I grew up in a religious household. My parents raised me in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and I never questioned it. We went to church most Saturdays, had crosses throughout the house, and never hesitated to say a prayer before sit-down meals. It was all normal to me.

I had a lot of questions about my religion, but I never per say questioned my religion. God is the Father, Jesus is the son, and they are bound together with the Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity. God created the world in seven days and created man in His image. The Bible is a doctrine to read and follow. The Ten Commandments should be the foundation of our morals. I just rolled with it all. I questioned whether or not Adam and Eve had belly buttons, but that was about it... I didn't question the morals or the theories or the ideology from the religion I was given. I was a bandwagon Lutheran.

We aren't really able to choose our beliefs when we're young. Right out of the womb, we're taught what is right and what is wrong, according to our parents and/or close influences. There's nothing wrong with that. That's part of being a kid. We don't know anything else beyond our tiny little personal world. As we grow, we develop our minds and bodies. We evolve our thoughts and morals through angsty teen rebellions and new experiences. That's exactly what I did.

In school, I was a teacher's pet. I became close with many of my teachers and made it a point to get to know them on a personal level. My teachers became credible, trustworthy influences in my life. They all had their own set of values and ideas, and I made the decision to adopt a few of them here and there. Not because I wanted to be just like them, but because what they were saying to me made sense.

High school came around, and I was able to start developing my own ideas. My brain was capable of many things, and I was encouraged to fully use it. To develop myself. To figure out who I was supposed to be.

I started exploring. I opened myself up... to myself. Sexuality, personality, interests, career paths, religion and the rest in between. Religion was one of the most conflicting things for me to explore. I had grown up in a community where religion was one of the most important things in life, next to family. The preponderance of my community was Catholic, but I had been immersed in the Lutheran world. But something about this kind of life didn't make sense to me. I just couldn't put my finger on what it was that was so off...

When I was in the sixth grade, my family switched churches. We found one in which we felt like we belonged. At that time, I did belong. I had never had church friends before, but I suddenly found some. I was reading scripture for Saturday services. I was singing at Easter vigils and performing in Christmas services. I was doing bake sales and rummage sales. I was selling wreaths and flowers. I was signing up for mission trips and traveling with my congregation. For the first time in my life, I was excited to go to church and to be a part of a congregation.

But as time moved forward, going to church seemed like more of a chore. I felt like I was almost expected to always be there and to do this and that. There was only a handful of us doing the work of many. (I know, welcome to the real world, right?) My beliefs were no longer aligning with those that came from the Bible or from my church. Everything was seeming to be too distant from my thoughts.

The beginning of my senior year in high school was when I officially left the ELCA Church, and Lutheranism overall. Walking away from my church was not a difficult decision. I had to do what was best for me, not what was best for the church. I read a book by James Dawson, called "This Book Is Gay." This book became my inspiration. There was a chapter in the book that talked about the connection between religion and sexuality. The gist of the chapter is that the Bible may not be the most credible source. This is a text that people follow verbatim, even though it has been twisted, morphed, manipulated, and translated over the past 2,000 years. It was written in a time that is very unlike the time we live in now, and some things just don't translate from then to now. People blindly follow the script, even if they haven't ever opened the book before. Many follow it selectively. To me, it doesn't make sense.

I'm not totally discrediting the Bible. Theologians and linguists have studied the Bible for decades. They have made sense of things, and to this day people are still discovering truths, theories and rationales that emerge from the Bible. As for me, I stopped reading it. I believe in the moral of the story, not the story itself.

I still believe in God, but my understanding of Christianity has changed. I really don't believe that God has a gender. I, instead, believe in a God who represents us all. Every skin color, eye color, gender, sexuality, everything. I don't think God is a He or a She. God is a being. A being to whom I still pray and love, even if I don't have a church with which to do it.

Even though I label myself as a Christian, I don't call myself religious. I call myself faithful because I have faith that my Higher Power will take care of me. My faith is based on three major concepts: loving my Higher Power, loving myself, and loving my neighbor. I think these three concepts are the heart of all religions, honestly.

My faith is a little unconventional, a little frowned upon, and probably a little upsetting to many people. I believe in the faith I have made for myself because it makes sense to me. It makes more sense than being on a blind bandwagon.