An Introduction to Religion: why I am the way I am.

It would be a lie if I where to claim that I am not religious in any sense of the imagination. Over the course of my life religion has played a great role in shaping who I am. Not long ago I posted a blog in which I attempted to explain my views clearly and in a compact manner. To my knowledge the intent has succeeded. However I myself do not feel that my thoughts on the manner where clearly defined. [Therefore] I wish to once again make an attempt to clearly define the many thoughts, experiences, and longings that radiate throughout my heart. 

One blog will not do that. So I have decided to discuss each core belief in different blogs, with this first one being a simple introduction.

How does one introduce their beliefs? Our beliefs are the result of experiences, heritage and our cultural reaction to the two(my thoughts, not necessarily reputable). Behind each of us is a long line of individuals who had their own experiences responded to by their own cultural responses to these experiences. We are extremely subjective individuals; made up of stories up stories. Each story we have existed within contains other characters who build the story and add dynamic. By other characters being a part of our stories we are effected by their stories. 

So what does this have to do with my beliefs? They are not necessarily my own. They are built up off of the story of my parents, the stories they come from, and my friends and the stories they come from. I did not simply sit in a dark room trying to figure out whether I exist or not. No, my beliefs(which make up a good portion of who I am) stem from many many different factors. The main factor of which that ties many of the stories that effected me the most together is the story of Christianity. 

Christianity is {quite possibly} the most embarrassing story to come from. When being truly honest with oneself, who could disagree? Some of the craziest nuts have associated themselves with the Christian religion. In all honesty, I try to avoid this term at all costs when it comes up in a conversation. It's not that I find it 'uncool' or 'irrelevant', I simply find many of those who associate themselves with this term 'uncool' and 'irrelevant'. But I shall not spend much time on this issue in this blog. Wait a few and you'll hear more of my thoughts on the Christian religion. Simply know that this is the story that has had the greatest impact on my life and I value it. 

I truly believe that in order to embrace who one truly is, one must embrace the truth of the stories that have impacted ones life. These next few posts will be a written expression of the truth that I have {thus far} found in life. It is incomplete, for I have only experienced two decades of life. That and God is quite big. There is a lot of living, and a lot of exploring left to do.

What I hope not to accomplish with these blogs are to write down a systematic 'this is the only way to think of things' theology. I have by no means systematically exhausted all means of knowing what it is that is true. Speaking of truth, this is a conversation about truth. It is not a debate about what truth is and isn't. Please sit back in your armchair with a cup of tea(because I love tea) and discuss what I have to say with me. If you do not have a blogspot, feel free to message me via facebook(I am assuming that those who read this have a facebook and are friends with me).

The three areas we will be discussing are what follows:

1) a/theism-Who/what is god? How does god relate to our lives? How do we know that god exists? How am I to experience god?

2) humanism-What is the difference between love and law? How does god relate to the are of ethics and morality?

3) Jesus-How does Jesus fit in with the following two areas? 

Sit back and enjoy. Do not expect these to be really academic, for I am not much of an academic person. I simply wish you to understand what it is that I have experienced. 

I feel as of late I have begun to find myself as of late. Since I have just written that my world will undoubtedly do a 180. But this I am fine with. Something inside of me has begun to change and move on forward. 

Why is this?

I have no idea. Life is crazy with twists and turns that shake your world. I so happen to be living in a moment of clarity and happiness. I believe this moment is coming about due to many different circumstances in my life. My job is great. I'm finally on good terms with many of my friends. And best of all, my parents have stopped giving me these weird looks! Yet through all this one thing is remaining constant. I am finally being honest with myself. Not entirely honest, that is a slow tedious process that takes a lifetime; yet I am being honest for once.

Life has also thrown a few great story ideas my way. I've written quite a bit of poetry, and two full short stories(though they are both about to undergo editing). The novel ideas are still in the works and I don't expect anything to be completed for several years. But this is all the beginning of something new.

No real point to this blog. Laura just told me to write something.

Back on Track

...It's kind of like Stella getting her groove back...only my studliness is back in my strut...

I feel confident for some reason. Maybe it lay in what happened tonight. Whatever it was that occurred, I do believe that my inspiration may be back. At least somehow.

Let's all hope that I can maintain this.

Fear in the Tides of Change.

I'm not going to spend too much time on this because I honestly don't think it's worth putting too much effort into.

Today I read in the Star Tribune that a group is filing a law suit to try and block President-Elect  Obama from becoming the nations 44th president of the United States. The reason? This group claims that he is not even a natural born citizen, thus it would be unconstitutional for him to even become president. 

However just a few strokes on a keyboard, a few button clicks, and here you all go.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp

In fact here's his birth certificate.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/Polarik/BO_Birth_Certificate.jpg

I don't know how to make them a link(I'm computer illiterate), but you can copy and paste.

Now days within conservative circles, many conspiracy theories are being brought up stating that someone or group, somewhere, is trying to undermine American values, destroy all religion, and ultimately set up a one world government in order to usher in Satan's domination of what God created. Somehow barring the teaching of evolution and making it illegal to even be gay is going stop this. Therefore, we must all become staunch Republicans and everything is going to be fixed, the anti-christ is not going to rise to power, and the entire world will follow our example or else we will bomb them back to the stone age.

This isn't anything new. Well the current action may be, but the idea behind it isn't new. Plain and simple, a group(in this case the religious right) is losing their power base. This leads to an inevitable question: Why? Why is 'our' group losing it's grip? Rather then face the light and see that our reality is subject to social and economic changes, it is much easier to blame someone else. Thus a conspiracy theory is born. Someone is doing something, somewhere, trying to undermine our values. We therefore must stand our group  and expose those who are responsible for our demise.

To be honest, I have no idea HOW conspiracy theories start (It would be amazing to meet the guy who came up with the idea for the Illuminati), but I do know why. Simply put, it's fear of the unknown. When something you've worked so hard to establish is suddenly obsolete, it's pretty easy to scapegoat someone else. 

I can understand. Really, it does feel like the foundations of the world are breaking. Let me assure you that they aren't. Everything is going to be fine. And let me tell ya, if you actually listen to those theories the femi-nazis are going to get us.

A Love Letter in the Making

I'm going to marry you someday. Or at least I plan on it.

Who is it that I am speaking to? I don't know. I may never know. Either way, I am making a promise. A promise that I am going to love you.  There isn't anything about me that is perfect. When you get down to the nitty grittiness of life, none of us are. We both will get angry, make mistakes, fight, say things that we don't really mean...I don't want it to happen, but we both know that it will. There are too many unfortunate realities in life. We are all damaged goods. However, I promise that the imperfections that smear both of us will not let me be blinded to the love that will(and I believe already is, regardless of the fact that I still don't know you)bind us together. 

I ask just one thing of you. Let me go. Some people are ever changing, constantly growing. Others eventually settle down. Neither is an evil. Both have ups and downs. I am one of those who is in perpetual change. I know that I'm still young and still discovering, but my heart keeps telling me that I am on a different journey. This isn't to boast about anything. I just know that I am different in a different way. The word content does not really exist to me. Maybe I am completely wrong. I sure don't know. Just pleas don't ever ask me to stay. If you someday believe me to be 'the one', then know that I will undoubtedly stay. Have faith. Okay, so that's two things in one I'm asking.

I'm not sure how to end this. Maybe you will read it, maybe not. I sure hope you do.