Karma is a god
I’m not a Christian anymore and I have so much freedom to be who God made me to be now! My parents walked me through “the prayer” when I was five. I no longer have much memory of that moment other than the snap shot in my head. At this point, is that even real? I prayed that prayer again and again for the remainder of my childhood. Basically every time I felt afraid about the possibility of going to Hell, I prayed. The prayer was always the same: I confessed my sins, vowed to be a better Christian, then asked him in my heart again.
A good relationship is built on love not fear.
My first spiritual experience happened during my first time attending youth group camp. For me, it felt like my faith became my own for the first time. I immediately put all my new tools to work. Quiet time, Bible study, inviting friends to church, you name it. On the flip side I also made my share of colorful choices not sanctioned by Christianity.
The guilt and shame of Christianity is intense and something I experienced my entire Christian career.
My life experiences as an adult shows me how important faith is and how broken all religion is. Perhaps some people need the rules of religion to live a good uff. For me, though, the rules that some with religion only hurt me and hold me back. There is a reason every church organization las major problems at some point. Mr. Sexy and I are career Christians and have never experienced a healthy church system..
The most fundamental teaching from the Christian church is to accept Jesus as your savior so you can go to Heaven instead of Hell. Fear is being used to coax uneducated and disparate persons into their organization. A church needs money to survive, right? And so it needs members to tithe. This to me is hugely problematic.
The Christian church does not accurately teach the Bible because they understand so little of it. Context is everything. Very few pastors preach through that lens. I have a lot of questions about the Bible. I only started to question whenI felt like I had permission to do so. That permission came from within, a knowing that things aren’t what they seem andthe more open minded I can learn to be, the more I can actually understand God.
This kind of openness and questioning is generally not welcomed in most religious circles I have been in. Even in the ones that are a bit more open ended, my questions and ideas put barriers between us. The other person becomes defensive every time, And I get it. Most of us base our entire life on some type of faith or spiritual philosophy. And we each think we are right and the other is wrong. I don’t think it’s so simple.
What if we’re all a little bit right?
The Good Place does a fantastic job of exploring the after life. I would even say this show helped me broaden my own ideas of what could be. The show took me a minute to Connect With, though. I found the concept to be troubling. I already had my ideas set on how the after life works. I would be going to Heaven, choosing wings and be happy. But what is there is so much more? That’s what this show does for me. it opens opportunity for my inner creative to play.
Christians also teach that God is in control and everything that happens is God ordained. Or, depending on who talk to, God doesn’t inflict pain, he just allows for is to happen. Some would call this the free will component. And so we are taught to pray for all kinds of things as is prayer alone can give your car a new engine or solve the family trauma.