Christian…Just in Case

I get more than a few emails accusing me of hating Christians. I can’t say people don’t have their reasons. In fact, on more than one occasion, I’ve referred to Christianity as “praying to the invisible sky daddy” which is probably offensive in and of itself.

But here’s the deal. I don’t hate Christians.  I was raised Catholic and most of my friends self-identify as Christian. There’s nothing wrong with that. In a way, everyone needs there own special thing to feel fulfilled. For Christian people, it might be some way to communicate and find higher meaning in everything that happens every day. It’s their way of making sense of the world. I can respect the need to do that.

Me, I write. That’s my thing. Whenever something bothers me, or doesn’t makes sense to me, I write about it and it makes me feel better. In a way, writing is my religion. I use it to forgive myself for the things I do, justify the things I might do and explain the consequences. To date, I’ve never met a problem that writing couldn’t fix.

I imagine a lot of Christian feel the same way about their religion.

What I have a problem with isn’t Christianity. It’s with organized religion being used for something other than that. To me, religion, in its core, is corrupt. It’s man made. As men are, in their core, corrupt, anything we make has that small kernel of corruption living in it. It only takes one bad person to make that corruption grow. When people blindly follow a person who claims to be ‘godly’ they open themselves to that corruption. They open themselves to the corruption of those who might have ulterior motives.

Jim Jones…the dude who killed a shitload of people who didn’t think for themselves.

I think your relationship with the universe needs to be a personal one. I don’t think it’s something someone else can guide you in. I think we all have the power in ourselves to determine the difference between right and wrong, without seeking the assistance of a middle man.

I have nerves in my body. When I touch a stove, those nerves cause pain and that pain warns me that I’m doing damage to my body. It warns me to stop doing that damage before that damage becomes permanent. So I stop doing what I’m doing.

 

I think feelings work the same way. If we left things the way they were, if we ignored 1000 year old books and just listened to our feelings, we’d all be better people. When we feel guilt, anger, hatred, sadness, any of those horrible feelings, those are signs that we’re damaging more than our bodies. We’re damaging our souls. If we don’t change the way we act, that damage will become permanent. You shouldn’t need the teachings of Jesus, Yahweh, Mohamed or Buda to tell you that. You already have your instincts telling you what you need to know.

It’s not about religion. It’s about faith. I believe my body was designed by a higher power, which gives me all the tools to know when I’m doing wrong.  Faith isn’t man made. It’s instinctual and it can’t be corrupted. So while I have a lot of faith in faith, I have very little in religion.

I get this message a lot, by the same people that accuse me of hating Christians. “What if you’re wrong? At least if I’m wrong, I have nothing to lose.”

That’s an invalid argument. You can’t be “Christian…just in case” because there is a very good chance you could be wrong. There are more than 4000 known religions. Unless you subscribe to every last one, there is no ‘just in case’. In fact, it’s entirely likely that you’re wrong. It’s entirely likely that you’re doing things wrong, because you’re putting your faith in the hands of men, when you could have faith all your own.

You’ve been given all the tools to know the difference between right and wrong.   It’s just that society, and religion, likes to jump in and gum up the works. Your body isn’t telling you you’re gay because you are being tested. Your body is telling you you’re gay because it knows it’s right to love someone of the same gender. It was what you were made for. The only test you fail is if you fail to acknowledge what you truly are and deny yourself to please other people. That’s when you get the guilt. The sign that you’re denying yourself is the sign that you’re damaging your soul. You were made for something. Accept it.

The purpose of your religion, regardless of what it is, should be this. It should be to make you a better person. It shouldn’t be for you to convert everyone you know into your club. It shouldn’t be to ‘spread your message’. True faith happens on the inside. It happens when you accept yourself.

I don’t subscribe to religion because I find it arrogant. Whatever put us all here, whatever reason it had, we need to accept it is a far more intelligent being that we could ever be. For us to pretend we know what it wants, and even counsel others on its state of mind, is both futile and arrogant.

So no, I don’t hate Christians. I just don’t agree with you all. It has nothing to do with me being faithless. In fact, I think I have a little more faith than most. I have faith in the body and the brain I was given to be able to tell me right from wrong. I believe I was made the way I was for a reason. It wasn’t a trick and it wasn’t to test me. It was for me to find the best possible way for me to be me. I’m doing that.

If you need Christianity to do that, more power to you. I think everyone needs an outlet and I’m not even saying Christianity is wrong. Everyone needs a way the channel that universal energy we were all given.

But you can’t be Christian…just in case. Life is a bit more complicated than that.