I was raised a Jehovah's Witness. My grandparents, who more or less raised me, were very prominent in their congregation, and a large part of my childhood focused on maintaining a certain image. Present right, look right, speak right, think right, be right, be good. I loved soccer and track, though, and my grandmother was eventually convinced to allow me to play.
I ended up injuring my knee and both of my ankles, and that was the end of soccer and track. Having been told my entire life that, if anything bad happens it's because the Lord didn't want you to do that anyway, and having spent so long being an athlete, I felt my entire identity was being invalidated by some pissed off dude on high. And so began a few years of me being a "fuck God and everything else" sort of atheist.
I eventually began to go to Mass, and from there began to understand that my grandparents' beliefs were not representative of the majority of Christianity, or indeed the Christian god. I am not baptized, but I plan to be after college, and I still attend Mass regularly. I am in a place in my life where I can talk about my beliefs, and so here they are.
I love other religions, and I love a part of the Qur'an where we are told that God made us into many tribes that we may come to know each other. It encompasses a lot of what I believe. My god, my Lord, my shepherd, is a loving god. So I can feel secure in my own faith, while I date an agnostic for five amazing years, and while I continue to learn the ways and thoughts and beliefs of others. I believe that we all come to know the Lord in different ways, and I don't think that anyone will be condemned for having had a different way of doing this. That would be inconsistent with the Lord being a god of love. So I don't find it inconsistent to say that I think that abortion should continue to be legal in the United States, out of concern for the health of the women that get them, even though I dislike the practice, or to say that I don't mind of "marriage" being a function of the Church, and "unions" a legal function of the state.
My god is love. And I strive every day to find peace, that I may follow His example.
(Sorry it got so long.)
October 29th, 2014 at 08:01am