Let me just start off that when I was growing up, my family and I went to church 3 times a week, every Sunday morning and night and Wednesday evenings. I don't know why but I never was much impressed with it. I would see the preacher speaking on how to be a good Christian and then seeing people behaving and treating each other in non-Christian like ways outside of the church's walls. When my family and I moved away because of my Dad's job, we continued to go to church. My family knew the preacher and therefore was comfortable in going to a new church. The church seemed more at ease and peaceful than the one we came from but also I think that maybe we hadn't been there long enough to hear all the gossip and get caught up in all the drama that can sometimes swirl around families and get brought to the church. I understand that the church is there to help with family that fall on hard times and the difficulties when people loose there way and need a little guidance in their lives but when the church parking lot becomes a gossip fest and when church becomes a fashion show on who can wear the most expensive clothes and drive the nicest car then I think the message of Christianity has missed it's mark. We then moved twice within the next 2 years and my family stopped going to church. Maybe it was because we didn't know very many people where we moved to or that there wasn't a denomination close by that was of our type of service, but we just didn't go. I have to say that I really didn't miss it. I didn't feel like my up bringing was delinquent in any way. I knew of church and the Bible and the stories in the Bible. To this day I can still recite the books of the Bible in a little diddy that was taught to me in Bible school when I was five. After a few years I find myself as close to an adult as I think I will get and a few years ago my parents decided to move back to where they were raised and they have embraced their religion and church deeper than I have ever seen them before. Unfortunately the preachers that were there were even less of a Christian than most people in prison. The first preacher they had seemed to like to break the 8th and 9th commandment when it benefited him and the other seemed to believe he had a higher calling to the detriment to the church he was currently preaching. Let's just say that with what the church was when I was a child and now as an adult hearing of the failings of preachers that is supposed to lead by example, my confidence in that religion is shaky at best. Don't get me wrong I respect the church and all the good that it does for people personally, socially and globally but I also know that religion as a man made and regulated concept has a pretty crappy track record.ie. Crusades. I guess I am not trusting enough in my fellow man to make the right decision and that is my short coming, that I can let go of what I think is a perceived control of my life and believe that something I can't see, hear or touch has a plan and direction for my time on this planet is a concept hard for me to swallow....Maybe that's why they call it faith. You just don't ever know for sure, you just trust in it. I guess that just isn't good enough for me and my inquisitive mind. I believe in evolution over creationism. I believe that the Bible is a collection of stories collected by man to help people live productively in a civilized society. I also believe that for some people they need a "hell" to "make" them do good. There also are somethings done by certain religions that I don't agree with. I don't think that God needs your money. I don't believe that God needs an ornate building to worship in. I don't believe that you need someone else help to speak to God and no amount of money paid will remove the mark of sin. I believe that your "God" and my "God" are the same god be he or she called Buddha, Allah, Jehovah or Vishnu. I think people get so hung up on the label of things that are fundamentally the same thing and they argue the differences as small as they might be instead of seeing and understanding the similarities in concepts and beliefs. I also don't believe a religion should go to another civilization, country or people and give food, clothes and aid with the stipulation that you worship a certain religion. These things should be given selflessly without stipulation or conditions. I believe you can preach your religion and if the people want to listen or participate in your faith then fine but God doesn't need worshipers that are bribed into the faith. I know my "God" doesn't. Religion and faith can be a very touchy subject and I understand that peoples beliefs are very strong and can vary greatly. So much so that if you even have people of the same faith discuss their beliefs that they will vary in some way for every individual. That is why the Christian faith has been dissected into so many different faiths. The Christian faith started out so simply, it's just when people started to create so many rules and regulations that the religion started to twist, pervert and complicate the original simplistic religious concept. Maybe that it why my belief doesn't fit into other common belief systems. It's like trying to fit a round peg into a hole that has so many sides I just don't know what you would call it. I call it complicated. So with saying all of that, when I came home today there was a post card stuck in the door frame. The side showing said "You are invited!" in big black letters with festive colors. Was it a Birthday party or maybe a invite to go on a trip. When I removed the card from the door and flipped it over to see what exactly I was invited to, I read the words radiating like spokes of a wheel. Puppets, Crafts, Music and Games, these words were radiating out from a central name, a name of power and meaning and the name was Jesus. I appreciated the thought and generosity of sharing your belief but I don't need puppets, crafts, music and games to entice me to worship in the same manner as you. Thanks but no thanks.
PS. When first read the postcard it stated only a time 10am.... At first I thought, well what day is it on? Then in the process of the question forming in my mind I just started to laugh. Maybe I do need to go to church.
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