Challenge your beliefs

I'll admit I've been staying away from this blog because it was making me a little depressed. I guess negative thought brings negative feelings.

I had a conversation tonight with my 15 year old niece on the way home from Barnes & Noble. I was telling her that sometimes I wonder how my life would be different if I had married one of my Christian sweethearts instead of my husband Shane, who is an atheist. I wondered how I would be different. If I still would have come to the same conclusions about religion. If I would have sought out truth and read both sides of issues. If I would have walked away from my faith. If I would have followed my dreams of being a missionary. Or is our journey predestined? Did I really have a choice at all? Her thoughts were that we become like the people we hang around, which I completely agree with. And of course Shane and I become more alike as time goes on. But that doesn't mean that I haven't made my own observations and conclusions about religion. He just came to those conclusions before me, and encouraged me to seek out the truth by looking at religion completely, from a multi-angled view.

Is there a reason that many churches do not encourage their members to question their faith or try out other churches? I have a close friend that is Traditional Catholic. When I first met her I said "Hey, why don't we go to each others churches for fun." A third friend thought that would be cool too (we each attended a different church), but the Traditional Catholic church is very strict about not going to other churches. Are they afraid that their members might be swayed in a different direction? A Mormon friend from high school had the same stance: I should try out her church, but it was not acceptable for her to come with me to church. I, on the other hand, was encouraged by family, and at times by my church to question my faith, and to be open to trying out other churches (perhaps even as a cultural experience). Is that why I came to the conclusion that it is all bull shit? Should we not question what we have been taught?

One of my core values and a primary belief of mine: QUESTION EVERYTHING!