I'm a weird person. I have different ideas about Christianity. My best friend isn't allowed to listen to certain types of music, or read certain types of books because, to her, it's "against God". I believe very differently. I believe that God gave us ears to listen to the good(and practice it), and the bad(to learn from it) music. God gave us eyes to see the good and the bad. We were put on this Earth to love and experience. And if those expirences drive you away from God, you didn't have a strong relationship with Him to begin with.
And, I don't go to church often, and I don't read the Bible often, but I feel immensely close to God. My best friend thinks that your love for Jesus and God shouldn't be expressed publicly. I, on the other hand, almost got a shirt that read "JESUS IS MY BFF" in bold letters(I was out of $$). You look in my binder, or my notebooks, and random little notes saying "Jesus rocks!" or "God is my best friend!" are all over the place. My friend frowns upon this. She isn't allowed to wear anything the goes above her knees, not even to sleep in, whereas I go to sleep in short-shorts. She's not allowed to dance, whereas I will randomly bust out in dance.
She goes to church in her bst clothes, and I go in jeans. She got really mad at me for that one, and my response was, "I don't think God really cares what the heck you look like. Just as long as you show up. Or, even if you don't show up, at least pray, talk to him." She rolled her eyes. She only talks to God in church, but I talk to Him all the time. Before tests, when I'm at a game, when I get home, before I go to sleep, really anytime. I tell Him how my day went, not that He doesn't already know; but I think He likes to hear it come out of my mouth. When my brother scores in football, you'll see me in the stands doing a happy dance going, "Go Jesus, go Jesus!" and people will stare at me(it's funny!). When one of my friends uses God's name in vain, I say, "That's not funny." and they stop.
As for athiests, I feel bad for them. They can't share what I have with God. They'll nver know what it's like to pray, and have it come true right before your eyes. They'll never know what a powerful feeling it is to have in your heart when you sing "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe. They'll never feel it, maybe they don't want to. Even so, I feel bad for them.
My friend frowns upon different religions. I say, "Why are you upset about it, when you have no control over it? God gave them free will, they have the right use it." and she groans. I despise it when our teachers won't allow us to say "Merry Christmas" around the Jewish guy, even if we're not even talking to him. We say "Merry Christmas" at my school, and we get written up. Even though he goes around saying "Happy Hannakuh" all he wants. I loathe it how other religions offend other people. Seriously? Why do you
care? You don't see me screaming at you saying, "Islam is bad! You have to be Christian!" because that's not my opinion. Ok, it's different, but that doesn't make it bad. I don't know whether their beliefs are correct or not. I'll just add it to the long, long list of questions that I've got to ask God when I get to Heaven.
I'm very different about religion, and I'm proud of it. My beliefs might be different than yours, but you can't make me believe otherwise, trust me others have tried. But, I'm only 12, so I've still got a long way to go. All I really know, all that I'm absolutely positive about, is that there is a God, and He loves all of us, even though a lot of us rail against Him, don't love Him back, or don't belive in Him at all. He created me, and He gave me today. He loves me, no matter what I do. I call that an AWESOME GOD!
~~~Sam
