Day 19: What is your opinion of religion?

As I’ve already mentioned, I was an agnostic in my youth.  It wasn’t always that way.

I was raised as a Baptist.

Southern Baptist even.

But here’s the thing, organized religion often pisses me off.

One of the reasons I decided I didn’t need religion was because I couldn’t stand the hypocritical folks who thought it was their job to tell everyone else how to live.

I figured between them and the atrocities done in the name of God, I just didn’t need that kind of thing in my life.

But here’s the truth about me: I do believe.  I believe because I have had more than one experience where when I needed an answer, I got one; where when I needed a boost, I got one.

To me, there’s a difference between blind faith and recognizing that there is a need for the mystical in life.  For example, my daughter is a miracle.

As I’ve said before, we were doomed from the start.  I had so many things against me getting pregnant and carrying a baby to term.  And then you add in Moo’s issue and it just looked like having a pregnancy at all was completely impossible.

But a miracle occurred.  I got pregnant.  I stayed pregnant.  I had a beautiful little girl.

It may just sound like biology – I mean, boy meets girl, inserts tab A into slot B and shakes vigorously and 40 weeks later, there’s a baby!  It’s Human Reproduction 101.

But in our case, when there were so many odds against us, it’s just amazing.

And it’s these amazing things that I see every day that add to my faith.

I’m still not crazy about organized religion.  We don’t have an official church right now.  But I want one.

I was raised in a nice church with nice people.  Oh there were assholes there who are part of the reason I turned my back on religion, but there are also nice religious people.

My husband is one.

My best friend introduced me to Moo about 12 years ago.  The first thing KR told me was that Moo was very religious.  I didn’t find that to be necessarily so, but Moo did prove to me that not all religious people are assholes.

When I met Moo’s parents and more importantly, attended one of Moo’s dad’s Sunday school lessons, I understood that Moo came through his own faith partly because of his family.  They are nice people, but also people of great faith. And they are definitely not assholes.

So what am I looking for in a church AKA organized religion?  I want a church that does less to be all fire and brimstone and more about teaching me to live my best life as a Christian.  Less judgment, more encouragement.  Less formal and more rock and roll.

I also want a nice place for my daughter to learn about God and Jesus.  More about love and acceptance and service and fellowship with other believers and less fear and judgment.

I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

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If you want to play along with this list, here’s the list of topics:

Day 1: Something you hate about yourself
Day 2: Something you love about yourself
Day 3:Something you have to forgive yourself for
Day 4: Something you have to forgive someone else for
Day 5: Something you hope to do in your life
Day 6: Something you hope you never have to do
Day 7: Someone who has made your life worth living
Day 8: Someone who has made your life hell or treated you badly
Day 9: Someone you didn't want to let go, but who drifted
Day 10: Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn't know
Day 11: Something people seem to compliment you the most on
Day 12: Something you never get compliments on
Day 13: A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough times
Day 14: A hero that has let you down
Day 15: Something or someone you couldn't live without
Day 16: Something or someone you could definitely live without
Day 17: A book you've read that changed your view on something
Day 18: Your views on gay marriage
Day 19: What is your opinion of religion?
Day 20: Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21: (Scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you got into a fight a couple of hours before. What do you do?
Day 22: Something you wish you hadn't done in your life
Day 23: Something you wish you had done in your life
Day 24: Make a playlist to someone and explain why you chose those songs
Day 25: The reason you believe you're still alive today
Day 26: Have you ever thought about giving up on life?
Day 27: What's the best thing you've got going for you right now?
Day 28: What would you do if you got pregnant (or got someone pregnant) right now?
Day 29: Something you hope to change about yourself
Day 30: A letter to yourself