9/14/2013

A Home Without Walls

Entry #5

9/14/2013

11:11 P.M

By: Ray (The Night Author) Homan

We are on our last day at this camp site. At the wildlife state park that we reside in at the moment there is a limit to two weeks when it comes to staying here overnight. It isn't a policy, just some rule the place sets up to keep squatters out. Even though I would argue until I am blue in the face that we are not squatters and that we do indeed take care of the park; we keeps our noise down; we keep our trash picked up and our camp site looking nice. Yet, because of bad apples in the past, they will be keeping an eye on us.

However, we are not leaving just yet, because we still have six days until we reach the two week mark.

Our plan is to camp in one camp space for two weeks and then move on to another wildlife park, or sleep in our cars at the rest stop for a couple nights only to return back to this very park.

We like it here, mainly because there is flexibility to the park. I wish to name the park, but for personal reasons, I will remain silent.

Tomorrow is Sunday, the day we stop and worship our creator at our church. I haven't been to church since I was fourteen, but I am making stride to connect with God. I and my family believe that going to church doesn't save you, or can make you into a better person, but it is a place where everyone can worship together and fellowship together.

Many people have a bad insight to church; personally I don't blame them because religion can burn people at some time or another. I know that my past church burned me, they kicked I and my sisters out because we sided with our mother during my parents divorce. It was a political game that I was not able to play out. Now I look at church like going to a bar: you sit down, hang out and talk with people. I know many of you reading this would hate me comparing church to a bar, but if you really think about it, that is what it is. Some people go in to look cool and smart; others come in to just relax and meet people. There are going to be fights and there are going to be harsh words, but in the end everyone gets a chance to meet people that could enrich their lives.

Religion and society today do not go hand in hand. Sure, many people will attend a free meeting and talk about how Miley Cyrus has lost her mind, but will not go to church.

There was a young man that I used to work with, he would go on and on about how Christians are ignorant and stupid. He claimed that they are always damning people or trying to send them to Hell only to claim that they could save them by praying with them.

Here I was, a Christian who wasn't strong in his faith and enjoyed our conversations. I didn't want to save him or want to condemn him to Hell, but he said that people of my faith did those things. I have a history with church talk and I knew what he was talking about. I had always hated the fact that Christians could not just sit down with someone and enjoy a conversation with them without throwing in how wrong they were and how much of a sinner they were. As a kid, I loved to hear about other religions and never thought about denying my God. If Christians are ignorant, I guess I am the black sheep of the faith.

Over the years working with people that hated Christians and called them stupid, I became very silent about my faith. I would agree on the points that I agreed with, but remained silent when a topic was raised on something that hurt my faith. In some way, I guess you could say, I believed them at some point and thought that Christians, including myself, were stupid people who only wanted to claim to save people.

It was not until a local man stood outside our office one day with a sign that read in bold red letters: God will send sinners to Hell! He spoke with a loud voice saying that all college students are going to Hell for sexual encounters and drinking all the time. He would yell at the people who spoke out against him and would say that the Devil was controlling their minds.

I never wanted to be associated to a radical like him, because to me, I live the portions of the Bible that say: "Love thy neighbor."

The young man that I mentioned, started to get very angry about the picket man. He printed out twenty pages of research on why Christianity was ignorant and scientific reason on why God did not exist. He took the pages and ran out to this "Holy man."

I stood outside, smoking my cigarette and watched in horror as my friend/co-worker started yelling in the man's face and spouting out everything printed out. The only way I could describe how my friend acted that day is those demon possession movies where the person is going into convulsions and yelling in strange tongues. If he vomited pea soup, I wouldn't have been surprised.

As I stood there, watching the Holy battle rage on, I noticed something. The man with the sign read from the Bible and quoted scripture, calling it truth. My friend read from his printed pages and called it truth. I didn't realize it until today that both were doing the exact same thing. They were both reading from something that someone else wrote and called it truth. They both were fighting about something that someone else said. None of them were thinking for themselves, but they acted as though both had done something to the other for personal revenge.

If I remember anything about the Bible, it is this, God is wrathful yes, but he is also loving. Your parent/guardian can either punish you or hug you. Most of God's punishment was before Christ came to pay for our sins. Now God can love us all the time because we do not have to pay for our sins. It is our get out of jail free card.

I often wonder if any of us know what we are talking about. We talk about war because it makes sense, but does it really? We talk about our religion and say it is truth, but is it really? By the end of the day it comes down to what you think and believe. I believe God is a loving god and wants us all to love one another. I guess you can call me the Christian Hippie. He doesn't hate us, so why do we hate each other?

I have come to realize that my friend's fight wasn't with me or the man with the sign, but with his heavenly father. The man with the sign's should have realized that God is a creator of love and he should follow that example.

Safe to say, after that day, the authorities escorted the man off the campus and he was never seen again. My friend claimed he won that day with truth, but somehow I felt like the only thing he won that day was another spot in the line waiting to love God.

--Night