(X) God and Religion
Sep11 440pm
I believe in God. Do you believe in God?
When a person is asked "Do you believe in God," I imagine the asked persons blanching, sitting back in their chairs and suddenly assuming the person they're conversing with is a "Churchy", or someone who's going to try to convert them or drag them screaming into a church. While people who believe in God, some form of God, many forms of God, or any power that is not wholly oneself, are probably more common than people who own ferrets there is some great taboo about talking about God. It starts fights, arguments, "My way of worshiping God is better than YOUR way of worshiping God" battles.
I believe in God. I was baptized Catholic, but never raised in church. My father however did impress upon me that it was wrong to be lying when you "Swear to God." The first time I ever remember going to church was when I was 15, with my granmother. I remember walking through the huge double doors and feeling this force pushing me out of the church. In retrospect it was probably the air conditioning causing air pressure from inside the church that was released when we opened the doors. However, at that time I believed that God didn't want me in that church.
At 17 I dated a Nazarene boy and started attending his church so I could spend more time with him and his family. The church was wonderful! They sang to praise God, they gathered throughout the community and were wonderful people. When the boy and I broke up I tried to keep attending the church, but the patrons shunned me. I'm sure they wouldn't normally, I'm sure he told them something awful about me so they wouldn't want me in their church.
When I was 18 I fell in love with a young Mormon man. I attended church with him, and while the experience was not unpleasant, I much preferred when he would just sit and tell me about his religion and the way they praised God.
I wasn't raised religious, but God was always there throughout my life. I felt, when I was young, that I could talk to God. Not in a "bedtime prayer" sort of way, but in an idly walking and chatting sort of way. I baptized my own sister at 11 with a garden hose and a made up prayer to God. While the Catholic church won't hold it sanctioned, I'm sure God will. Even when I went through my Wiccan phase (which many young females raises without the church seem to do these days) I felt that the powers guiding my hand and prayer were the same powers I had felt all my life. God. The word I use to describe that wonderful feeling in the world. That power, safety, that vibrating essence in everything. The electrons that make life course through our bodies, and the force that trickled wind through the leaves of the tall walnut tree in my backyard. I feel that in everything, in every living being, in every person. I feel that power called upon, uplifted, bolstered in the singing and praise of a congregation that truly feels His presence.
I believe in God because I feel Him. I see other people feel Him. Whether they call him Allah, Jehovah, Elohim, Dywok, or some made up name that a child gives God. He is there, he touches me. And if you have ever felt anything, a miracle, some good luck, a cool breeze, God has touched you too.
I believe in God. Do you believe in God?
When a person is asked "Do you believe in God," I imagine the asked persons blanching, sitting back in their chairs and suddenly assuming the person they're conversing with is a "Churchy", or someone who's going to try to convert them or drag them screaming into a church. While people who believe in God, some form of God, many forms of God, or any power that is not wholly oneself, are probably more common than people who own ferrets there is some great taboo about talking about God. It starts fights, arguments, "My way of worshiping God is better than YOUR way of worshiping God" battles.
I believe in God. I was baptized Catholic, but never raised in church. My father however did impress upon me that it was wrong to be lying when you "Swear to God." The first time I ever remember going to church was when I was 15, with my granmother. I remember walking through the huge double doors and feeling this force pushing me out of the church. In retrospect it was probably the air conditioning causing air pressure from inside the church that was released when we opened the doors. However, at that time I believed that God didn't want me in that church.
At 17 I dated a Nazarene boy and started attending his church so I could spend more time with him and his family. The church was wonderful! They sang to praise God, they gathered throughout the community and were wonderful people. When the boy and I broke up I tried to keep attending the church, but the patrons shunned me. I'm sure they wouldn't normally, I'm sure he told them something awful about me so they wouldn't want me in their church.
When I was 18 I fell in love with a young Mormon man. I attended church with him, and while the experience was not unpleasant, I much preferred when he would just sit and tell me about his religion and the way they praised God.
I wasn't raised religious, but God was always there throughout my life. I felt, when I was young, that I could talk to God. Not in a "bedtime prayer" sort of way, but in an idly walking and chatting sort of way. I baptized my own sister at 11 with a garden hose and a made up prayer to God. While the Catholic church won't hold it sanctioned, I'm sure God will. Even when I went through my Wiccan phase (which many young females raises without the church seem to do these days) I felt that the powers guiding my hand and prayer were the same powers I had felt all my life. God. The word I use to describe that wonderful feeling in the world. That power, safety, that vibrating essence in everything. The electrons that make life course through our bodies, and the force that trickled wind through the leaves of the tall walnut tree in my backyard. I feel that in everything, in every living being, in every person. I feel that power called upon, uplifted, bolstered in the singing and praise of a congregation that truly feels His presence.
I believe in God because I feel Him. I see other people feel Him. Whether they call him Allah, Jehovah, Elohim, Dywok, or some made up name that a child gives God. He is there, he touches me. And if you have ever felt anything, a miracle, some good luck, a cool breeze, God has touched you too.
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