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Ok so after yesterdays little description of me, i thought, wait, i still have to explain my beliefs. You see, if you understand what someone believes in, religiously i mean, then you can better understand why they do what they do. A religion helps to mold a youth into who he becomes later in life. But it is not just the religion, it is also a combination of it and the experiences within it. You see, Someone can be Christian, but then be sexualy violated by a priest and not follow Christian ethics. So, i feel i must explain my beliefs before any of you can understand full the reason's why i do anything.

O, and everything i say from here on out, like always, will be my personal opinions.

ok, with all that said, i'll start.

Im supposed to be Roman Catholic. I was raised in a Catholic family, baptized, went to church every sunday in the winter, spring, and fall, and went to religious education every year from kindergarden until 8th grade. After that, i went to a Jesuit High School, which i am still attending, and continued my religious education in my daily classes. We have mass every once in a while for certain feast days, and of course Christmas and Easter. I went through with my first communion back in elementary school and made my confirmation last November. I have been on three religious retreats, one with my church, and two others with my school, one sophmore year, another my junoir year.

So you can see, im not unfamiliar with the religion my family started me with, but as you can see, i said "supposed to be."

Even though i am Catholic through my family, i do not really believe too much in Jesus Christ. I do, though, except that he did extraordinary things, but i say extraordinary as "extra-ordinary." That is, i view them as events that cannot be performed by the ordinary person, not the awe inspiring sense that we use when we talk about God. I don't feel that Jesus was all he said he was. I don't believe Jesus is the son of God.
I don't believe this because of any scientific facts tho... it's just that the fact doesn't sit well with me. Call it a "gut feeling" if you must. I know that some of you reading this must be thinking, "Thats stupid," or asking, "why though?" and all i can say to that question is:

I don't know.

I seriously don't know why i don't believe that Jesus is the son of God. All i know is that i don't. But don't get me wrong, i do believe in God, well a God.

The God i personally believe in is one like that of the Catholic faith. He is a kind and gentle God who forgives those who do wrong and upholds Justice and all that stuff. I believe in a personal God, one that you can be friends with and know on a personal level. The key difference to my God is that He doesn't expect us to pray or even worship Him. As long as he is acknowledged as being there, He is content. The God i believe in is happy enough knowing He created everything, but he doesn't mind getting prayed to or asked of for favors. Its just i feel we don't need to constantly. I feel we don't need to pray to God because we shouldn't need to prove our love to something. If something loves you, and you love it back, that should be enough. I veiw my relationship with God like one with someone im close to, there's an unspoken love that we both know is there and thats all we both need. And yet, those little favors that happen now and then don't hurt. Its like marriage. You don't marry the one you love because of all of the things you recieve from that person, you marry them because you love them and they love you the same way, and thats all you two need. All you need is eachother, but buying your spouse a necklace or an HDTV doesn't go unnoticed.

Then there's forgiveness. I believe that God does forgive, but only to a certian point. Again i will use the spouse relationship to explain this. Say that one of you cheats on the other, for the first time ever. I believe in this situation the action is forgivable. If you truely love that person, you will always be able to forgive them for their actions, you will always be able to recover, even if it takes time. But there's only one more chance. If you or your spouse break that trust again, it is not likely that the hurt one will be as forgiving. "The first times a mistake, the second time is on purpose," my cusin says. Going back to God, He would forgive you if you even majorly sinned, but would only give you one more chance, and if you screw up that chance, and you're done. Accidents, though are different. God knows if something was an accident, something you didn't mean to do, or if it was unpreventable. In those cases God would forgive you, but then it goes back to what my cusin said, kinda. If your do something on purpose, then God won't forgive you.

Now i have to define sin. I believe a sin is anything done that hurts something and only that. So you can count missing the sabboth day out, because that doesn't hurt anyone, unless your mom WILL die if you dont go. Also i don't believe adultry (premarital sex and same sex stuff and mastrubation) as a sin becuase they dont hurt people. I mean there are exceptions like cheating (and if that kitten thing is true), but for the most part i don't see why sex outside a marriage should be a sin. A shady area though is stealing. I kinda have a Robin Hood belief one this one, you know, the whole steal from the rich, give to the poor thing. O and in situations where you're starving and the only way to get food is stealing it. But then, if you steal an excessive amount, its not right. I don't want to get anymore technical. "Just dont be greedy!" should explain it i guess. Um, killing is bad too, of course unless its to feed people, like with killing animals, but i don't believe in killing more than needed. And you can't feed people people. So yea, um i guess thats basically it. Anything society would blame wrong is a no no, and anything else i just go with what my heart tells me.

Ok, back to the main thing. In addition to my Catholic beliefs, i also believe in natural Transcendenalism. That is, to find God, or the Oversoul (basically all the souls in the universe put together) you must find yourself. To do so, you must find a way of inner contemplation, be it meditation or writing or art. I find this to be an amazing stress reducer and lets me feel closer to God. At the same time, i feel enlightened by my subject, be it whatever i meditate on, or my topic in my writing and art. So, not only does it help me religiously, but also helps further my knowledge.

And thats basically what i believe in.

Toodles
-Vlad