A Greater Challenge

Earlier this morning, I was SMARTING. Bad. When someone hurts you, even for the right reasons, it can still really send you into a tail-spin. You are right side up sometimes, and right side down at other times. This morning, I was right side down. I was right, but I was down. And I came down on several denominations for either preaching or practicing doctrines or customs that I don't at all agree with (which in some cases, I do think of as satanic in their own way, but anyhow). I did this mainly because I have a right to say what I please, even when people don't like it (they don't have to keep reading an entry if they don't want to), and because my blog is mine: I can say what I want here and feel relatively safe about it. People are free to comment, but mainly anyone who disagrees with my descidence isn't likely to stick around long enough to bother. Therefore, for once, I can be heard (by those who care about where I'm coming from) without someone coming along and correcting me, just because they think they know what my intentions are, what's best for me, etc, then I know I can say what I need to without fear of being unduly ridiculed. One thing I like about Blogging is that I can get a complete thought out without being interupted and misunderstood, as is so often the case in voice-communications with me. I AM learning to just let people be who they are, and correct me all they like without taking them seriousely, but that IS a long process.

Anyone who happened to visit my blog and read that entry this morning and is now reading this later on will automatically notice that it's missing. I felt compelled this afternoon to save it as a draft and try to get some more sleep (my sleep patterns are SO screwed up these days). Now I feel compelled to express myself in a slightly more mature fashion. Blame it on hormones, lack of sleep, not always eating well, and not getting enough water. Or blame it on my human nature. I don't care - just BLAME something, blame it!

I think the more mature way of dealing with the issue of why I don't belong to this or that religion is to, first of all, restate the first two statements I made, and then simply make one solid list of everything I've come across that I don't believe in, regardless of which denomination it came from, and really, not even cast blame on specific denominations. I'll let that go and let you surmize for yourself all the different religions I do not agree with, ok? This is my way of meeting a HUGE challenge for me: expressing myself without hurting others in the process. I am Spirituall Married to God and am Adored by Him, but I'm still growing, learning, and still challenged in some areas. I'll thank those of you who are Saved to Forgive me for that, and to keep me in Prayer. The rest of you, I'll thank to just watch me grow and be satisfied with that.

So, here are the two statements I made this morning:

1. I don't like religion in general. I like Spirituality better, because of the direct Relationship with God that it IS. I don't like any system that tries desperately to please God, or otherwise sooth one's soul by trying to please one's self. Calling on God brings me many more rewards than calling on others for answers. Do I ask others questions about life, God, etc? Yes, though most of the time it's just to show them where I'm going with something. Very rarely do I ask non-retorical questions, though it does happen when it seems that God will actually use a person to direct me. Yet I NEVER just rely on what someone says, at face value, without asking "Is this what God Himself wants me to learn here?"
2. "Order" and "Community" are not what they used to be 2,000 years ago.

And here's one long list of everything I DON'T believe in:

1. Abusing the OT tithing system and paying off big bucks to professional administrators.
2. Not taking people seriousely as individuals and not focussing primarily on the cross, the Lamb, etc. Caring more about doctrines than people's immediate need for Love.
3. Teaching/practicing the OPPOSITE of the following: God never stops Loving you, never makes you pay for your sins, and wants nothing more than to take you home to be with Him, yet He can't wait, so He comes down in the form of the Holy Spirit to be with you now. He fixes up your life from the inside out and doesn't require you to do a thing, as if you could anyway.
4. "Family oriented" means that if you're over 25 and single, either you need to get hooked up (or in some cases, depending on who you talk to, get laid), and if you aren't doiing that, then you ought to work with little kids or else you are a "pew warmer."
5. Telling little kids in a church setting how they are expected to express their genders through dress, interests, knowledge, behaviors, psychology, etc.
6. Church schools withholding any form of education from teen girls that it does not withhold from teen boys.
7. Advocating kicking girls out of private school for getting pregnant. THESE GIRLS NEED TO BE SHOWN SSAALLVVAATTIIOON!!! The gospel doesn't kick people out for ruining their own lives. It keeps people in the family." Perfect love casts out all fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Words to ponder. Ok, I'll go back to being "mature" now.
8. Focusing on the outward more than on the inward.
9. Leaving individual people broken and dying alongside the road, erm, isles. Keeping people in the "sinner needing Salvation" state. Treating people like they are never more Loved by God than as His children alone. Never helping them learn that He's Calling them into an even Closer Relationship than just that!
   
