why are there so many religions?

Romans 1:19-21

God's wrath against sinful humanity

(starting in vs 18)

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people,

who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

since what may be known about God is plain to them,

because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities

-- his eternal power and divine nature --

have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,

so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God,

they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him,

but their thinking because futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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If people don't accept the truth of God's word, even though they KNOW who he is and everything about him and what he stands for, 

they begin to make their own ideas of what truth is, 

they begin to define things in their own ways,

they take the information they like and leave the rest,

therefore creating spaces for people to come together that all believe the same things...

that isn't entirely biblical.

They create their own religions.

 

My Autism - talking in person versus online

It's easier for me to converse by typing or by talking online because I can see what I'm saying.

I can change what I'm saying. 

I can speak better through writing than I can put my thoughts into words

and hearing myself say them.

When I talk to people in person, there's always a fear of the response.

There's a fear of being looked down on,

there's a fear of not knowing what's going to be said back and not having the script for after that.

There's a fear of having someone ask a question

because then I have to think of the answer on the spot, 

and sometimes I say things that I don't mean or I think are going to sound wrong,

there are a million outcomes and I have to filter them through my brain.

Thinking isn't easy.

Talking out loud is worse.

Communication is really hard.

 

My Autism - if you accept me, you have to believe me

I can't have fun when I'm in a space where I had to be responsible, the two

don't and can't coincide in my brain.

I can only do one thing at a time mentally, and that, of course

effects how I act on the outside.

I can't have fun watching my kids or anyone else's, because

my anxiety tells me something bad could happen,

so I'm like a hawk the whole time.

I can do fun things in small moments, I can put aside fear when I have been able

to see everything around the area and pause my responsible brain

to engage in play,

but then within 10 minutes, I'm back to being responsible, and fun

is basically gone.

You never used to do this.. wrong. 

I never showed that part of myself to you because I didn't know myself well enough to trust myself, let alone trust someone else with what I was going through.

Maybe what you're going through is psychosomatic.. why don't you

just say it's all in my head?

Because that's what it means.

And if you didn't mean that, you insinuated it, and that's even worse.

Then I have to try to figure out what you meant, 

and that's even harder. 

THAT will make me doubt myself and beat myself up inside for not knowing how to communicate.

Jonah and Jesus- compare

I've thought about this before, but really just in passing. This time I figured I would actually study it a bit and share my findings. 

https://www.gotquestions.org/sign-of-Jonah.html

read more about what's down below \/

1. Jonah spent three days inside the belly of a great fish because of his own sinfulness and rebellion. Jesus spent three days inside the belly of the earth because of our sin and rebellion.
2. Jonah ran from the difficult calling God gave Him (Jonah 1:3). Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father’s will, coming to earth and dying on the cross.
3. Jonah was asleep on the ship during a storm caused by his own disobedience (Jonah 1:4-12). Jesus slept on a boat during a storm, and “rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” (Mark 4:35-41). Jonah caused a storm. Jesus had authority over the storm.
4. Jonah feared the Creator who had authority on earth (Jonah 1:9). Jesus is the Creator with all authority over heaven and earth (John 1:3; Matthew 28:18).
5. In the fish, Jonah knew that “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). Jesus’ name means “Yahweh saves.” Jesus is the way of salvation (Hebrews 5:9; Acts 4:12).
6. Jonah became angry with God for showing grace toward repentant sinners (Jonah 4:2). Jesus modeled God’s grace toward repentant sinners (Romans 3:24).
7. Jonah was angry enough to die because of God’s grace toward his enemies (Jonah 4:3). Jesus was compassionate enough to die because of His love for his enemies (Romans 5:10).

What's important..

I want what's important to other people to be important to me.

Without bending my beliefs and my core values, I want what's important to my friends and acquaintances to be important to my life. 

I want their hardships to be things I can hold their hand in.

I want their joys to be times I laugh and jump up and down.

I want to be supportive of their new ventures, I want to be open to listening while they explore the world around them. 

I want to know when they need prayer more than others, and I want to have them lean on me in silence when they just need someone's presence and a box of tissues. 

Because I'm autistic.

I take pictures of things everywhere I go… Because I’m autistic. 

I may do things that you don’t approve of or think of as unacceptable… Because I’m autistic. 

I buy things when I go places that I want to remember… Because I’m autistic. 

I won’t remember things you remember, or at least not in the same way… Because I'm autistic. 

I like to touch things to process through sensory input… Because I’m autistic. 

I need quiet and a journal to process… Because I autistic. 

I need familiar tastes and flavors even though I like to experiment… Because I'm autistic. 

I need to be able to relax and find peace, I just can’t keep on the go all the time. Because I'm autistic.

I can't continue throughout a whole day without finding down times to ground myself in reality, because everything around me feels like a constantly moving bubble echoing and resonating with everything and everyone but me. 

And yes you might find yourself relating to one or two of these things and say out loud… Oh I deal with that too, that’s not an autism thing. Yes it is. Just because you deal with one or two of these things does not mean that my experience is not my experience. And it does not mean that I am not on a spectrum or that I am not unique or different. It just means that you can relate to one or two things that I go through. 

I mask and I try to relate to other people and fit in with society… Because I’m autistic.