Greetings, loyal readers. Before I get down to business I have a couple of items on my agenda. First of all, I have decided to name my audience. As an avid wrestling fan I have come to realize that all the most charismatic wrestlers have named their following. From Peeps to Testicles, wrestling has experienced a wide diversity of loyal followers, so I thought it only fitting that you, the most loyal audience of all, receive a moniker to call your own. Due to my lack of ideas and the fact that this directly affects you, I am opening up the floor to ideas. My only idea so far is Outkasts. If you would like to voice your support for my choice or offer an idea of your own comment on this post or send me an email at zenrockoukast@hotmail.com. Your input is greatly appreciated. Secondly, I know that many of you are asking for the return of one of my most popular posts on the Matrix trilogy. I would like to assure you that I have not given up on this project. I am currently not residing at my parents’ home, while most of my things still are. I hope to go back home within the next two weeks and retrieve, among other things, my Matrix movies. Rest assured that once I do this I hope to make a Matrix post at least once a month.
One of my close friends recently posted a first class blog on religion and how it relates to the mentally challenged. I strongly recommend checking it out at http://guenthercorp.com/blog.html. The post title is Free Ride to Heaven Part 1, but don’t let that stop you from checking out the rest of his guentherific blog. I would also like to say to him that if every family of a mentally challenged child cared about their child’s salvation as his does, hell would be devoid of the mentally challenged. Inspired and a little enraged by the post, I posted a comment on it. My comment and the reaction got me to thinking about how I come off to people, especially on the subject of religion. I think part of how I come off is due to circumstance. Many people today attribute morality with faith and faith with organized religion. My faith is based on the rejection of organized religion. Therefore, people assume that since I refuse to actively participate in organized religion I have no faith. This leads to people assuming that the statements I make are meant to insult those with faith. In reality, they are meant to encourage people to explore their faith. I disagree with organized religion because I don’t believe it encourages people to explore their faith, which I believe is the only way to God. I also believe that churches stifle the exploration of faith by setting down policy based on their interpretations of the Bible and ignoring any arguments that would challenge said policies. Within my former church there are such policies, some that I agree with and some that I don’t. Yet I refuse to take part in this church partly because of the way they deal with the dissent of these policies, which is not to deal with it at all. I believe that there are a lot of grey areas in the Bible and how we interpret these grey areas shapes our relationship with God. If we rely on a church to interpret these grey areas for us I think we put our relationship with God in jeopardy. That’s not to say that all people who attend a church are in danger of eternal damnation, but I do think a great many may be closer than they think. I know a lot of what I say may seem condescending, but I only comment out of concern. I refuse to accuse anyone of being truly damned for many reasons. The first is that I am not without sin so I cannot in good conscience throw the first stone. The second is that no one knows who is truly damned and saved but God. No matter how far gone they may seem, their relationship with God is a secret to everyone but them and God. I like to assume the best in everyone, and I hope to see everyone on earth in heaven someday. I realize that this probably won’t happen, but only God knows for sure. As for those who feel insulted by my comments I would like to apologize, that was not my intent. I believe that if anyone seeks salvation in Christ they will find it. I realize that just as the number of people I hope to see in heaven may be high, the number of people I think will be there may be low. When choosing an outlook, I prefer hope to despair. I think in this world that is filled with despair, hope and faith are all we have.
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