Cholesterol Question?

I have been doing some reading online about high cholesterol and found that it is not as clear as doctors seem to indicate.

We hear all the time that high cholesterol causes blockages in arteries and heart disease so we need to reduce our cholesterol intake and take meds. But many studies do not show this as fact.

What I have read says that if we reduce our cholesterol intake by changing our diet, our liver just increases the cholesterol it produces to maintain the higher level. Also, the studies do not support the idea that cholesterol causes arteries to clog or heart disease. Cardiologists has also stated that often they see patients with high cholesterol with no heart disease and no clog arteries and others with low cholesterol with heart disease and clog arteries. This also confirms the results of studies.

It has been stated that cholesterol is being blamed when it is not the cause of the problems, but rather it the bodies response to arterial damage caused by high blood pressure. This is evident when a vein is used to replace an artery. Veins do not carry as high a blood pressure as arteries do and clogging does not usually occur in veins. But the vein will clog if it is removed and placed as an artery.

The rise in Cholesterol maybe the bodies response to arterial damage by patching the damage so it can heal. So it is a good thing not a bad thing. Which seems to make sense since the levels are controlled by the liver and the levels increase if the dietary cholesterol is reduced. This seems to indicate the body needs higher cholesterol.

The medicines (statins) given by doctors to lower cholesterol work by preventing the liver from producing cholesterol. So if the body is calling for higher cholesterol to heal damaged arteries, and the medicines we take are stopping the bodies attempt to heal arteries we are increasing risk of having strokes.

Cholesterol can be compared with firemen. It is like saying firemen cause fires because every time there is a fire, the firemen are there. They must be the cause of the fire. Cholesterol is not causing fires it is trying to put them out.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments on this?
I want to stop taking my medicine for high cholesterol but worry that maybe I am wrong and I need them. I am just not sure what is best to do. I will also have to fight with my doctor when he learns that I stopped taking them.