Religion

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. - Dalai Lama

I have opinions and feelings. This post may not coincide completely with your opinions and feelings. I am ok with that and I don't discredit you for feeling differently. I just want to put my thoughts down in concrete form for my own personal relief. That being said, here goes:

I don't know where I stand with organized religion. I don't completely agree or disagree with any doctrine that is currently being practiced in modern culture of which I am familiar. I think that humans, like everything else, have their flaws and therefore no one can be sure what is or isn't true, correct, right, etc. I know that I share a lot of the same sentiments from the Buddhist culture, but that Christianity has influenced my life a great deal growing up in Catholic school with a Christian family and largely Christian based country (no political beliefs/opinions expressed here nor do I need political commentary on this subject).

I believe in something larger than what we have here. I think there is a sense of connectedness between people and our surroundings and that things happen in life for a reason. I believe that people come and go in life as they are meant to for the overall picture... for the betterment of individuals to better serve the greater community.

I do not, however, believe in "salvation"... at least in the sense that most people use the word today. I do not believe that there is a set "check point" in life that can be obtained by verbalizing a belief system or reading a written word that instantly puts you on a list to go to a place of light in the sky somewhere. I don't think saying "I believe in ___" or "I love ___" or even "I'm saved" is a turning point that absolves the rest of the life you still have to live. I don't think a decision can be made about "salvation" until the end (death or whatever the end may be). I feel that people rely too heavily on what they say and what they read, but not enough on their actions.

Using the Bible as my topic here, I believe that it is used improperly today. I think that people use certain passages out of context to justify their hatred or bigotry rather than use it to learn more about loving and serving others. They get lost in the leaves and lose sight of the tree, so to speak. I don't believe that the Bible dictates who you can or cannot love, who you can or cannot associate with. I believe that the bigger picture is that it tells you to love everyone.

If you can love me for who I am and accept that I believe there are more factors involved in the "big picture" than verbalizing an established doctrine, I thank you for loving and accepting me. If you cannot, I'm sorry that you cannot, but I won't hold that against you personally. My purpose is not to judge you or try to get you to believe what I believe. My purpose is to continually learn and grow as a person so that I can better love others and serve a greater community than myself and my family/friends.

The moral of my story is that I really have no problem with the majority of religious beliefs that exist in our world. What I truly have a problem with is hypocrisy.

Practice what you preach... or don't preach at all.