June is a crazy
month. I haven’t blogged in over a week
because there’s been a lot going on in my life.
Nothing bad…just the normal hectic stuff…schedules and commitments that
keep me from having any opportunity to sit at my keyboard. Consequently, I’ve been buried in email
because I just haven’t had time to keep up with it. As July approaches, I am seeing a light at the
end of the tunnel. Of course, there’s
always the chance it might be a freight train about to run me over.
Though I haven’t
blogged much in June, I have thought deeply about some things. These thoughts may be indicative of a
mid-life crisis or they may actually be signs of some form of spiritual growth…who
knows. I’ve observed people, history,
and mulled over personal experiences and have come to the conclusion that
religion sucks. I can honestly sit here
and tell you that in my experience and in my observations religion has caused
more problems than it has done good. I
have come to the poignant conclusion, or had an epiphany, that religion is nothing more than the
conglomeration of political games in the name of God, hinging its success on
the power of guilt and fear. How many
people throughout history have died fighting over a religion? How many people
have justified killing with religion?
How many relationships and friendships have been destroyed over
religion?
And where is God in all
of that mayhem and madness? Probably
shaking His head and wondering how humanity can so outlandishly miss the point.
Whenever I question
things of a spiritual nature, I always go back to three fundamental things. Faith, Hope and Love. The greatest and most important being love. If we love God and we love others, how then
does religion even matter? If we live
simply by this principal, where then does religion gain its power over us?
Love is untainted, pure
and the most powerful force in existence.
If we simply spread that love with our lives, isn’t that enough? Jesus Himself said, “the greatest of these is
love.” Therefore, I take that to mean
that above all else, we are to love….God, others, ourselves, and all things living.
Religion taints love
with regulations and guilt and fear tactics.
Give this much. Don’t do
that. Do this. God hates this. God loves that. The asinine rules go on and on and on. The
irony is that love isn’t about rules, it’s about relationship. The Ten Commandments
are rules, yes, but if you are living a life of love, following those
commandments is a given. If you are
living a life of love then you have no desire to murder or steal from someone
else or deceive others. If you are living a life of love, giving to assist
others is second nature, lending a helping hand is common place. You don’t need to be told to do it… because you
already desire to do it.
If life isn’t for
living and living abundantly than what is the point in being here? I ask myself this question frequently. If our purpose for being on the planet isn’t
to love others and have a damn good time while doing it, then why the hell are
we here?
I have many friends
from different religious backgrounds.
Most, if not all (myself included) have suffered severe guilt from their
religions. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. That’s the favorite religious word. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t listen to secular music. Don’t dance.
Don’t wear pants. Don’t
swear. Don’t curse. Don’t have premarital sex. Don’t use birth control. Don’t drink caffeine. Don’t show your ankles. Don’t go out in public without your head
covered. The list goes on and on and on;
and not one of these rules has anything to do with God and love.
It’s all a sham. It’s a money making power trip. It’s a political game in the name of God and
I am hereby standing up and publically blowing raspberries in the face of
religion.
I love God and I love
His son, Jesus Christ and I am thankful every second of every day for salvation
and the blessings He has bestowed upon me… and I say this recognizing fully
that nothing in this sentence has anything to do with religion.
Life is a gift… one
religion wants to control, stifle and command. Don’t let it. Life is a gift that was meant to opened and
enjoyed and shared. No father gives his
children the gift of rules and regulations and judgments and condemnations,
fear and guilt… neither does our Heavenly Father. He gives life and love and He gives it
abundantly.
I understand fully now
that Religion gives rules while God gives relationship. I choose the latter.
My entire life has been
one quilt after another quilt and one fear after another fear, all religion
related; and I’m just plum tuckered out.
So, Religion, you can kiss my big, fat, white ass. You can take all the fear and guilt, the
judgment and condemnation and shove it…. because life is too damn short. I’m going to live the way I want to
live. I’m going to love God and love
others and I’m going to do it my way. Like
Frank Sinatra sang, “I did it my way.”
The irony is, I’m not
writing this from a rebellious spirit, but rather from a place of
understanding. See, if I strive to
follow all of the rules and yet, am so stifled by them that what I’m doing, and
how I’m living isn’t real; then the love I’m trying to show isn’t real. It’s all a façade and I don’t want to live a façade
any longer. I want to live loving people
because it’s how I truly feel, not because it’s just one more thing I’m “supposed”
to do. I’m done with the religious “have-tos”….
I’m finished with the bullshit. If I’d
rather sit on my deck on Sunday morning and have Bloody Marys with friends
instead of going to church, I’m going to do it and I’m no longer going to feel
guilty about it. Why? Because let me say it straight, sometimes
church is boring and friends are more fun. That’s
saying a lot because I go to a pretty exciting church…still, there are days
when I feel closer to God at home than I do in the church.
See, God is everywhere
and anywhere. I don’t have to get on my
knees or pray a certain prayer or be in a particular building. I can talk to Him in my home, on a mountain
and even on the toilet. He’s there and
listening….just like a dad…because He is one.
It’s about love not church. It’s
about love not rules. It’s about love
not have-to’s and shoulds.
Love…it literally and
figuratively makes the world go ‘round.
It’s all that matters. It’s the
salve that soothes. It’s the only
constant and the only fix that works. It’s
healing and intoxicating and it fulfills unlike anything else on the
planet. Love…that’s what life is all
about. ~
Ahh middle age becomes you gwasshopper .. its about our relationship with God & how we treat others. Not a particular Bible translation, not a Political party, not a Denomination, not a church .. Jesus put it simply .. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind & soul and Love others as yourself. The father of Lies complicated all that & called it religion.
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