I'm hoping I did that correctly.
I was in High School when I discovered the faith that would carry me through to now. Although I am not as into it as I was then, I still hold the philosophies close to my heart and try to follow the teachings, but no longer feel the need to be obsessive about it.
I consider myself more of a kitchen witch now, whipping up the occasional spell when needed, and accepting that its probably best that my cauldron lives in the garage with the rest of my alter. Perhaps I will need to see my tools daily again, but ultimately, the divine is in my heart, not in that box.
I was never much for broom closets, and, like any 16 yr old with a new discovery, I was very open about it. I'm sure there are those that rolled their eyes, I know there were plenty who thought I was a nut. I'm glad I have grown into a woman who doesn't need to shout my faith from the rooftops; Wicca is a part of who I am, but it is not the whole.
A year or so after my revelation, as it might be called, my friends pulled me aside during a bonfire we were having at La Jolla Shores. They were very upset, you see, as Christians, that I was going to hell, since I wasn't Christian (and they had never known me to be) and they liked me and didn't want that to happen.
I explained that I had been brought up with vaguely Christian undertones and that I had, at one point accepted Jesus into my heart. Much relieved, they wandered off. Apparently, once you do that, you are saved forever. I will admit that I thought them a bit silly, but I was a bit drunk on my new found beliefs and I'm sure I was pretty silly too.
15, 20 years later, I have occasion to think back on that night. I have come to a place in my life where I believe that your relationship with God, however you call it, if you have one, is between you and your divine. I seem to remember though, that it says in the Bible that it is not up to us to judge. That if there was to be a judgment, it is God's job to do so. It always amazed me that they had somehow missed that lesson.
What a burden to have to worry about people's afterlife all the time. I would rather trust in God to make that determination and just be friends with people. But then, I don't believe in the hell that I have heard described in church, so that's really easy for me to say.
I may not believe what they believed, but I now respect that they believed it. I hope the sender of this postcard is able to make peace with her fear. It's a pretty big one.
2 comments:
3 x 3.. their fear brings more fear, love brings more love.. and so on and so forth.. lol I do TRY to understand that their fear comes from their love.. but really it makes my brain hurt. You're loved. A lot.
I am a Christian, and will try to explain some of the things you brought up.
First, the reason they were relieved after you told them that you accepted Jesus into your heart, is that once a person accepts jesus, they are saved forever, no matter what they do in the rest of their life. Yes, that creates a lot of questions, and I will answer them when possible.
Since you told them you accepted Jesus, they could relax knowing that your soul is secure.
As for the reason we tell people about the need for salvation is purely because we love the other person and do not want to see them suffer eternally. Whether you believe in hell or not, we do. We can't say, "Well if you don't believe in hell, then you won't be going there," because it does not matter whether you believe in it.
Just because you believe a bridge is solid, but someone else knows the bridge is washed out, would it be proper for them to allow you to drive on without at least a warning?
We are not judging you. The judgement is already declared in our holy writings...the Bible. We are just letting you know about the judgement.
If we were mean people, would it make sense to tell you about the judgement and then offer a way to avoid the judgement? No. It would be cruel to tell you of the judgement and offer no solution to avoid it.
The people who say, "You are going to hell," but offer no solution are the ones judging you. Those who say, "Hell is waiting for everyone who does not accept Jesus," are not judging you...they are warning you.
Even though we warn you, we leave the choice up to you.
Be aware that the judgement feels more imminent to some of us than to others. That is why some people are more dominant in sharing the warning and solution.
Of course, you will find some who are telling you what to do for the power trip. Nothing either of us can do about that.
Discerning the messenger and their message is sometimes difficult because many of us are not skilled in communications, so sometimes, the person who sounds judgemental may just not know how to say it in a manner that is more convincing yet pallatable.
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