Freedom in Faith, Bondage in Religion

I was raised in a church going home and could miss a day of school with more ease than a Sunday at church. Confused by the hypocrisy of my fellow church goers, ministers and other authority figures, I fell away from my strong childhood faith in God and Christ. I questioned every teaching ever dealt to me, exploring everything from Atheism, Wicca, and everything in between. I made life altering mistakes, leaving me hopeless and financially, as well as emotionally depleted.

In my late thirties I had no choice but to go crawling back to God. I had to leave the toxic influences and people behind and rebuild my life. Although rebirth or growth is never a straight and narrow highway, it’s a necessary road one must take. This trip however was to be driven alone. I had to realize that faith is a journey one must travel alone, without man made religion, government intervention, or well-meaning loved ones. Faith is a gift found in solitude when one realizes loneliness and hardship were conquered by an unknown strength from within.

There are two things governments and religions have in common, and it’s control over their subjects hearts and minds. Some are so weak that they kill, ridicule and abuse others in the name of God or Country instead of in defense of them. Real security in ones belief system is not necessarily to lay down and agree with another, but to lay down the hatred and vengeance of another.

Peace on Earth will not be granted by a religion or government, but by us as individuals. For in our hearts in minds we have the power to choose either love or hate, perform good or bad deeds, and to provide or to take. For God, or whatever name your faith names the higher power, does not dwell in institutions, but within us.