Tycho

Posted 03:23 by Tycho

If you don't like Christianity or religion, please skip this post, because it deals with spiritual concepts in its entirety.

I was over on ChristianAnswers.net (I was looking for movie reviews, and evidently this site has a fairly large database of said reviews).

It is really making me question not my spirituality, but my faith in strict Catholicism (which is not a good description, either). I'm so torn about it that I feel like I'm blaspheming--but I'm not...I've just been thinking.

All I see on that site is some of the most unfortunate tripe I've seen. There is intolerance, or at least I perceive quite a bit of it. I, as a Catholic, believe that God loves everyone. On that site, it is encouraged that people be shunned due to their choices--I feel this is wrong. God isn't a(n)....... that is selective with His love...Some of us may be evil, some of us may be good, but even those who are evil deserve love (as well as some deserve death), and everyone may gain redemption in sight of God.

God is our Father. Now, let's bring this down to a more secular level. A father will love his child no matter what he has done, and he will always accept him/her/them back without question. I know for a fact that I have messed up countless times--many times quite severely (trust me...sometimes I feel like the entire point to my life is to be an example to others of what NOT to do). My father doesn't stop loving me--in fact, his love for me probably has never dropped because of my actions. The same with God (this should have been done the other way around, but I couldn't do so in an effective manner). God is out Father. As such, we can screw up royally, but His love for us is never-ending. He doesn't just stop loving us because we make mistakes.

ChristianAnswers makes me feel wrong for accepting atheists as friends, agnostics, etc. "By keeping them as friends you offend God" is how they express it (or at least it seems that way). I do not understand this. Again, why should I shun others? If there is one thing God teaches us, it is to love others. Tell me now how it is ok to turn others away, and make snide remarks about them to their backs, while accepting others and collectively treating others not like us with derision? God tells us to "judge not, lest ye be judged". I admit that I judge people--we all do it, it's human nature. But to turn away a segment of society just because they have different beliefs is abhorrent in nature. Why is it wrong for me to befriend others that don't share my beliefs? It is clear that I will not become like them (belief-wise), due to my faith in God. I will never shut God out of my life completely (though I've drifted away every now and then). Does it hurt me to associate myself with them, and hopefully pass on the good values that I exhibit onto them (I'm no paragon of virtue, trust me--there are things I'm too ashamed to talk about with people, too ashamed to think of them without feeling harsh recrimination for myself)?

Then it goes to say how just watching the occult converts you. Look, I've been reading stories about magic, watching movies about magic, played games that revolve around magic, sorcery, multiple gods, etc. Has that changed who I am, or rather, made me believe less in God? Have I started to convert to trying to cast spells? No. It's pure fantasy. Not real. Make believe. How can something fake drag me away from the real thing? I'm sure playing D&D will turn you into a Level 47 wizard in real life--don't forget to roll your dice to see if the spell works! Sure, there are people who might think that, but they are very few, and very far between.

Another thing is the condemnation of watching violence. We live in a violent society. To show otherwise would be to shelter ourselves from the truth. Well, you know what? War is h-e-double hockey sticks. People die. People get blown up. People bleed. Just because you watch it, does NOT mean you condone it. Seeing it in its full reality probably drives humans AWAY from it. I encourage war, yes, but war against clear evil, not some politically driven war. Note the Bible also contains much violence--beheadings, scourgings, stonings, etc. To shelter ourselves from it makes us more apt to not understand it, and therefore create complications.

Watching true war doesn't encourage it--it's a deterrent (ever wonder why recruiters DON'T EVER show or talk about or illustrate the effects of war when wooing young men such as myself?).

All in all, I am disgusted with that site for overzealousness. God loves us all. I am not the one to judge others nor am I one to turn them away. God will judge each of us when our books closed, when money, nor prestige will mean anything.

I am not perfect. I never will be. I am horribly flawed in some ways. I accept that. God is there for me, always has, always will. I place my faith and trust in Him, and may He guide me to the end of my days.

Now to go and try to make myself to feel spiritually clean again, for I feel like I've fallen into mud.
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