On Religion

I will never understand arguments over religion.

The way I see it, religion comes down to where you want to place your faith and what gives you hope. It's a system established to give meaning and purpose in life. We don't all live the SAME life, and we haven't all gone through the SAME experiences. What gives one person hope and purpose is not going to necessarily do the same for others. We have different needs and wants, so we seek what matches us most. What's wrong with that? 

Coexist

Personally, I've been on both sides...multiple times (the traditional Hmong religion and Christianity). I grew up as a Christian and was very active in the Hmong church. Then I married into a family that practices the traditional religion and went that route. Then we decided to go to church for awhile. The church we happened to attend was somewhat corrupted, and we were basically deceived and hurt by certain things that happened. BUT...I know that it was THAT particular church only and that church is NOT representative of ALL churches or Christians. After that, we weren't doing the church thing anymore, and it was just assumed by everyone that we were doing the traditional religion again.

However, my husband and I were just undecided for many years and practiced neither religion. We were perfectly content to find hope and purpose on our own. And to be honest, those were the years that we achieved the most, and found peace and happiness in our marriage and life in general. That's just how it happened for us though; I'm not advocating it for everyone. You have to find what works for you.

Even now, we're still exploring our options, because apparently, having no religion is impossible and we cannot continue on in such a way... so says everyone we know.

I can see their perspective. They want to know what to do with us, should our life suddenly come to an end. But what bothers me is that their choices are so limited. Only TWO options: send the deceased up to heaven OR send them back the way they came, tracing steps back in life and to the other side.

I guess I’m willing to expand my options more so than most people.