In the Beginning...

Why am I here? And what the heck does that title mean? Well, let me explain. Throughout my life, I have encountered a number of people who question the existence of God. In so many cases, I have found that these people were raised in a particular faith and told that they must hold a certain set of absolute beliefs or live their lives in one particular way. If they did not fit into this particular "box", they were not a true Christian, Jew whatever. Which also seems to imply, "If you do not live inside this set of beliefs, God does not love you and/or you are going to Hell." Pretty alienating! One of my favorite quotes to illustrate this is from the book, "Sweet Dates in Basra" by Jessica Jiji. Where a young Jewish boy recalls being told something to the effect of "Jesus loves all of us unconditionally. Even you, Jew. But if you don't believe he is the Son of God, he will send you to Hell." Now, how is that unconditional? I loved that because that is virtually what I hear all the time. Being a Christian who is married to a Jew, I get all kinds of comments. But I also want to point out that I am not knocking religion. I do think that religion is important. The idea of God is so huge that it can be difficult to get a handle on unless one is given a framework. Religion to me is that framework that guides us in how we might worship God, think of God, include God within our lives, that kind of thing. The problems arise when people begin to get too caught up in that framework and lose sight of the Big Picture. The Big Picture is that we are God's children and He LOVES us. Like the way you love your kids x 100. We are God's children and He made us all--He made us individuals. He made us so that the way you see God and include God in your life may be completely different from the way I do. And that is ok. He still loves you. He still loves me. He is Love--Love Unconditional.