When I save a document it opens as a Microsoft Word document. I do not want to use MS Word. How can I open the document without using MS Word?
You are probably saving in the MS Word format. It’s better to save as odt, in the native format of Writer, and only to save as doc or docx if you are forced to do so by somebody else.
Assuming you are using Windows then you need to look at setting the Default Programs for your particular version so that the document extension you are using calls the program you want it to.