Religion… where do I begin? Let’s begin with a joke. Oh, wait, let us not commit the sin of laughter at ourselves or others. Whatever you believe, the truth is that only when we learn to laugh at what we consider sacred do we truly have the ability to be open to loving everyone unconditionally.
I’m pointing at myself in this too. Though I don’t prescribe to any particular religion, I have found myself offended by fat jokes on a couple of occasions, and I am trying to desensitize myself. There is a stark difference between an attempt at humor and an act of hatred or contemptuous vitriol. If you’re just being mean, you might want to stop and question your motives and consider what is actually causing you to lash out in ignorance.
Many times I’ve said that I really, truly, want to believe in God and Heaven. It would be a lot less terrifying to know that there is something beyond our relatively short existence. Religion, most that I am familiar with, typically states that you must believe what they believe or else you are not “saved” or whatever term that religion uses. My question is, how could any God not understand that the beings he/she created would question his/her existence?
I would wager, arbitrarily of course, that 90% of us have never had a direct conversation with a divine being, and all that we know of God or Heaven is what we have been told by other fallible human beings and books written by other fallible human beings. Some of which believed, with much fervor, might I add, that the earth was flat and at the center of the universe.
While I have no reason to doubt the existence of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, or any other revered religious icons or any reason not to believe that they were loving and respectful of life; I have no reason to believe that any of them and those who have followed their teachings for thousands of years could be impenetrable to the human condition and its inherent mix of good and evil. Could one not be contaminated and twisted to fit the ideals of an individual or group with enough influence to sway the masses? Was Hitler not blindly followed, does the promise of 72 virgins not prompt a suicide bombing or two, does the threat of an abortion not prompt the killing of a doctor in the name of God?
My point is, there are certainly exceptions to every rule, but, I would again wager that more have died in the name of someones god(s) than for any diminishing fossil fuel or ship of innocent sunk. So why can’t there just be good people; human beings being good to humans just being human. Okay, okay… I had to do that… just try to say that 10 times fast… (levity injection, successful)
I’ve written all this as it came to mind, and it may have wandered a bit, but, I redirect a bit…
I believe in the power of prayer… That’s right, you read it right! I think that wondrous things are possible through prayer supplemented by our actions. No more than I can explain the origins of life, can I explain the reason prayer works. I lean towards the mostly untapped power of our mind. They say that the average person uses only 10 percent of their brain. So is it unreasonable that maybe some other part of the remaining 90 percent might be able to affect change somehow?
I suppose either way you go, there is an amount of mysticism. For me, at this point in my life, science explains more than any scripture or psalm ever has. I hope that no matter what lies beyond my time here, that there is no absolute. Blind faith just doesn’t do it for me, though it may not be my choice, I don’t know if I want to be any part of a “supreme being” that has no forgiveness for someone who may have had faith in something or someone else. Faith in one’s self and ones own ability to be good to everyone and live a life that is peaceful and in harmony should be enough to qualify you as a being of light, no matter what.
6 Comments
LOVE this, perfectly said, man…couldn’t agree more.
Thanks… often religion is an emotionally charged, thus hard to discuss cerebrally, topic… I am no expert, but, I like to think that I have a fairly open mind to possible explanations…
Though religion is the cause of trouble (so it seems), it is majorly used as a tool to dominate others. My observation is that culture has always dominated religion which is evident even today. The three major religions of the world all started in the Middle east (or near by that geographical location). With the exception Judaism, Christianity and Islam spread rapidly across the world. These were introduced to many different cultures, Europeans, Asians, Africans etc.
Though they give up some of their traditions (majorly related to Gods) the rest continued and eventually these traditions settled down as a custom and were thought to be part of the religion.
Nicely said, and might I add that I have often believed, along with others, that religion was, and remains to be, used to keep people in line by those who would have them enslaved. I think that a lot of positive things have been extracted and put into practice from the basis of religion. Once again, it seems, we have the situation of the right information in the right hands. If implemented for positivity, it can be a truly great thing, but, when used for nefarious means… well, that speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
Thanks for the comment!
Us non believers whether it be atheist or agnostic, now make up 17% of the country. Cheers!!
The problem is the focus on religion, do this, don’t do that. God is someone you can have a relationship with and he has provided a way for that, its our sins that stop us from being at peace with God, which is why He needed to send Jesus(Yeshua) to die and take the wrath we deserve for our sins, this is what I believe.
You can read what king David wrote in the spirit about him in Psalms 22 and compare it to Jesus(Yeshua) on the cross in Matthew 27:32-44 (http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/matthew/passage.aspx?q=matthew+27:32-44), also Isaiah wrote about Jesus in Isaiah 52:13-53:12….