Why Religion Sucks

Religion is a touchy subject, and people get really offended when you start bad-mouthing theirs. But in all honesty, there's room for criticism. If you aren't questioning things and getting angry at things in a religion, something tells me you might be doing it wrong. Now this is all from a perspective of a girl who didn't grow up in a religious household but has sought spirituality on her own. I didn't have a church, a community, or people telling me what the truth was all the time. I had to figure it out on my own. I had to read tons of materials because the Bible alone is hard to understand in this day and age. I had to try religion on as if I were shopping for clothes (which I hate). But what really gets me is when people BRAG about how "good" they've been in their lives. They've followed this rule or didn't do this like everyone else, and somehow that makes them better, more pious, holier than thou, and whatever else. Like congratulations do you want a medal for being obedient? Obedience isn't that difficult when things are put as black and white. Sorry, but you really need to be humble. If your god died for the sins of others, doesn't that put them on the same level as you? These rules set up a hierarchy in people's minds that they are above others because they haven't done certain "bad" things. Hierarchies are not good. They cause inequalities and oppression. I am no better than a murderer. Why? Because I didn't grow up with that person's brain, genetics, environment, and life experiences. And they didn't grow up with mine. Switch it around and we would have done the same thing. That's why people who flaunt their obedience get about 0% of my praise. In Christianity, Jesus' death made every single human's worth the same. Doing good things doesn't put you on a pedestal in my book if you have always been doing "right". People deserve praise when they grow and change from doing destructive things to productive things. Growth deserves praise because obedience from the start is just stagnant water. Change is hard.
Real talk on why I'm ranting. It always kills me inside because people think staying "pure" is some crazy thing that should be applauded and put above people who aren't pure. Like if that isn't some bullshit, I don't know what is. Pure is "clean"; clean is good. Impure is "dirty"; dirty is bad. Hello hierarchy. Pure people think they deserve other pure people. Give me a break. That's like saying rich people deserve more money. You see the problem? I admit I used to look down on girls who gave this concept of virginity away before marriage. I even looked down on myself and beat myself up over it for years after I did the same. But I am no less than someone who hasn't had sex. In all honesty, sex before marriage is a personal preference as is religion, political party, and your favorite color. I discovered more about myself and what I believe sex should mean to me personally after I beat myself up. I regret doing what I did because of the pain it brought. But I also don't regret it one little bit because it brought me here with this new understanding. I've decided it's not just a physical interaction. It's so much more than that to me, and now that I know that, I don't want to give it to any person I just date. I'm not mature enough for my definition of sex, and I don't know when I will be. I just know that I plan on saving the new meaning of it with my spouse and not actively using my old definition of it ever again. It doesn't really matter to me whether the person I marry has had sex or not in the past because that was the past. What matters is what they know and believe about it if they make that commitment to me. I won't marry someone who's view on sex is completely backwards from mine, simply because we won't mesh. Make sense? If someone wants to have sex all the time and share that with lots of people, that is their choice. Not yours. Their choice is theirs and you don't have to marry it. I am so done with judgmental people on this topic. I didn't even get into how this applies to couples that are homosexual or trans. That's almost an entirely different rant. Screw hierarchies. Get off your high horse. We are all just as good and bad as the other.