Oh, Religion...

I swear... I hate getting into religious debates. I hate trying to justify my beliefs and what I think is right/wrong. I know that I'm a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ and that I would consider myself a Christian if anyone ever asked. That should be all that matters, right? Wrong. It doesn't matter what you classify yourself as nowadays... If you don't live your life according to God's will, then you're no better than non-believers (in some people's eyes). It's just really tough for me to develop this consistent understanding of what I'm supposed to be doing in order to please God or what I'm supposed to steer away from. For example, I know that God says you shouldn't have sex until you're married. However, I struggle with this, because I believe you shouldn't necessarily have to wait until your wedding day to get it on. What if you're engaged to that person and you know for sure you're going to marry them? Why would it make a difference if you had sex with that person? Why would having sex with them be a bad thing if you're going to spend the rest of your life with them anyway?

Another thing I have an issue with is drinking and smoking. I know some people who appear to be these wonderful Christians: They always post statuses on FB about God, always tweet about God, etc., but they go partying every weekend and get drunk. If the Bible says that it's wrong for you to drink and smoke, why do people do it? If they know that it's wrong and that they shouldn't, why do they? Anyone could easily argue that it's the Devil that's making them do it, but is it really? Is it really the Devil or is it you deliberately defying God? And the Bible says that no man would ever purposefully do something to make God mad, so the Devil must be responsible for all of our sins.

From my stand point, I don't like people who would rather spend most of their leisure time smoking and drinking than doing something productive with their lives. Now, I know you're not supposed to judge, but that really says a lot about who you are as a person. It truly shows what your priorities are and what you find more/most important in life. I'm not saying I'm against smoking or drinking... I'm just saying I'm against doing all of these things and then going back and saying that you're this wonderful Christian. Sure, I know all people sin... But aren't we supposed to repent after we sin? And by repenting, we're promising God that we won't do it again, right? So why repent and then go back and do it over and over and over again? God doesn't like liars, and by doing that, you're essentially lying to Him. This is why I don't ask for forgiveness for certain things... I know I'm probably gonna end up doing them again anyway.

To contradict my own statement, I guess it would still be better to ask for forgiveness than to not ask at all. Asking would be a sign that you are aware of your wrong doings and that you love God and that you want Him to be in your life. He knows what you're going to do way before you do it, so you should just talk to Him about it... I think. I don't know... I just really need to get myself together. I need to open up my Bible whenever I'm struggling with something I feel I can't handle on my own. He has all the answers to my questions... He's the answer to all things. I just need to remind myself that.