I was born on a cold October day....just kidding. I am not going to tell my whole life story, just my finding God and Jesus story. I have gone to a lot of different churches. Catholic when I was in preschool, a Seventh Day Adventist church is where I went to when I was a little older for vacation bible study, Wesleyan is where I went to when I was a teenager (my boyfriend at the time went there), a Presbyterian church after I had Bridgette, and now I have gone to two non-denominational churches. I have always felt God in my life, but it was really hard to find a place to learn about him that was right for me.
My mom never went to church. All the churches that I had gone to were because I needed/wanted to go. I needed to learn more. My mom believes in God but she does waver sometimes and she doesn't like to be judged so she didn't want to go to a place that would judge her. Also she is a very independent person. She has never been married, and hates it when people tell her what to do. That is one of the things I admire about my mom because she is a very strong person and I love how she doesn't do well with being told what to do. Her mind is hers and when its made up there is no convincing her to do any other thing. Her and my dad never were married, so you can see where judgement would play in. She is not a perfect person (which nobody is) but she didn't want to go to a church where they would judge her and then tell her to blindly do things.
I did follow in my moms footprints in one way. My oldest daughter was born out of wedlock and in going to church I was always afraid of being judged. When I went to a church I didn't really try to know the people or have them know me because if they knew me it would mean they would judge me. You see it a lot, if you do a certain type of sin (which everyone sins btw) you are judged and some churches wont even let you go there anymore. I didn't want that.
I felt really pulled to God right before I met my husband. I was with someone that didn't want to go to church or learn anything and it was hard for me to want to go to church because of that. Little by little (with the help of prayer) I realized that he was not the one for me. It wasn't just a religion thing either it was a whole person thing. He just wasn't it for me. I was introduced to my husband by our best friends. His best friend was dating (now married) to my best friend. We started off by being friends and then our relationship deepened. It felt right and in less than a year we were married and had our first child together. Even though our relationship was rushed, I wouldn't do it any other way.
Anyways, my husband showed me a great non-denominational church. He was born and raised in religion and always went to church. It was literally God answering my prayers. My husband brought me closer to God and I can never repay him for that. If I have questions he always answers them and even though we don't see eye to eye on everything, he has always told me what I needed to know. He has showed me that there are great churches out there. When we moved two hours away it took us a couple months to find a church. We found it with Heritage Church in Sterling Heights. Our church is now a home to me. I learn so much there instead of being preached at and judged. I was baptized last year and I am participating more and letting people get to know me and it is great!
That was a summary of my religious journey and for what I am about to say, it think it is extremely beneficial for you guys to know my journey. The battle is becoming more real each day. I see it all the time if your a Christian you are stupid and if you are an atheist you must be an awful person. Let me tell you something, I know a lot of Christians. Some of those Christians are the smartest people that I have ever met. I know of brilliant scientist that are of the Christian faith. My pastor loves to learn much like I do and he has taken time to read a lot of books. He knows so many scientific subjects and because that he is great to learn from. He has taken time to truly study, plus not many people can say that their pastor was kicked out of seminary school! Rock on you rebel! On the other side of the coin I know a lot of atheists or non-believers in God too. They are some of the most kind hearted, caring people that I have ever met! They hate to see people in pain and they defend others with everything in them.
I have argued with an atheist about religion. She called me stupid and I said I rather be stupid than go to Hell. Looking back at that now, I am so ashamed by how I acted. There wasn't even a need to argue about anything. She can believe whatever she wants and I will do the same. I know I am not dumb, and who am I to tell her shes going to Hell. She could be on her death bed and find Jesus. That was wrong of me. You see it often though. You see it with debates between people of science and people with faith. You see debates even between the different religions. It's quite ridiculous. Why does anyone need to be proven to be right? A persons religious journey is their own. God doesn't want us to just follow blindly because someone told us to. He wants us to study and truly feel it in our hearts.
To me its quite sad on now how the whole world views Christians. Did you know that even Gandhi said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." That is heartbreaking. The Bible says do not judge so why is it so common for us to judge? There is a saying that you collect more flies with honey. To me that is so true. If we want people to find God and truly love him like we do, we HAVE to stop telling people that they are bad and wrong. Everyone sins so why is that a person who is homosexual more chastised than a person who has been divorced for the fifth time? No sin is worse than the others. They are all equal in sin. How about we stop looking at a person in the sins they have committed and just seeing the person as a person. The whole reason why I think we were put on this earth instead of being sent to Heaven is to help find the lost. To help more people reach Jesus and Heaven. I personally think we are doing it so wrong, and something has to change.
On the other flip of the coin is with the atheist. It is quite common for them to lump all people of religion with each other. Just because I believe in God does not make me the same as other Christians that you see in the spotlight. I do not condemn anyone that has sinned. This might loose me some friends but I am 100% in the fight for equality for homosexuals. I believe that LOVE is more powerful and if someone is in love than who am I to tell them that they are wrong. That is just silly. In the Bible it tells us to love one another and to not judge. We should follow in Jesus footprints, he would be seen with the "sinners" and he showed so much love to everyone. Not an ounce of hate came out of him towards anyone that had committed any sins. That is the type of Christian I want to be and to lump us all together is not right. Believing in something higher does not make us stupid. We should be able to pray in schools if we want, its affecting nobody else besides us. To me why not teach a little bit of both creationism and evolution and have people decide for themselves. It is wrong telling a person what they should believe based on what they believe.
The main thing I want people to get from this post is a persons journey is their own. People come to find things in different ways. Nobody should be pressured to choose anything and we all need to show love and kindness no matter what our religion is. Stop arguing about what people should believe and what is right. Show love and compassion and answer things when asked in a loving way. I believe that there are a lot of people looking for answers so why show them ugliness. People have the right to believe what they want, its their choice not yours. In the end it doesn't matter who was right on the earth, the outcome is still the same.
Peace and Love,
