First, let me get this said…I believe in God. I have faith that He is leading me down the path that He wants me to take. I don’t read my Bible from cover to cover and I don’t go to church, but that doesn’t mean I don’t pray, or that I don’t believe. I think that people who have a deep faith or spiritual connection with God are healthy. We all need a higher power to believe in, if we didn’t who would we turn to for guidance or love when there isn’t any to be found on Earth?

When I was a teenager, good friend took me to her church’s Youth Group. Before I knew it I was swaying in the pew with them and going to prayer before school every morning. I started reading the Bible. I had something to believe in, and it kept me out of trouble. Most of my friends at that time were smoking pot or other drugs and having babies.

I’m not saying that they’re bad people, but I do think that my faith in God kept me from going out and ‘sinning’. I didn’t want to have premarital sex. I didn’t want to do drugs, or smoke cigarettes. I was choosing to live a clean and healthy life because I felt that was what God wanted of me.

Then, things started to change. It wasn’t my faith in God; I think that has never wavered. I’ve had a few questions, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought that God didn’t exist. I had a very good friend who told me he was gay. I loved him just the same, and to this day, I still support him and any other person who is choosing to live an alternate lifestyle. I just don’t feel like it’s fair to treat him differently or cut him out of my life because the Bible says the way he lives his life is wrong. Who qualified me to be the judge?

I like to go out and have a beer or two on occasion. Does that make me a bad person? Does God love me less? I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been drunk in the last year. If I decided today that I was never going to drink again, should I look down on those who do?

I’ve taken steps to ensure that I wouldn’t become pregnant. I’ve even had premarital sex with the man that is now my husband. So, does that mean that my friends who go to church every weekend shouldn’t associate with me anymore?

Don’t get me wrong. I think that people who go to church every week and live their lives according to the Book are most times wonderful, loving people. I just have a problem with the ones who say they are living in God’s love and then turn ugly the moment someone steps outside the perimeters of what the Bible says is okay or not okay. We all sin. Are there different degrees of sin? Does the person gossiping over coffee sin less than the man sitting on death row for murder? Or is all sin just as wrong as the next?

I guess what I’m trying to say is….I just wish that people could agree to have their beliefs and pray to God for guidance and still love everyone. Isn’t that what God does in the first place? I’m sure he loves a prostitute or drug dealer just as much as he loves a Pastor or even….me.