Believing...

Is it wrong to believe in God, but not be affiliated with any particular religion?  It seems like people look down on you if they ask you about your religion and you say that you don’t practice anything specific.  I’ve had it happen plenty of times.  Someone will ask me about it and then look at me with pity in their eyes as if it were such a shame.  This goes double for the question of “Where do you go to church?”  I wasn’t raised going to church every Sunday so it has never been a huge priority for me.  I see it as a place of worship and a community where people meet.  Is it absolutely essential to go in order to get to heaven?  Are people who go automatically one step closer to God?  Does that make them better than me?  That’s how I feel when most churchgoers ask me about it.  They’ll say something like “….oh” and move on to another subject or try and help me find a church near me, assuming that I need/want their help in the matter. 

 

I truly believe that it’s the way you live your life that determines your status with God more so than how often you go to church.  In fact, there are plenty of people who are supposed to be the most holy of all people (like priests, pastors, nuns) that have done wrong or are hypocrites who don’t follow what they preach…