A Yardstick For Judgement

I have been on a spiritual journey, at the very least, for as long as I can remember. My parents are part of a religion that many folks view as a cult. We read the Bible daily, attended services three times a week and sought to share The Word with as many other people as we possibly could. One of my very earliest childhood memories is of questioning their practices, although I couldn’t actually do so out loud.

As soon as I left home, I began to explore other options. I attended other ‘Christian’ churches and read religious canons from non-Christian faiths. I don’t fancy myself an expert per se and I would never tell anyone that my word is gospel. I do think it’s safe for me to say that I have actually learned a few things along the way. One of the most important lessons is that I don’t actually need to have a religious affiliation to have a relationship with my *Higher Power*.

*For the sake of keeping you here, I am using this term, instead of God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha… One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that if you have affiliated yourself with a religious organization, your mind will most likely instantly close to spiritual ideas from someone of a different faith.*

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place for religion. Some people need it to reinforce their connection to a Higher Power. It usually allows for those with the same spiritual beliefs to belong in a community of love, guidance and support. It provides a much needed sense of connection to people and to the spiritual realm, that they perhaps cannot feel independently.

Every religion claims to be the ‘True Path to Salvation’. Most teach their followers that they shouldn’t explore other ideologies or they will risk losing favor with their God. Perhaps they’ll even burn in Hell. There are even a few religions that dictate their followers to cut ties with anyone who chooses to leave The Truth, including loved ones. My parents raised me in one of these religions and it was exactly this that first made me question religion.

It is one of my first tangible memories. My oldest brother, a mere boy still in his teens, had chosen to leave the religion. I was only two years old, but I remember it well. As he walked out the door, my parents set the rest of us down and told us that he was now dead to us and to God. If we passed him on the street we were not to even look at him. I remember clearly hearing a voice in my head telling me this was beyond wrong! This was certainly not what God had intended for those who chose to follow Him. It was not for us to judge my brother, that was something that only God could do, for we could never know or understand the pain and anguish that had led to my brother’s decision. As long as he drew breath, he would have a chance to return to God’s favor… even if it was with his dying breath. We should choose to show love and compassion to all people, regardless of the path they chose to walk, for that is the true path of righteousness. I remember the words, even if I didn’t fully understand them at the time. They led me to question everything that my parents tried to teach as gospel.

The biggest question that seemed to always pop up for me, was in regards to people that would live their whole lives never having had the opportunity to learn about ‘The Truth’. All people are supposedly born into this world as Children of God. It’s said He knows each one intimately, right down to the number of hairs on our head. If we are born in a geographic area that doesn’t provide for access to that ‘one true religion’, does that mean we automatically lose God’s favor and are destined to an eternity of damnation? That just doesn’t make sense. If I learned anything in looking at all those different religions, it was that they all have a similar message. The various cannons I read were actually quite a lot alike. One could take excerpts from the Bible and the Quran and almost swear they were from the same book. Of course, there are differences too, but it begs one to ask, is it possible that the conflict arises when those imperfect men that proclaimed themselves prophets were interjecting their own personal perspectives on the messages they had been inspired to deliver? The gist of their messages were most definitely inspired, but they were, in fact, imperfect humans, and we all alter information as our mind processes it or to fit with our own personal beliefs… It’s like the childhood game telephone, where you start with someone whispering a sentence into someone else’s ear and that person whispers the sentence into the next person’s ear. By the time the message has passed through just a few ears and lips, it is completely changed. It truly is a matter of interpretation and all too often the real message gets lost in translation.

Something else I saw in every religion was people judging others based on religious beliefs and practices. People are viewed as holy or unholy, clean or unclean, worthy or not. When we have religion we tend to forget that ALL of humanity are children of the same Higher Power, regardless of denomination. We all have the same Creator — even atheists know that all humans are the same species, we all bleed red. I soon began to see religion simply as a yardstick that was used to grant us permission to judge others.

As time passed, I never stopped believing in a Higher Power. It became clear to me that as a human, there would always be things that would be beyond the realm of my ability to understand. It doesn’t matter what you choose to talk about, there will be someone out there who believes the polar opposite of your ‘statement of fact’. This is where Faith comes into play. We don’t necessarily need to understand all of the infinite details, as imperfect humans, we simply can’t. With just a little bit of Faith, we can still manage to get by, with a little more Faith, we can even be happy. We just need to learn to let go, of the things we cannot understand and the things we cannot control. We need to look intently for the blessings that have been bestowed upon us and be thankful. We need to stop looking at what everyone else believes and what they are doing and just worry about our own relationship with our Higher Power. We need simply to clear our minds, open our hearts and pray, that is when we will be flooded with the answers WE need.

This piece was originally published on Medium. It has been edited to meet Vocal standards.

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