Thursday, December 17, 2009

This Holiday Season

What is Christmas to me?

Over the years I have heard and been a part of many a debates on the origins of faith, religion and Christianity..Don't misunderstand me..I am NO theologian or scholar...but I think there comes a time in everyones life when they ask themselves..Is there a God out there? If so where do I fit in?  I was raised in the basic christian belief peppered with Catholic origins..My family attended church spordically..mostly for funerals and weddings..I found myself at a very young age slipping into churches whenever the mood struck me..never really concerned with WHICH church I entered..usually it was because I heard music playing or being sung.  Growing up the first Twelve years of my life in Toronto..there seemed to be a church on every corner.  I was an inquisitive child...and I asked a lot of questions about God and Jesus...especially around Christmas time ...Why trees? Why Lights? WHere did Santa fit in..The answers my parents gave seemed to fit at the time..but as I grew older..they seemed less Satifactory.  One year, close to the holiday season..A cousin who was a converted Jehovah witness REALLY got me confused..because she explained to me that..Christmas trees and lights were part of the pagan religion and had NOTHING to do with Christianity..but were part of the pagan rituals of solstice and the festival of lights...that Christ was Born in Sept...and many other confusing statements.  So I was back where I started! The truth is...some 25 years later...that I have No religion...

That is not to say I have no faith...because I do...Many of the trappings of Christmas,  I enjoy because they are of sentimental value of my childhood..But I no longer feel the need to place my beliefs in a tidy box and call them " Religion"  Because the moment I subscribe to one religion..I am closing my mind and turning my back on a MULTITUDE of possibilities for discovery! 

So what DO I believe?
I believe...
-That there is a God...and not only does this supreme being love me..he LIKES me just the way I am..
-I believe that Jesus was the son of God because HE believed he was...
-I believe that the bible is a good book to be learned from...but if you take it word for word as law..then the bible becomes your God...Even IF the bible IS the exact word of God..it becomes fallible the moment the first man put pen to paper to record it.. because MAN is fallible.
-I believe That having something to believe IN is more important that WHAT you believe.

It's not about who is right and who is wrong...Faith should always be about two things...LOVE and HOPE...If you carry love in one hand and hope in the other..you have no hand to pick up a rock and throw at someone else!!

May the Joy of  Life Fill your heart with Light, Laughter and Love!



Happy Holidays!!!

1 comment:

Pamela said...

Amen, preach it sister! We really do need to get together next spring, please... with sugar on top!

All the best of the season to you and your family. I hope the trip to, stay, and ride back from Arizona are uneventful and happy for all of you.

Pam