Religion

I've been having a lot of interesting discussions about religion recently, and this is a recent message that I sent to someone. I think I'm somewhere between being an agnostic, a deist, and a gnostic christian. Just thought I'd post it and hopefully see some comments:

Ok, here are my religious views....and I'll warn you that they've changed and shifted based on events in my life....and they'll probably change again. I'm agnostic because I think that most religion is guess work. You see signs, you get signals, you hear the voice of something spiritual, and then you do your best to interpret those messages. The reason why there are so many different religions, divisions amongst the religions, and divisions in those divisions, is that everyone interprets these messages in a different way. Just try having a group of people write down their descriptions of the exact same event and notice how differently they remember it.
So, God, who is unknowable, sends messages to us. They might be misunderstood, but the really important messages come in huge events, from people that can't be ignored. An angel is considered a messenger...but the word "angel" actually means "message." So angels are themselves messages. Jesus was a message to humanity..."This is how you should live your life." "Love is more important than all of these rules and regulations." Love to the point where you would sacrifice yourself to save other people. And if you look at the heart of most religions, the golden rule is at the center...although many religious fanatics like to ignore it....they think it's too obvious to pay attention to, saying "Well, of course you should love thy neighbor, but what about gays in the military?" But, loving your neighbor is the same as saying "love everyone." That's a lot more difficult than it sounds. If more churches focused on themselves and asked "am I doing my best to love everyone?" rather than saying "are THEY following the rules?!" our world would be in much better shape. As soon as Jesus died, everyone split into different factions.....that's the whole reason why Saul/Paul had to write so many letters....to try to unify the church. They were still arguing over whether you had to be a Jew....or if you had to be circumsized.
I think that there have been other messengers from God....Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., and countless others that we may never hear about....because they aren't out seeking attention. I think it's hard enough to focus on loving thy neighbor. So, my plans for eternity are to believe in the power of love and the potential for good in other human beings. That's my faith. That, and I believe that God can figure out where to put me after I die. I hope : ) Whether it's heaven, hell, or just a nice beach with internet access...

I love talking about this stuff. I almost went to get a master's in religious studies instead of library science...