"You know," she announced assertively, "it's all about being open." Standing in her kitchen, preparing dinner, she went on. "If you want to live your life with God, you just have to be open to Him." With a heart the size of the universe, this daughter has always been one to tell it like it is.
Using the definition of religion as "any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview," data from 2001 reveals there are over 300 religions in the United States, the largest by number of members Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. A 2015 poll reported that 71% of Americans identified as Christian.
There are at least 35 different denominations alone in the Christianity sector. In days gone by religious training was confined to Sunday mornings and evenings with perhaps a Wednesday evening Bible study. That has changed with the advent of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week internet and television; there is no lack of religious programming to be found.
In a competition for viewers, which is often translated into financial supporters, a deluge of words floods the land as a variety of doctrines are presented. "How-to" prayers are presented--how to be saved, how to be healed, how to find happiness and success--all done in the name of God and much of it man's version of God as He gets buried in the clutter.
This is the antithesis of God; this is not God. He asks that people live their lives in a manner which draws others, not dissimilar to a moth being drawn to a flame, and to be ready to answer if questioned, to share Him and their faith. Force-feeding is not His style.
For those who do not want Him and want nothing to do with Him, I can categorically and emphatically state that God will never force Himself upon you. He does desire a relationship with you, a friendship, but that is where your free will enters in. He approaches in that quiet place within, but if you say, "No, thank you," He will never push in. He has far too much class and is too much of a gentleman to go where He isn't wanted or invited.
The caveat, however, is that we do live with the choice made. When the mountains begin to crumble, when, at the end of this mortal life as you step into eternity, things aren't as you expected, planned, or hoped they would be--you will be left with that "free will" choice. There is no re-do.
Stand. He asks that each of us stand, simply stand in the decision we have made. Stand and live in it--and eventually, die in it.
For those who want nothing to do with God, take comfort in the fact that He gives that freedom and that right. He'll have nothing to do with you then. For those who do want Him, all you have to do is be open, and He will share Himself with you as you live your life.
And for those who insist upon forcing your version of God upon others--Stop! He is very capable on His own.
God is love. And He loves me enough to let me choose.