On religion

From etsy

<rage>

I was bullied at a very young age. We'll leave it at this: I was 8 and thought of ways to get out of the situation that 8 year-olds shouldn't. Anyways, that's the back story. Zoom forward to Dec 2007. I've had my new shoulder replacement for a year and the pain was still there and my range of motion didn't even allow for me to give proper hugs to people. The left arm just kinda awkwardly kept my hand at butt level, so I got to hover hand when I'd hug people to avoid groping, lol. Anyways. Dec 2007. I went with a campus christian group to an annual retreat conference thing. Well, this one speaker was known to be able to pray for people with serious disabilities and they become healed. So I pushed my way through the crowd and had him pray for me. In his many attempts to get my arm over my head, he asked what bad things happened to me when the arthritis manifested itself. The only thing I could think of was the bullying...

I kid you not. The man told me that the reason God gave me a debilitating disease was because I held a grudge and did not forgive the bullies that made my life as a child a living hell. So.... I was punished for being bullied... wow, thanks, God!

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't "blame" God for my disability. I know bad things happen to people because we are just that: people. We are imperfect beings. However, it's radical religious people like that man that really leave a bad taste in my mouth about "christians." I refuse to call myself anything but human. I don't associate myself with a group because automatically people will expect things of you, and may even come to automatically not like you. Example: I was raised Roman Catholic and I liked it. Well, I learned the hard way that most people who are "christian" don't like catholics. Just by stating that to people, I'd literally be verbally attacked for doctrine and beliefs that I had been raised with. Such as it made me a bad person to believe that Mary had no other children besides Jesus, or that she remained a virgin. Why any of the details of Mary's life matters to people, I'll never know. But the fact that christians are so ready to attack those of the same faith really disturbs me to such a degree that I refuse to talk about religion anymore. My attitudes and actions should define my beliefs, and therefore I do my best to love all people and not judge. I know my place is not to condemn, so I don't.

My stance on faith and religion don't and shouldn't matter to anyone else. I feel we should be focusing on living like Christ and not acting like Christ. We do not and never should pretend to hold authority over any other human being. Christ had that authority (if you're christian), we do not.

Love one another. It's that simple. We know in our hearts if our words or thoughts or actions are done out of love or hate, so I really wish people would act genuinely out of love and let go of the hate.

</rage>