Who would've thought....

No one told me that life could change this drastically. No one took me aside and told me that the day I left for college would be the day everything changed. I was excited to have this new experience. I was excited to meet new people. But it has become more than just meeting and freedom. It has become a change of lifestyle, and a change of pace completely. My life was once going nowhere, and i hated it. Now, its going in so many different direction, i can't even keep up with it. And the scary thing is, I love it. I love how I am changing, and how life is changing with me. i used to be afraid of change. I used to be afraid of the future. Now, i embrace it.

For those of you who read this who still live at home, know this. Your life is going to change someday. The moment you get on that plane or the second you step foot onto the new college campus is the day you will never be the same. 

Do not fear, for God is with you.

"And if God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

~Aaron Jay

Bad Religion

I used to hear these quotes, and hate them.

"Religion starts wars"

'Religion kills people"

"Its not a religion., its a relationship."

Though that last one was for different reasons, i hated these quotes with a passion. And I'm sure I defended my feelings toward them. But recently, I have been doing some thinking. 

I have come to realize that religion was not something that was a powerful  or commonly talked about thing in the old testament era. In fact, it is rarely if ever stated in it, and it is very rarely spoken of in the new testament.  Religion is a way Christian and other religious sects tell each other apart. Religion is more then just a semi-organized system of closed-minded beliefs.  Religion builds walls around people, and uses them to draw other people into these walls. I would apologize for offending anyone, but really, its something that needs to be stated. And if your offended, then maybe you are the person that I am speaking to.

I used to be like you. I used to think religion was the coolest thing in the whole world. but then I started to think for myself. I started to realize that religion is not a good thing. it DOES start wars. It DOES get people killed. 

HOWEVER, people who do not follow Christ take this to an extreme. They do not mean it the way it was meant to be interpreted.

This means that the walls, and the discrimination, and the segregation that religions bring are tearing people apart. That is correct. It is the walls. It is the fact that people fail to co-exist that people are being killed. That people are warring. 

Co-exist is an idea that should be followed. People fail to respect other peoples' opinions. Whether you agree or disagree with their lifestyle, or their beliefs, you still need to respect that they can hold these beliefs. that they have the ability to stand up for what is right in their eyes. And it is this disrespect that is pulling everything apart. 

Sure, well all live on different continents, and have different cultures, but we share the WORLD, and while everyone in the world is fighting, there is a bigger picture that they are blind to. We were put on this earth to care for it. We were not put here to fight and to destroy. 

We were hear to create and mend. 

And that is the very thing that religion is not helping with.

Jesus - The Ultimate Nonconformist

I was just reading Acts, and it got me thinking about Jesus. He was greatly disliked because his ideals didn't fit into the ideals of the Jewish culture of the time. He challenged their beliefs, and for that, people hated him. he was, in fact, the ultimate non-conformist. If he had just stuck with the crowd, following ideas and living life as everyone else did, he never would have changed anything. He put his life on the line to change the world as we knew it. So why is it that modern churches are so opposed to those who don't fit into their perfect life style? Why do so many people in modern churches have to be so judgmental, when we were called to be loving? Jesus loved. We are called to be world changers, as Jesus did. Why can people not see the beauty in people, instead of pointing out their flaws and judging them and outcasting them? Jesus called us to be accepting, loving, and nonjudgmental. The way I see it, people are not listening to the message of Christ with the right views. They are reading it to see what he disagrees with, when they should be reading it to see how to be loving and accepting.

Jesus was a nonconformist, and He made big things happen. So now, I think its our turn to get out there and do something worthwhile and against the grain. don't just fit in with the crowd. Start your own crowd. Challenge beliefs. Question things. People will tell you that questioning is a sign of weakness, or the weak in faith. They are liars. Questioning is a sign of strength. Without question, there is not growth. without challenge, there are no answers. So do you have questions? ASK. Do you disagree with something? CHALLENGE. Are you confused about something? SEARCH FOR THE ANSWER. And don't let anyone stop you.