![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ok this is one of those things I always want to be able to do on the Kenzer Boards but can't...Describe my religious beliefs...I've been wondering whether or not I wanted to put this out there for anyone (ok most likely only a few people) to see, but here goes...
I was raised Greek Orthodox...That's basically the Greek centered part of the Eastern Orthodox church (which also includes Russian and Ethiopian Orthodoxy as big sections)...Like being Catholic without the ingrained guilt I suppose...
But anyway, church was just something I went to because my family made me...By jr. high I'd be sneaking out to the car within an hour or less of the start of service to read or nap...By high school I just stopped going...It didn't do anything for me at that point...
For a while I considered myself an agnostic...I was willing to believe in "God" but I wanted something like evidence first...But I quickly dropped that once I reallized that I truly DID believe that the Universe was Created...Just not that the Creator cared or even noticed things like people...
And thus I was an adeist for awhile...Which is someone who believes in a Higher Power but doesn't belong to anykind of organized faith...
Around the age of 19 or 20 I decided that I wanted some more focus for my faith...Something more than just a vague Being to believe in and offer up requests/thanks/etc to...
But I can't stand ANY of the organized religions common to Western Culture...That includes all the varied Christian, Jewish, Muslim or even Pagan groups...I respect people who have Faith, but am frequently driven to anger by what organizations have done in the name of it...
And I'm much too lazy and self-involved and self-indulgent to honestly be able to devote myself to any of the Eastern religions...
So I decided I'd create my own Church...Not as a scam, but simply to provide myself with a focus for my own personal Faith...And of course to give myself Someone to whine to when things were bad adn to praise when things were good...
And so was born the Church of Tod, god of small frogs...
Part joke and part serious...This was the religion that I could believe in...Even if the guidelines that I created weren't always ones I can follow...
Basically the Precepts/Guidelines boiled down to a couple basic concepts...
1: Life is short, enjoy it while you can...I hold to this even though I plan on living forever...And I think thats still not enough time...
2: You always have choices...Many of them may be more difficult, or worse than the obvious options...But there are always more choices...
3: The only person responsible for your actions is YOU...This is the one I most frequently fail at...I'm just as likely as anyone else to play the blame game...My bancruptcy wasn't my fault, it was Roger's...Except I was the one who chose to believe Roger's various claims and lies...And the one who didn't check for himself that the bills in my name WERE being paid on time...Or that he had his name to the apartment lease...
Ok...
Getting off topic here...
But basically I make my own decisions and choices and no one else does that for me...Though the choice I make may be to just do what someone else asks or says...
Ok, time to do some work paperwork...
I was raised Greek Orthodox...That's basically the Greek centered part of the Eastern Orthodox church (which also includes Russian and Ethiopian Orthodoxy as big sections)...Like being Catholic without the ingrained guilt I suppose...
But anyway, church was just something I went to because my family made me...By jr. high I'd be sneaking out to the car within an hour or less of the start of service to read or nap...By high school I just stopped going...It didn't do anything for me at that point...
For a while I considered myself an agnostic...I was willing to believe in "God" but I wanted something like evidence first...But I quickly dropped that once I reallized that I truly DID believe that the Universe was Created...Just not that the Creator cared or even noticed things like people...
And thus I was an adeist for awhile...Which is someone who believes in a Higher Power but doesn't belong to anykind of organized faith...
Around the age of 19 or 20 I decided that I wanted some more focus for my faith...Something more than just a vague Being to believe in and offer up requests/thanks/etc to...
But I can't stand ANY of the organized religions common to Western Culture...That includes all the varied Christian, Jewish, Muslim or even Pagan groups...I respect people who have Faith, but am frequently driven to anger by what organizations have done in the name of it...
And I'm much too lazy and self-involved and self-indulgent to honestly be able to devote myself to any of the Eastern religions...
So I decided I'd create my own Church...Not as a scam, but simply to provide myself with a focus for my own personal Faith...And of course to give myself Someone to whine to when things were bad adn to praise when things were good...
And so was born the Church of Tod, god of small frogs...
Part joke and part serious...This was the religion that I could believe in...Even if the guidelines that I created weren't always ones I can follow...
Basically the Precepts/Guidelines boiled down to a couple basic concepts...
1: Life is short, enjoy it while you can...I hold to this even though I plan on living forever...And I think thats still not enough time...
2: You always have choices...Many of them may be more difficult, or worse than the obvious options...But there are always more choices...
3: The only person responsible for your actions is YOU...This is the one I most frequently fail at...I'm just as likely as anyone else to play the blame game...My bancruptcy wasn't my fault, it was Roger's...Except I was the one who chose to believe Roger's various claims and lies...And the one who didn't check for himself that the bills in my name WERE being paid on time...Or that he had his name to the apartment lease...
Ok...
Getting off topic here...
But basically I make my own decisions and choices and no one else does that for me...Though the choice I make may be to just do what someone else asks or says...
Ok, time to do some work paperwork...
