About me and this blog

About this blog:
This is simply a place for anything I have written or found that I think inspirational. Anything written by me is subject to copyright and may not be used or reproduced without my permission, and you certainly may not attribute it to yourself and must show credit where credit is due. If you re-post anything, please link back here to the post it appeared in. If you reproduce it anywhere else, please include a link to this blog and/or the specific post. Anything not written by me will be attributed to its creator(s), and if at all possible, I will try to post information to help you find it yourself.

Background images are from Hubble Site: http://hubblesite.org/  
See copyright info here: http://hubblesite.org/about_us/copyright.php

About me:
I'm a 30-something, lifelong Christian. I do not identify with a specific Protestant denomination as I've attended churches of several denominations over the years. My current church is a Congregational church. The church I consider my "home" church (my former church in my home town) is Presbyterian Church (USA). I could align myself with any number of progressive denominations. My faith is strongly nature-oriented, and I enjoy some mystical disciplines such as contemplative prayer/meditation, and like and respect and learn from Buddhism.

I do not believe it is a sin to be feminist, gay, or childfree. I do not believe Jesus espoused hate at any time, and I do not believe that spewing hate and vitriol, whether in the name of religion or not, is a Christian act. I have a deep respect for all peaceful religions, as well as the peaceful practice of no religion at all. I have friends who span from atheism and agnosticism to Wicca to Catholicism to Protestant Christianity to Judaism to Islam and many points along any of those paths. I am likely to hold to the Pagan credo, "an it harm none, do what you will" with my own personal addition: "it is between a person and their God." I cannot pretend to speak for God and know for sure what is a sin and what is not. What I do know is that if no one is being harmed, it is not my place to get between a person, their conscience, and God about a specific matter.

I tend to struggle with my faith in a couple large ways. The first is that I am not very good at this "turn the other cheek" or "forgive seventy times seven times" thing. I do not like the idea of being a doormat, nor do I like the idea of other people being doormats. I cannot be sugary nice. I do tend to extend respect and courtesy to all who prove they deserve it, but I can't bring myself to do so for those who have clearly demonstrated that they do NOT deserve my regard, and I do have a lot trouble with loving my enemies. My other difficulty is in following God's path for my life. I often feel like I am led to making the world a better place. Unfortunately life sort of got in the way of these goals. I am often not sure how I can reconcile my current life--job, family, etc.--with the life I feel I ought to be living of giving my all to help ease the load for others--be they people, animals, or the environment--and this is something I have trouble with on a regular basis.

I welcome friends of all faiths, and none at all, who wish to share discourse, knowledge, etc. I do not welcome those who merely wish to be contentious or hateful. A respectful, intelligent, thoughtful challenge is one thing. Spouting your mouth off out of anger, ignorance, or hate is another, and you will receive no response to such comments.

I leave you with my personal faith statement, which I wrote back in high school when going through Confirmation class at my "home" church. It still holds true today, and I have not found any reason since to revise it.

I believe in God: the father, maker of all that exists; the son, savior of my soul; and the Holy Spirit, my comfort and guide. I believe in the Holy Bible, the written word of God. I believe that I am saved only by the grace of God and that at my death, my body will return to dust but my soul will live forever. I believe in the love of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who died for my sins, and that one day he will return to this earth in glory. I believe in the neverending love, support, forgiveness, and guidance of God. I believe that we are all God's children, each unique and beautiful but equal in his eyes and his love.