10. Pressuring kids to join clubs where they are required to march around in wanna-be army style uniforms like mindless drones.
11. Requiring any form of Worship at all.
    
12. Not teaching what I've learned in the last year about the Holy Spirit's influence on individual lives for their own benefit because God Loves them too.
13. Keeping molestation between little kids a secret and not warning them against it before the age of 5. Poo-pooing it as "cute." It's NOT cute. It's devistating.
14. Any church, religion, or system (even secular, and this includes web sites) where the majority of it's long-time members simply operate on fear alone.
15. Preachers/Elders/Fathers not even researching what they preach first, but instead using "stalk sermons" to give to their congregations.
16. Being works driven for salvation
17. Using statues in any required religious observances at all. This does not include dramatic props for the purpose of spreading the gospel. Essentially, worshipping statues or holding them or the things they represent in high regard along with the Bible.
18. Relying on a single prophet or prophetess for "clarification." Particularly without being willing to completely publish the unedited manuscripts verbatim for the study of those who question the validity of that prophet or prophetess. Using a single prophet or prophetess in it's religious classes or in it's sermons as a backup plan or as a "fill in the blanks" source when something can't be found in that church's chosen source of scripture. God's Spirit is higher than any human being, and is COMPLETELY CAPABLE of "clarifying" things in the hearts and minds of His Followers, ALL on His VERY OWN.
19. Using any particular objects as rights of purification along side baptism (relying on those objects for purification/Salvation). This does NOT mean that objects never have any sentimental value to a person who has a Relationship with God. It just means they aren't to be relied upon for purity/Salvation.
    
20. Teaching and practicing prayer to dead people, regardless of how good they were. Practicing "roll playing" regarding the lives of the living or the dead (i.e., be like so and so, 'cause they are a great person - take on their name and be as much like them as humanly possible at all times, otherwise, you aren't Saved). Jesus is my ONLY model, and He's a whole lot more than just a role model! He Lives in me, and Works within me. I don't need to "pretend" anymore.
21. Teaching that specific objects MUST at all times be used in conjunction with prayer or else somehow the prayers of honest people just can't be heard by God or something.
22. Any church who's sole purpose is to knock down one or more other churches/religions is one that I will not darken the doors of again.
23. Teaching or practicing that laying on of hands is an absolute requirement for receiving the Holy Spirit.
24. Believing in Zionism.
25. Not saying something if a kid is cut down on by an adult.
26. Teaching that the Bible can't be understood by common people, and that only those who've been through a Seminary are able to really understand, practice, and articulate it.
27. Teaching that happiness is a sin.
    

(LOL - yeah, I just counted them. Heh, looks like I need a 28th to add to my list of herrassy! Hmmm... How 'bout "Teaching satanism/witchcraft...")

Alright, I hope that's better. I will say here that I do believe that all people of all faiths have *something good to offer. Just don't plan on hearing me come here to this blog and say "Hey folks, guess what? I've found 'THE" church!" I refuse to join one particular church and scrap all the others. I just don't see any good in doing that.

I do want to give you the same challenge that I gave you in my other blog entry. It's pretty good, actually:

I challenge you to this mental AND emotional/Spiritual task: I challenge you to become friends with people who you will never agree with regarding religion/doctrine. I challenge you to visit what you may see as their "prisons" and learn that you may (or may not) be living in one of your own. I challenge you to look into the "dark side" of your mind and be honest with yourself about what you see going on around you and ask yourself "What DO I really feel about what I see here? Is this ok with me or not? Why or why not?" I challenge you to take the leap of faith that God won't let go of you, and that He'll only use this experience to your advantage.

Yeah, I kept the list in the same order as before, as that was just easier for me. If it will settle your mind, comment below about it, and I'll gladly "mix 'm up" for you ;) They are still the same, regardless, which is why I'm not bothering to do that.

*I do intend to learn to LISTEN more and talk less when others are sharing their views with me. I also am learning not to feel defensive, though that is, as I've said before, a LONG process.