On Sunday my brother was baptised and he and Kess were made official members of their Church. Now, I am not Christian (actually I'm Pagan) but I once was so know how it all works. And I haven't been in a Church for a long while (mostly because I don't want to - it's not really relevant to me after all). To be fair, I'm not a big fan of the Christian religion - to me it seems that a lot of Christians are only really Christian in Church. Not to mention the wars and prejudice and the constant attempt to convert me (even after I was converted!)
But on Sunday I realised something. I may not believe in religion, but I do believe in faith. I believe in people when they are filled with faith. And I realised that I am not that different from many of the Christians in that particular Church. The Minister spoke about how their faith led them to purpose and the ability to trust themselves to another and how they are never alone. As he spoke I knew that that is how my faith makes me feel. I don't believe the same things as them, but I believe our faith unites us.
I would consider myself a very open-minded and accepting person (I mean, not many non-Christians would get up and give a testimony starting with "I am not a Christian" in front the Church) (because that is what I did of course) (or no one I know, unless they just don't tell people they do on their weekends). Okay, deep breath, sorry about all the parentheticals. So yeah, I believe that everyone has the right to believe what they want and to live how they want, as long as it is not harming anyone else. But as I look around me all I see is prejudice and hate and I know that that is not what religion and faith should be for. We should all be united in the knowledge that we all have a faith, not be bickering over which faith is 'right'.
What about you? Do you believe so strongly in your faith that you want everyone else to follow your beliefs? Or do you let the idea of faith keep you peaceful and hope for a better world?
6 comments:
Very well said! :) And I was really impressed by what you said in church the other night!
It's so hard to summarize what I believe. I believe there's something out there we're all striving toward, and I try to remain hopeful that we'll all find it through our various paths . . . each being sensitive to the fact that path might not be right for everyone.
I did start reading a book recently about how religion really is the basis for most conflict in our world. Before I started reading it, I was highly skeptical. The 40-50 pages I read ended up being fairly compelling, though I don't have much--ahem--"faith" that the author's suggestion we lose religion to find peace amongst ourselves will take. Not in the short term, certainly!
Thank you Kess x
Deb, I am still trying to understand what I believe, though I do agree with you that it's unlikely that the way to peace is no religion. Clearly we, as humans, have an innate need to believe in something (just look at how many beliefs there are), I just wish we could stop being concerned with our own beliefs long enough to realise that it doesn't matter what it is that other people believe.
The difficulty with saying that 'it doesn't matter what it is that other people believe' is that Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.' The Bible also tells us that 'Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.' Therefore it does matter what people believe. All roads do not lead to the same place and the same outcome.
Thank you for taking the time to comment Jo. I am not going to argue with you, as I believe everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. However, I will say that this post was more about the world we are living in now and that it seems everyone is so busy trying to tell everyone else what their religion says, that they forget to listen to everyone else. I am not saying we should stop believing what we believe but I do believe that many people could learn to be more tolerant of other people's views rather than take the 'my religion is better than yours' approach.
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