Wednesday, April 20, 2011

What do you believe?

Let me start this post by saying that the views and expressions I am about to make are my own. They are not meant to offend or disrespect anyone, only to nearly open the dialogue and the mind of myself and others. And now that I've scared you as to what I'm going to talk about....
I was raised Catholic, I went to church, religious education I even had a stint ( yes illl call it that) at a cathoic school and graduated college with a minor in religious studies. With my various educations I've developed quite an acletic view on faith,religion and spiritually
The reason I find this post necessary to write at this time is because I feel I've dealt a lot with what I believe in the past few months. Anyone who knows anything about Catholics knows it's all about the rules and the traditions. Planning this wedding I've come up against some I don't particularly understand or believe it. Mainly it is the rule that a Catholic wedding ceremony has to be preformed in a Catholic church in order for it to be recognized by the church. Long story short, I'm having some issues with the concept. The church that had significant meaning to Dustin and I is being torn down so will not be available for our wedding. So at this point we settled on another church. But why should we pick a church for the sole purpose that it is a church? Isn't that loosing the point of having a marriage in a church? I understand that a church is suppose to be a holy and sacred space, but if God is the one presiding over the marriage..... He created everything. JEsus may have wanted us to " build his church" but I don't think he really meant build a brick and mortar place and all holy and sacred events must happen here, I just feel the conept is so disconnected from what the intentions originally were.
When I die and go to heaven I highly doubt I'm going to be denied because I was not married in a physical catholic church. Why are the requirement different for each religious denomination? Don't we all want to get to the same place in the end. I don't think it matters if you call yourself Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, baptist, Islamic, Mormon, cnidarian whatever....It's not about the labels it's about how you live your life
I believe in love, loving others and allowing others to love me. I believe in helping people and making a difference. I believe in living life to the fullest and not holding back. I believe that if you treat others with respect and compassion, it will come back to you. Isn't that exactly what were suppose to do?
Ive always though if Jesus came back today and saw what we've done with faith and with religion he would be disappointed. It's like if the founding fathers came back and saw what a mess this countries gotten itself into. It's a break from the original plan, the true importance there so much violence in the world over conflicting beliefs both physical and mental violence. Where is that going to get us? Do we think that if we condemn or try and kill off one religious belief it's going to get us closer to God? I don't think so. Like I said it just seems so distant from the true purpose.
But back to my point on my wedding. I don't want to go through the motions of getting married in the church if I don't really understand why I am doing it. Practing your beliefs should be a personal experience and not something anyone should force upon you. Everyone at different points in their spiritually journeys. Some choose to stay within the rules and traditions while others choose a more open path

Its about how you live your life

I believe in......
Love
Laughter
Joy
Friendship
Karma
Expression
Embarrassment
Adventure
I
Opinions
Experiences
Mistakes
Learning
Knowledge
Questions
Conversation
Change
Revolution
Past
Present
Future
Kindness
Hope
Pain
Triumph
Bluntness
Confidence
Truth
Faith
Miracles
Beauty
Possibilities
Peace
History
Forgiveness
Listening
Talking
Conversation
Words
Music
God

1 comment:

  1. hey Gina- I really appreciated this post. I hope you find peace with whatever you choose! Don't worry if people are going to judge you, because God would never- he would love you even if you had to get married in a cave:)
    xoxo

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