Christianity

I started out a Catholic Christian. My father was a practicing Catholic (and still is) and would take me and my siblings to mass every Sunday, much to my dismay. My mother was also Catholic, but she never seemed as eager to practice her faith. Then, when I was about 8-9 years old, a friend of my mother's brought her to a Baptist church for a little trial run. My mom fell in love with this church and decided that the entire family must experience this religious exhilaration. Dad didn't wanna go, but she was able to drag us kids along for the ride. I still didn't understand too much about God, but I did understand that Baptist sermons were more ... tolerable ... than Catholic mass. So my siblings and I saw it best to become Baptists.

When I was 10 years old, I saw these movies at my mom's church. Terrible movies about what WILL happen when the Revelation occurs. I'm not gonna explain what exactly happens during the Revelation of Jesus Christ, but let's just say that really scary shit happens. Now I'm 10 years old and my mom has me watching these movies about sinful people being slaughtered, and I'm thinking "I don't want this happening to me!" So I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.

Then, in about 8th grade, something happened. I don't remember if I had some sort of epiphany or if it was more gradual than that, but, when it comes down to it, I guess it doesn't matter. In 8th grade, I lost my faith. I know many will argue that I never truly had faith. I don't think that's true.

In any event, for a while, I was a very stubborn, full-blown atheist. I thought people who believed in God must be retarded and that I could talk anybody out of their faith in God, given the opportunity. As time when on, I became more tolerant and understanding of people with faith. That's pretty much where I'm at now. I'm also no longer atheist. Atheism is taking a stance on the issue. I'd rather float in oblivion.

I gave my religious background on here because it seems to be the topic of choice. And if you were intrigued by the title of this blog, then you know why. Questions constantly arise, especially from Christians, about people like myself, and I thought I'd try to answer some of those questions. Because, if I just ended the blog now, it'd be a pretty boring blog, wouldn't it?

Question number uno: Out of all the other beliefs in the world that are arguably more terrible and intolerable than Christianity, why do non-believers bash our faith?

Answer: Because it's the American way. Think about it. It's not a difficult question to answer. When we talk about the Separation of Church and State, we're not talking about keeping the laws of the Koran out of our national laws. We're talking about the Bible. Christianity may not be the national religion, but it certainly is the dominant religion in America. That's why it is "attacked" IN AMERICA more than any other religion by people of un-faith or no-faith. Because it wields so much power. When most people bash the Christian faith, it's because they feel violated - like they're being denied their rights and forced to believe in something that they don't believe in. Other people that bash it, well, usually they're just being mean. I can't justify everyone's actions.

Question #2: Why not just believe in God? That way - If there is a heaven, you'll go there.

Answer: I was once asked this question by a friend. It's not quite that simple. Having faith is a little more complicated than that. It requires that I actually believe. I can't just feign belief in God and expect to get into heaven; that's not how it works. Christians should know that better than I do. The connection with God has to be strong, and my connection could never be as strong as my friend's. My faith would purely be based on the fact that I will go to hell if I don't believe, so I have no choice but to believe because I don't want to go to the torture chamber. That's not truly believing.

I'm going to stop there because I'm tired and sick of typing. If there are responses, bring'em on. I'm not debating the issue though. Save that for some other stubborn, full-blown atheist.