On November 20th 2010 I posted "If God had a dick, you would suck it..." But like I wrote at the end of that post I didn't say really ALL that I wanted to say. I am hoping that this post will give you a little more insight on how I feel. Now remember this is MY opinion and please don't get offended, if you want to comment or question anything please be my guest.
In Mid-December of last year my friend Richy who also has a blog wrote a post called "F-A-I-T-H continued". In that post he sums up how he feels about religion. What you are about to read is actually what I commented in response to his blog...
I will start with the whole praising the Lord and giving him thanks for your life thing. The way you are suppose to look at Jesus (who is God, in my faith) is the same way you look at your parents but on a much grander scale. The way I look at it personally is that my parents don't owe me anything. I don't always agree with them or the decisions that they make. In my most vulnerable time in my life my parents looked after me. They clothed me, they feed me, and they provided a warm safe place for me to lay my head at night. That alone is enough, they didn't have to do those things. So just the same way you should give thanks to your parents you should give thanks to Jesus. Because where did your parents come from ultimately? They nurture us, they gave us life. It is the same with God "The father" but what makes it a bit different is that we are all his children. He sees all of us as the baby who needs to be nurture. Without our parents we would not be here today.
Then you hit a bit on the whole Universalism thing. The way it works in my faith is that yes even Hitler could have obtain salvation. All he had to do before he died was to come before Jesus and repent of all his sins and ask Jesus to be his personal savior. But trust me that little fucker is in Hell. But what people would ask how can that be? Our salvation is not based on how much good or bad we do in this world. We are all sinners by nature, so it doesn't matter as long as you accept Jesus and live as close as possible to how he lived. Another way to look at is that yes Hitler did a lot of bad things but a thing we don't realize or can't begin to comprehend is that God is all powerful. God can do far worse then any human being on this earth can do. He could end all life as we know it right now, he doesn't have anyone else to answer to. There isn't a single thing that happens to anyone good or bad that God doesn't intend to happen. There isn't anything that happens that God could not stop. Everything truly happens for a reason. We could never understand him and why the things of this world happen to people (partly our fault, Adam and Eve, Genesis) but God has the blueprint in his hands. He can see the BIG picture.
Then there is the whole Christians VS. Catholics. They are very similar and they did all branch from the same thing. But there are some huge differences that set them apart. It is true that all got their start with Judaism. The Jews where God's chosen people in the Old testament, which actually is their Bible. But what cause the first split is that when Jesus came along he became the messiah that the Jews where suppose to be looking for. But what ended up happening was they said no Jesus is not it, and the search continues for them. Then There is the Christians. I believe give or take Catholics fall under the same umbrella. But huge difference with them is that they worship the Virgin Mary as much as if not more then Jesus. The Jesus who is actually God in the flesh. To a Baptist (as you know I am) that is a big no no. Because yea she gave the virgin birth to Jesus but guess what? She wasn't a virgin long after that. Jesus had brothers, and there is only one Virgin birth in the history of mankind. The whole new testament is about Jesus first coming on earth, it is basically his biography. And as a baptist we do believe what all of the bible says.
"I don't believe that I should have to believe in God to go to a good place after I die. I know deep down I am a good person. I can account for my own actions."
Regardless of any actions you might make in your life. You alone can not save yourself. It doesn't not matter if your good deeds out way the bad. The only way to get to heaven is through Jesus.
Peace and Happiness to all :)
Humbly yours,
Brian J
