This is kinda a follow up post from yesterday cause I got a few emails and I told the people to check here and I would address there issue. First off I know some of you are atheist and that's ok its your life and your choice and I for one will not try to change what you believe. In saying that please respect me when I say I do believe in God.
Now yesterday I did a post on adoption and I said I blame organize religion and I do. See there is a difference between religion and organize religion. I grew up as a member of a church my parents took me every week twice a week. To be honest I liked it and loved going but when I would hear the preacher preach about gay people going to hell and it was a sin and all that it confused me.
I was told I was made in the image of God so how could my feelings be wrong. I had to look into this and I found a lot of info on how the bible here in America is wrong in many ways. How they taken some of the books of the bible out and don't use them at all. When I brought this up at my church (a southern baptist church) I was ask if I was gay and when I admitted it they call my parents in and wanted to ship me off to be de-gayed.
I did a post on that in the past so I don't need to really go into that. That's not what this post is about this post is about what I believe. I do believe in God and I do pray and I thank him for all that I have in my life. I just don't believe in organize religion and damn sure don't believe in the southern baptist to me there just a big cult. They use God and religion to scare people and to make people believe its ok to hate others.
No I don't go to church as much as I should but then again I don't believe I have to either. As long as I live a good life try to help others and just be a generally good person than me and God are just fine. Don't get me wrong I like to go now and then to church but to a church that has open mind and a open heart. There's a couple different church's we go to one in Sarasota and the other Pinellas Park both wonderful places to get the spirit!
I hope this clears this issue up. All I know is I wear my cross with pride and will not deny him. If I am made fun of cause of this so be it. Me and Jesus are ok and he understand me and knows the way I feel.
Now yesterday I did a post on adoption and I said I blame organize religion and I do. See there is a difference between religion and organize religion. I grew up as a member of a church my parents took me every week twice a week. To be honest I liked it and loved going but when I would hear the preacher preach about gay people going to hell and it was a sin and all that it confused me.
I was told I was made in the image of God so how could my feelings be wrong. I had to look into this and I found a lot of info on how the bible here in America is wrong in many ways. How they taken some of the books of the bible out and don't use them at all. When I brought this up at my church (a southern baptist church) I was ask if I was gay and when I admitted it they call my parents in and wanted to ship me off to be de-gayed.I did a post on that in the past so I don't need to really go into that. That's not what this post is about this post is about what I believe. I do believe in God and I do pray and I thank him for all that I have in my life. I just don't believe in organize religion and damn sure don't believe in the southern baptist to me there just a big cult. They use God and religion to scare people and to make people believe its ok to hate others.
No I don't go to church as much as I should but then again I don't believe I have to either. As long as I live a good life try to help others and just be a generally good person than me and God are just fine. Don't get me wrong I like to go now and then to church but to a church that has open mind and a open heart. There's a couple different church's we go to one in Sarasota and the other Pinellas Park both wonderful places to get the spirit!I hope this clears this issue up. All I know is I wear my cross with pride and will not deny him. If I am made fun of cause of this so be it. Me and Jesus are ok and he understand me and knows the way I feel.
Another good post, Ryan.
To be honest, I've been thinking about this myself.
Hey ryan great post! I totally agree! I was raised Roman Catholic even went to catholic schools and seminary (was studying to be a priest) as I got older and saw major changes in the church I realized I was raised in a very unique community. The church at large hated me and the new pope blamed us gays for the problems in the church. So now I still believe and do my prayers but don't really believe in the orginizations although I have switched to the anglo-catholic tradition (episcople) for when I do go to mass. Well again great post love ya hugs
The bible has to be one of the most most misquoted and misused books every printed. Take one part here and one part there and come up with what you want it to say. Forget the new testament, just use the old testament.
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
Personally, I like the above. LOL
The Baptists believe they can't go to heaven unless they are immersed or at least sprinkled with water. How stupid and messed up is that? Jesus told the murderer on the cross next to him who asked for forgiveness, "today you will be with me in paradise." This proves that he will forgive all and that baptism is not a requirement for heaven. When Jesus said, "you must be born of water and the spirit." He was saying a natural and a spiritual birth. God is not a respecter of persons and loves all of his children the same. Amen, Bro. Ted
Ryan, members of organized religions will argue this, but all you need to know is: 1) You were created. Deliberately created, unique from everyone else. We typically call this Creator "God" and I don't have a problem with that. 2) The Creator/God loves you, as much as any parent loves a child, maybe more.
Anyone who says that the Bible is "God's infallible word" is WRONG, for it is not. It is, if anything, the "inspired word of God." Big difference. HUGE difference. Anyone who pretends or presumes to know what the Creator thinks or feels is WRONG. The Catholic Bible even admits that we cannot be sure of many of the things Christ supposedly said. ...Maybe He said them...maybe they're just paraphrases of His teachings.
Point being, God loves you. And He wants you to be with Him when your soul departs this human body.
And you will :)
The Buddha said of death:
Life is a journey.
Death is a return to earth.
The universe is like an inn.
The passing years are like dust.
Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn,
a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
a flickering lamp - a phantom - and a dream.
Ryan, im not a buddhist, but i rather like the reincarnation beliefs.
I dont bother attending church anymore. Cant hear the sermon anyways. Id rather take a long hike in the backwoods and talk to the dead.
Separation of church and hate. I like that.
Panhandle Bob, you've almost got it right.... but you forgot one thing. The 'Bible' is NOT the word of 'God', it's the words of men writing down what they thing 'God' said to them. There are SO many contradictions and so much outright bullshit in the 'Bible' it's pathetic! I loathe organized religion, and quite frankly, don't believe in any supreme being or beliefs other than the one thing: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's that simple. More people have died because of organized religions over the centuries than ANY OTHER reason. Ryan, if you have a close relationship with God, that's fine with me - I think you're a good person and anyone who belives is ok, so long as they don't try to rub it in my face or tell me how to live my life.
OK, I'll get off the soapbox now. Love ya bro!
AZ Denny
I don't respect anyone's beliefs, but I generally respect individuals enough not to threaten the friendship/association by challenging their beliefs unless I think there is a real harm that could result if they were left unchallenged.
You are an adult and can make your own decisions about things, whether anyone think those decisions are good or flawed. So long as you're not hurting anyone, you still have that respect.
I think you'll find most atheists make the same distinction: respect the person, not the belief. It's a standard skeptic's position.
Ryan, I think it is great that you believe in Jesus and want to live as God's child.
As a Catholic I believe that when we are baptized we become God's adopted children, just as when Jesus was baptized, the Father said, this is my beloved Son. As members of God's family, I think it's important for us to be part of the family get-together on Sundays. As a member of the family, don't you want to be with your brothers and sisters in your Father's house? I just put that out there for you to think about as God's child.
@ AZ Denny — You say, "More people have died because of organized religions over the centuries than ANY OTHER reason." I think that is simply not true. I think most wars have been for territory and power. It is true that there have been Christians martyred for their beliefs over the centuries, and there were the Crusades, a number of heretics executed, and the Thirty Years War. But when you consider the numbers killed in all the wars in European history where both sides shared the same religion, the U.S. Civil War, the Two World Wars of the 20th Century, the Holocaust, the deaths under Stalin, on top of all the wars of ancient Greece and Rome, I don't see how anyone can reasonably claim that organized religion has a higher death toll.