God, are you there? it's me again, Confused...

"There is no blood. It says that in the Bible, but that's just because somebody wrote it down. I could write something down, and that wouldn't make it true. I want to say this to Eileen, to Pastor Dave. But if I try to, they will just come up with more quotes. They will just keep quoting and quoting and quoting until there is nothing left to say about anything at all."
-The Center of Everything

a few weeks ago, i read a novel titled "the center of everything." in it, a young girl is attempting to understand the world around her. she tries to find stability in her tumultuous life by attending services at a local christian church - the church of second ark. the christians here fill her head with thoughts that it's bad to have premarital sex, that it's bad to be homosexual, and that it's bad to believe that humans came from anywhere else besides God himself. this whole bit interested me greatly, but also confused me - do christians really think it's that big of a deal to have premarital sex? do christians really hate homosexuals? do christians really not think it to be possible that we evolved from primates and not from Adam & Eve?

i have a christian friend who i sometimes ask when i have questions that bother me about religion. so i read her a few passages from the book. she said that the christians in the novel were wrong, which i agreed with. but she said that they were wrong because they had misinterpreted the bible.

misinterpreted.

this is where i got even more confused. i mean, how did she know they had misinterpreted the bible? hadn't they read it, just like she had? weren't they christians, just like her?

misinterpreted.

with this word in hand, my friend started to explain even more things to me. the more she talked, the less sense everything made. the christians in this book apparantly were wrong - they might be christians, but they had misinterpreted what God had been trying to say in the bible. jews were also apparantly wrong - they had also misinterpreted the holy book. something about them believing that jesus was still yet to come or something. i don't even know. and then there were the catholics, who had also apparantly misinterpreted the bible. and let's not forget the mormons, the buddhists, and even some other christian groups. they had all misinterpreted the bible. they were all wrong. they weren't doing what God wanted. they weren't going to get into Heaven. all because they misinterpreted what he was saying.

this is were my head started to spin with even more confusion.

because you see,
everyone sees things differently.
and everyone interpretes things differently.

what makes the jews and the catholics and the mormons and the buddhists and those other christians wrong?
what makes their interpretations of the bible wrong?
who's to say that my friend's own interpretation of the bible isn't wrong?

now there's something to mess with your head.

there's one bible. and yet hundreds of interpretations have come forth from it.

there's hundreds of different Gods.
hundreds of different practices to preach.
and there's thounsands of different theories about...the end. what's after.

some people say that you need to get baptized to get into Heaven.
some people say that you need to attend church regularly to get there.
some people say that you need to believe in God with all the powers of your being in order for an everlasting life.
and still others say you need to put your name is some book or something for an entrance.

but according to other people, there is no Heaven.
there's just an end. an end...with nothing left.
or there's reincarnation.
or a rampant spirit on earth while a rotting body sits in a cemetery.

there's hundreds of different viewpoints just for what happens in the end alone.
with all of those, how can there be just one right interpretation and just one right way?

some people demand that there can only be one way. one way for all the humans in the world to end up. or two, i suppose, if you factor in Hell with the Heaven option.

but the thing is, i don't think there is one way.

my personal belief of the after-life is that it's different for everyone - that it depends on what you believe.

if you believe with all your heart and soul in God, maybe you'll go to Heaven.
if you believe in reincarnation, maybe you'll come back as a fish.
if you believe that when you're dead, it'll just be...a blank slate. the end of the story. nothing. maybe that that will happen to you.

i don't think that the person who doesn't go to church regularly will go to Hell.
i don't think that the person who's unsure of God will go there either.
i think you'll go wherever you believe the after-life is.

as for my personal belief?

i think that it should be enough to be a good person. and then you'll get wherever you need to go in the end.

and who knows?

my interpretation of God sure thinks that's enough.