Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My relationship with religion

I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent young woman however, when it comes to the topic of religion I am pretty much clueless. My parents were both raised Catholic but they never imposed these beliefs on me growing up. I did attend Catacism (bascially bible study for children) but I unfortunately did not make it to 1st Communion, I was a Catacism dropout by the young age of 7. Needless to say that was the end of my ties with religion. Although I have attended church with my grandma and mom for the various holidays, marriages or funerals, I myself have never thought about attending church until recently. I have gone back and forth with my thoughts and beliefs on whether or not I believe in God but I think that I have finally come to the conclusion that I do believe. So, I decided to go to church last Sunday with my friend Ashley, to just check it out.
The church is based on Christian beliefs and is pretty casual, much different from the masses in a Catholic church that I had been accustomed to growing up, but very similar to the church that my mom has been attending. The first 15-30 minutes of church was music which was cool but that is when my mind goes crazy with thoughts like "can they tell I'm new here cuz I'm sure I stick out", "why are these people raising their hands up to the sky", "I don't understand this song", and on and on. But then the pastor started the sermon and I loved it, although the topic was a continuation on a series he had been doing on how to be a loving and spiritual husband, he was very entertaining and engaging. The pastor incorporated various passages from the Bible but did it in a way that was easy to understand and made sense. He also used real life examples that were funny and very true of most people. All in all it was a good experience and I'm glad I went but I definitely left church with a ton of questions, poor Ashley! I feel that I struggle with religion because I am in a field that is based on science, research, and facts whereas religion is faith and belief which is difficult for me to comprehend since I am a person who always want to know why things are the way they are. My intentions are not to become a "holy roller" but to become knowledgeable on a topic that is completely foreign to me and to figure out my own beliefs. Religion is a topic that commonly comes up with my clients, which also makes me feel that I need to have a better grasp in order to help or understand my clients better. Well I guess this will be my insightful, serious and indepth post for this month!!

1 comment:

Brianne said...

I totally understand your struggle...I have wrestled with the same things. Ultimately, I take the bible as a moral guide and my faith starts where my explanation for things run out. I don't know if that makes sense. Anyways....feel free to try out The Well with us sometime.