It's Mines

The Sun-Telegraph series on what it is to be each denomination is finished and I want to take a moment to thank every one of the Pastors, Father and Reverend who gave me a piece of their day – before I finish out the series with what it is to believe as I do in this week’s column.

I appreciate each and every one of you and thank you for helping me make that series as successful as it was, the talks with all of you impacted me a great deal.

I have to say I am very proud of the turnout especially since I was told not to get my hopes up – something even when “warned” the back of my head was telling me they were wrong and this series was meant to be.

May all of you be blessed and may your congregations know how fortunate they are to have men and a woman so dedicated to God and them.

I am going to attempt to make this as simplistic as possible, so please understand that I will only be touching on key aspects of the cornerstone of my faith.

I would like to begin by saying, I do not mean this to make anyone upset or angry, please remember this is as I believe, and is not the way I think you should.

Okay, my early years….

I was raised, baptized, confirmed and attended (for a short time) schooling within the Lutheran Missouri Synod doctrine.

My biological father was raised Methodist – if I recall correctly - and my mom was raised Catholic, a faith she went back to the last part of her life.

So I have a traditional Christian background, however, Christians would call me Wiccan, Pagan or Heathen (a word actually originating to describe non-Christians who lived on the heath throughout Europe) these days.

I suppose to me none of those words bother me nor do I see them as correct but more of a label given to me and those like me because people are more comfortable labeling what they do not understand.

One of the fundamental basics of my belief is that I am not to judge for it is not my place nor my job, and each of us have our own path to walk and more often than not the paths we walk are different from the person next to us.

I rejoice in anyone having faith and believe as long as you have faith in God (a word I think fails to describe the creator of all) and in the teachings of Jesus, Budda, Muhammad, the I Ching, Toa and all teachers of love then surely you are in some sort of understanding as to who and what our God is.

And I say our because my God is your God and your God is my God – for there is only one God, but within my belief there are many aspects of God.

The key cornerstone to my faith, which leads to every other aspect of my faith, is love, first and foremost, love.

I believe the Bible is a great book that people have a lot to take from and learn from, though I do believe it is incomplete and put together using only gospels and chosen books picked by man, not by God.

The discovery of the Gospel of Mary, Peter and Thomas, hidden away for centuries are examples of this incompletion of the Bible.

As well as the church’s history which states the formation of Christianity as a united group and the development of the Christian canon, in the fourth century, is based upon debates of what to have and what not to have within the book they would follow – this too lends credence to my belief the Bible is incomplete.

I believe we are all God’s children and God loves all of us, not just a few select people or not just Christians, but all of us and accepts all of us for whom and what we are, it is up to us to accept God for what God is without our own preconceptions or expectations.

I do not believe God wants anything from us, but has gifted us with far more than most acknowledge, including free will of which allows us to choose the path in which we take.

I also believe we choose God, because God (which I do not believe is a he or a she) has already chosen us by gifting us life, from the beginning of time.

I believe God is of and in everything – everything.

I believe that God listens and if you ask you will get an answer – I have experienced this personally many times since I opened my eyes.

I believe faith is far greater than hope and I believe the two are very different things – and have done extensive research on this, more than just within the narrow canon of Christianity regarding the meaning of hope.

I believe we are all brothers and sisters, maybe not all supposed to get along, but we should love and care for each other, not break down and try and destroy what we do not understand.

I also believe we were charged with taking care of this Earth we were gifted with for it lives just as we do.

I believe in being thankful for all that has been gifted to me, because no matter what it is, good and bad, it comes from God – and it is the acceptance of this that brought me back to faith.

These are but a few things in which I have come to build my faith upon, but these are essential to my faith.

As I said in the beginning, I want to keep this simplistic and to the cornerstones of what I have built my faith on and I do not wish to anger anyone with how I believe.

I do not judge others for their beliefs and do not feel I should be judged by another’s beliefs – however I understand I have no control over how another will view me.

I think finding acceptance and understanding that the God we all worship is in essence the same God would go a long way in removing discrimination from the human experience.

I would like to end this with something I believe with all my heart and has brought me a great deal of peace within my life – Everything is exactly how it should be, therefore mourning what is not is a direct violation of the gifts we have been given.

Contact Tina Mines at [email protected]