what i believe

*gasp* brianne is writing a blog that isn't related to music? i know, i know, you should be proud of me.

but anyway.

i've been thinking a lot about religion lately. i've noticed myself questioning some rules/practices of the church lately, so i decided it was a good time to try to iron out my beliefs. i basically just did a quick freewrite last night (yes, it actually only took me about a half hour to write all of this out). i wasn't sure if i was going to post it or not because it's pretty personal, but what the heck.

keep in mind. this is a freewrite. not edited or anything.




My Take on Religion

Why do people feel the need for religion?

People feel a need to live for something/someone. People need something/someone they can always count on. People feel the need to look to something/someone for guidance. People also need something to help them not fear death.



My Religion

I’m a Christian, but I don’t really consider that to be a “religion”.

I really hate the word "religion". When people think of religion (especially people that don't consider themselves to be "religious"), they generally think of a bunch of pointless rules. A religion seems to call for a set way of doing thing. I believe that there is no right or wrong way to follow Jesus. He died for our sins. All we have to do to get to heaven is believe in him; it says so in the Bible. So, does the trinity exist? Is baptism necessary? Should we pray to Mary? I don’t know the answers to any of those questions. Different sects of Christianity have come up with so many different rules and practices that we’ve all lost track of which rules/practices came out of the Bible and which ones some higher up in the church decided to put into place him or herself. No one takes the time to question the purpose of these rules/practices; everyone just accepts them as “God’s will”. The Bible tells us human beings are sinful by nature. Can we trust another human being to tell us which rules/practices are “God’s will” and which ones aren’t?

Christianity isn’t about following a bunch of rules. Christianity is about following Jesus’ example. I’ve been told by one of my friends that they don’t want to choose to follow a certain religion because it comes with too much baggage. They feel that if they decided to become a Christian they would have to start changing they’re life. They’d have to become anti-abortion, which would lead them to becoming a Republican, etc. The thing is, CHRISTIANITY HAS NO REQUIRMENTS! All you have to do is choose to follow Jesus. The idea is, after you accept him into your life, you’ll WANT to change. God doesn’t want to force you into believing anything; he allowed Satan to introduce sin into our world so we would be able to choose to do the right thing. You can choose to follow Jesus and still be pro-choice; you can follow him and be a Democrat; you can be for gay marriage; you can stand for whatever you want. Not all Christians are the white Republican dentists that live in the fancy housing developments and make phone calls to our Senators lobbying against gay rights. If after you become Christian, you decide to look into some of his beliefs, that’s your decision. Don’t let the church manipulate your beliefs.

Another thing is, you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. You can worship God wherever you are. The problem with going to church is that it is very easy to choose the wrong one. You can find yourself surrounded by people who think entirely differently than you do. There are thousands of extremely conservative churches out there who think that everyone needs to vote the same way they do, believe they same thing they do, and act the way they pretend they do. Don’t write off all Christians because of these churches. For example, I usually go to services at Heartland Vineyard in Cedar Falls. Our pastor preaches about how Christianity is not about set rules but a relationship, just like I was talking about earlier. Sure, he sometimes says things I don’t agree with, but he also talks a lot about things I really do agree with. In fact, I’d say I agree with most of what he talks about. They’re also very compassionate and work hard to help out others in the community and around the world, which I think is important. It’s all about finding the right church for you.