#this goes for hindu philosophy too though theirs is slightly different

[sideblog-d-azariah]

totally agree. unconditional love is such an important part of the Christian religion in general. i think a lot of people tend to just dismiss our religion as being some old fads or imaginary creations but they don't understand that like. God is love. the very existence of love shows us that He exists. The morals, practices, traditions and everything else is based on love, as an expression of it.

one of the religions that really appealed to me at a certain point was Buddhism. but what always nagged me at the back of my mind was how all the Buddhist understandings of life stemmed from a desire to avoid suffering and break the cycle of life. isn't there something greater than suffering? isn't life beautiful? why must my entire life be dedicated to running away from suffering? and Christianity provided me the answer. there is something greater than suffering, and that is love. all suffering is worth enduring as long as you have love in your heart. that's when i realized that Buddhism sorta started off from a flawed premise/question, which revolved around how to escape suffering rather than find something of meaning to endure it for.

I went from Catholic, to Agnostic, to Atheist, to Wicca, to Neopagan, to Buddhist, but what all of these other religions lack is one simple ingredient:

Unconditional love.

Only God loves unconditionally. All these other religions or movements promise something different: Self-Masterey, Worshipping of your own self, shallow Gods who only care about themselves etc.

Only Catholicism has a God who loves you unconditionally. Who tells you: "Come as you are. Do not be ashamed of your problems. I am here to help you. I am Love!"

And that is why I love being Catholic.