the doorway of Heaven.

In fact, I have learned over the years that what we deem as eternity can be defined differently per person.

I sincerely believe that we get exactly what we wish for.

If you are a Christian seeking that "Great White Light" that is exactly what you will find.

If you are a Muslim seeking those 70 virgins (Yikes!), well, good luck with that, but by the way, does their virginity grow back or do you get a replacement virgin every time one is used up? Just curious....

And finally, if you see there is nothing beyond death, then that is exactly what you will get.

But I believe that there is a variance between what we believe of our religion and what we believe of our spirituality. And there is very little overlap that signifies faith.

You can be religious and not be faithful, and you can be spiritual and not be faithful.

The trick is to just be faithful.

And be true to yourself.