*Disclaimer* These are my views, my thoughts, my opinion. I do not intend to insult, offend, put down, etc ANYONE of ANY religion or lack thereof. I shouldn't even have to write the disclaimer, but for the sake of political correctness I did.

Before you leave a hateful comment, have an open mind about what I'm trying to say. I'm just a kid who thinks she has an idea of what she feels.

P.S: When I refer to "God", I want to make it clear I'm not implying that it is the purely Christian God, because what I'm about to say might not be straight Christian, but it's what I believe and I want to explain myself

I think about religion a lot. I don't think I have beliefs that are expressed in my church. That's why I stopped going. I need a little help from people. I'm going to list out how I feel about religion, and if anyone can point me toward what religion practices this, it would be great.

I am Christian by family. Lutheran to be exact. I just think maybe my beliefs are a little outside of the general Lutheran range, but here's what I think:

I believe there is a God, it is a man referred to as "He" but not 'he'. He looks like Jesus except older and wiser. (I was told most people visualized God as their own race because it gives the feeling of Him being our Father) He's immeasurably powerful but also really nice and understanding, more than people give Him credit for. He doesn't get offended if we don't attend church, or if we don't pray before eating or before bed, or don't pray at all. This isn't because I'm trying to cover my behind for not doing these things, (and I admit that I don't do these things like I should) I just think we are ignoring His overwhelming kindness.

--Story interruption: I went to a church event, say about two years ago. And we had to pray before we could eat, which was fine with me, I was in a church so I didn't expect otherwise. And a few kids were giggling before saying their prayer, and they got reamed for it. The lady told them that they should never laugh when speaking to the Lord, for that is disrespectful to Him. Nobody was laughing AT God. They just hadn't calmed down from whatever they were doing before holding hands to pray. I had to walk out I was so taken aback--

Anyway...
He made us all and He can take any one of us away. Which brings me to my next point, which is where I think I lose the support of actual Christians. God, in a stretched-scale way, is playing The Sims. He created the first people, gave them basic rules, but then gave them free will. He doesn't guide our every move, but He can step in and take control whenever He wants.

God made every person who ever spoke against him. He created you and gave you the ability to think those thoughts, and if He wanted you to stop thinking and speaking about Him, He wouldn't have ever gave you the ability to think those things.

I believe we die and go to the gates of heaven and we get judged on our lives and if we're worthy, we go into Heaven. Some people who do bad things stay on Earth, but God knows they are going to hell. On the other hand, there are people that did everything good, and still got taken too early. I think maybe God wanted the purest people in heaven with him, because their souls can be broken too easily in a world like this, and God wants them to stay as pure as possible.

Diversity. White, Native American, African, European, Asian, Hispanic...straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, or inter-sex...rich, poor, or middle class...male or female...The list can go on forever and it doesn't matter. Because you are a human, you are a creation of God. He made us all. If he never wanted something to exist, he wouldn't have allowed anyone to think of it. He made every identity, every group, every race, every idea. He's got it under control.

Multiple religions. God was the beginning of everything. God made these people who claim to be prophets and saviors. I think one religion stemmed from another, and now they should co-exist, like siblings that came from the same parent can coexist.

Maybe I live in a totally different world, and this is all a big dream of mine that will never come true, but Christians shouldn't hate Muslims or Catholics, or anyone else. People of one religion don't do evil things to people of other religions. They don't get angry or kill or hate or put down others because they worship a deity of a different name. And if they do any of these things, then they aren't really following the principles of Christianity. You're supposed to love thy neighbor. It doesn't matter if your neighbor is a person of a different race, religion, background, etc. You're supposed to be open to anyone.

No religion is supposed to be out to get the other one. So there's no need to fight over who's idea is right. We all came from the same place, we all go to the same place, we are all controlled by the same God. That doesn't mean don't speak of God, it means don't assume that you have the final say, because you don't. God does.