Not Exactly Clear Cut

Morning everybody! So, as Kelsey said this weeks topic is Religious History. Here we go.

So, okay, I wouldn’t exactly say religion has always played a major role in my life, but it has kind of always been there in the background. My mother is Methodist, my father is... undecided on the whole affair. I was raised Methodist, and I really still consider myself as a Methodist, even though I don’t really know where I stand.

I haven’t been to church regularly in about three or four years, nor was I ever really explained what Methodism entailed. Basically, what I gathered of Methodism is that they are all really chill and laid back and that seemed attractive when it came to a church. I went to the same church with the same people for so long I guess I thought I just didn’t need to know the details because none of them expected me to. I kind of wish now I knew more, because if I say I’m a part of something, I’d like to know what it is. But, alas, I do not. Yet.

So, I guess, Methodist isn’t a good title for me. I guess I would say: I believe in God, in Christianity. (As well as Judaism and Islam) I believe He’s there but I don’t know what I believe after that. I guess I would say I’m a Christian, what specific section, I don’t know.

Here’s kind of how my adventure with religion has gone up to this point:

Like I said, I grew up going to the same church regularly with my mother, who taught Sunday school, for about twelve years. We stopped going around the time my parents split up, which makes sense because my mom was stressed, not everybody always wanted to go, and it just made sense that we put it aside of all things.

Now, don’t take me not going to church as me not keeping my religion a part of my life. I didn’t really focus on it, but it was still there. The past three years, since our first move my seventh grade year, I’ve been keeping my religion in my life as best I could on my own without putting the people around me at an inconvenience. I didn’t talk about it, I didn’t ask to go to church every weekend, I didn’t even pray in front of people just because it didn’t seem like the kind of thing people needed to be bothered with. It was just something I was doing for me. It was just something I wanted to do because I felt like it.

A couple of months ago, though, two friends asked me to join them at the local church, which was also Methodist, for a “contemporary” service. It was, essentially, a lot of really awesome music and a video of a pastor from I’m not sure where giving a sermon. I really liked it and it reminded me how much I missed just the idea of a church and other people who shared your beliefs and would stand with you for an hour or two just to remember that.

Since then, I’ve really wanted to just get back into things that are religious and to get involved and be a part of it more. But, I haven’t been, maybe I will in the future, maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll just keep praying at night and reading sermons on the internet because that’s what I’m comfortable with.

And, the things is, I’m okay just being comfortable with the situation. Because for me, religion is something you do for you. If I really feel like I need to go to a church to keep my faith, I will. Right now, I don’t have that need.

So, that’s pretty much how things have been for me in the past. Now onto my opinions and such on how people perceive my religion.

People always talk about “the invisible man in the sky” and how that’s ridiculous. (And that’s something that’s done across the board. I won’t deny that, every set of beliefs are screwed over in the stereotype department.) That was always something that bothered me because I never viewed God as that person. That destiny maker, the game changer, the big guy in charge, I just didn’t. He was just there. He was just someone that I could confine in and trust and ask for help from. And that’s still how I view Him.

I still see religion as something that you do if you feel like you need it. If you need faith, if you need something to believe in, then religion is a really easy way to do that. I feel like I need my faith to keep balanced in my life and so I keep it in my life. If someone is comfortable with their life without a religion or with a different one, who am I to say that’s wrong? Honestly, it’s really hard to prove anything in a world we know so little about and fighting over it just seems a little pointless to me.

The stereotype that all Christians are against anything that isn’t heteronormative is quite annoying. Because, most of the people I’ve come across in my own religion aren’t like that. I’m not. You do with your life what you want. Who in the hell am I to say what you can and can’t do? Who am I to say who you are? Or who you love? Or what you believe?

Honestly, it just seems kind of contradictory to me to be Christian and hate or judge someone else for how the way they live their life. I mean, isn’t that the whole point? That God is going to be the one to make the big judgment? Like, I don’t know what you’ve learned, but that’s really how it came across to me. Acceptance is something that is supported, isn’t it? Aren’t we supposed to love everybody or something like that? It just never made sense to me.

Two other things that people assume about me solely because of my religion: I’m pro-life and that I’m against contraception. Like, seriously? Firstly, this goes back to the whole, your life is none of my business thing. I shouldn’t judge you for choices you make. I also shouldn’t try to make those choices for you. And neither should the government. And we all know this. These are just topics people bring up during elections to make people uncomfortable and to hit them at home. My views on both of those things are plain and simple: your life, your choice. I support contraception, but I also support those who do not want to use it, because that’s their choice. I support abortion as a real option, that doesn’t mean you can’t have kids.

I think that’s something people confuse with religion too much. They think that by believing something, it means you automatically want everyone else to believe it to. No, I don’t want that. I think you should do what you want. If you live a miserable life believing things you don’t want to and being forced to do things you don’t want to, then you are going to regret everything. If you are basically being told how to live, then it’s not really living. Is it?

I feel like I have rambled quite enough for this topic. I think I’ve hit everything I wanted to and I hope everybody the best for their week. Can't wait to read what Kathleen has to say tomorrow. 

Happy Monday!