Archive - May 2017

I have never been in as much spiritual turmoil. It took me 50 years to decide what I believed about certain things. I mean what I believe, not what I’ve been told to believe. Tattoos are wrong, homosexuals can “help” the way that they feel, taking a drink of anything alcoholic and you might as well go ahead and reserve a room in the hottest part of hell, just to name a few. These are just some of the things that I had “learned” in my Christian walk. This post, if anyone bothers to read it, is guaranteed to be offensive. So, please feel free not to continue reading. I got a tattoo for my 50th birthday (gasp) because I WANTED TO. Not to be rebellious, just because. I wanted one. So what? It’s a seashell on my foot. Simply because I love, and I mean LOVE, the ocean. It’s one of the only places on the planet that I find peaceful. I know I’ll never live there, but my tattoo reminds me of the peace I find there. And it is probably not the only tattoo I will ever have. It doesn’t change who I am in the least.

Now for the more touchy subjects. I have gay friends and I have gay and transgender family members. I’ve ALWAYS had gay friends. Now, here is my issue with that. I have never had a gay friend say that one day they just decided to be attracted to a member of the same sex. They ALL said they had always felt that way. ALWAYS felt that way. Same with transgenders. They ALWAYS felt that way. So, what I do not believe is that God creates someone a certain way and then punishes them for being that way. The other thing I believe is that it isn’t anyone’s business but theirs. I know you think it’s your place to judge, shame or fix them, but it isn’t. If you believe in a just God, then let him judge them. And you. You just love them like you do your fellow Christians.

Which brings me to my favorite holy controversial subject. Alcohol. I don’t, for one minute, claim to be a biblical scholar, but there are a few things that I know. The bible does NOT speak against drinking wine. Jesus turned water into wine, Jesus drank wine. Yep, wine. Not grape juice. What the bible does say is not to get drunk. But here is what I don’t hear Christians speak against. Gluttony. Do you know what gluttony is, because the bible is pretty clear on it, AND the fact that it is…..wait for it….a SIN. It is defined as habitual greed or excess in eating. (EXCESS IN EATING. Did you get that??)
synonyms: greed, greediness, overeating, gourmandism, gourmandizing, voracity, insatiability; informal piggishness
Wow. This is the problem I have with religion (not true Christianity, because there is a difference). Now Christians like to eat. Most of them too much. Like WAY too much. And I guarantee you the first person who would have me hell-bound for having a glass of wine in my hand is the 400 pound preacher that has eaten himself almost literally TO DEATH. So, Christians can gorge themselves until they can barely bend over, barely walk across the room without getting out of breath, have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and the many other medical problems that THEY HAVE CAUSED THEMSELVES by overeating and I’m going to burn over a glass of wine?? Just food for thought – no pun intended. Oh, wait, yes it was. Pun was absolutely intended. So, before, dear Christians, you pass judgement on my glass of wine, or my beer, or my margarita, etc., etc., etc., please put your fork down, pass up that third helping at the church cookout, and go take a good long look at yourself in the mirror. Naked. Then come tell me how wrong I am and how right you are.

So, those are just a few of the hundreds of billions of things that float around in my mind all day and most of the night. And I am still in spiritual turmoil. And I am still trying to figure out exactly what I believe. And I still have absolutely no clue. Part of my journey, I suppose. Maybe the whole point is to never think you have it all figured out so that you do keep searching. But figure out what YOU believe. Read for yourself, study for yourself, investigate for yourself.

Oh, and no matter what you believe, whether you’re a Christian, a Buddhist, an Athiest, or whatever, can we all just play nice? Respect everyone….EVERYONE.