One of the former students in my youth group emailed me about an assignment she was doing for her religion class in university. This is the question:
What do your religious / irreligious beliefs (or your beliefs about religion) mean for your life?
This was my answer what do the rest of you say?
Basically my religious beliefs are like the lenses on glasses. Putting on my glasses I can see the world in a different way than if I leave them off. A lot of people see religion as a dividing line between people and it's true that people have used religion to bring hate instead of peace. What is ironic about that is that every religion has a goal of finding true peace and happiness. Even those weird sex cults are looking for that. For me Christianity shapes the way I look at the world and how I interact with it. Because of my beliefs I am motivated to help others figure out the crappy stuff in their lives, sort it out and fix it. I believe that God can do that for people so because I believe that I want to help other people. I think Christians have gotten it wrong when they focus only on deciding what is right and wrong. Everybody knows they screwed up (oops did I say that) and yeah people don't take kindly to a bunch of self righteous pricks running around and telling them that they are messed up. Instead for me my religion basically says hey God has helped me figure a few things out for this life and maybe I can help other people with it. In that way religion is a center for me to go back to in a way to kick my pants and get me moving. That's why when people say that my religion is a crutch I say bull poo. Cause for me it really isn't about that - it’s about being responsible with the truth you've been given to help other people. But unfortunately a lot of people are just way too selfish and they misuse religion for their good to get control over people or just do things their own selfish way - and that is stupid no matter what religion or cult or crap anyone is selling you.
Religion gives me hope for the future - you know heaven and all that. But it seems kind of dumb to just tell people to hang on and wait till heaven when all around you crap is happening. So if what you believe in cannot make a difference for right now then why bother. Basically it comes down to this...
The way Jesus taught us how to live (through his words and actions) is the best way to live so I better get busy. Having God show up as a human to give me an example of how it’s done is awesome. I hope this helps you a bit. I am going to put this response up on my blog I won't mention your name but you could go there and see what other people have to say about it... if you want.
Have a good one I hope this is time for you
6 comments:
Thanks for that post Dale. To summurize what Christianinty does in life can not easily be done in a paragraph but well done. I like the glasses analogy. Do you mean beer goggles?! HAHA! I agree it gives a new different perspective on life and it's issues and difficulties. Thanks for your perspective.
md
Dale, nice work...I also really like the comment about the glasses. Being responsible with truth is a big part of it for me too. The glasses could go along with the truth part as well. Glasses help us to see things more clearly, and hopefully bring clarity to the truth.
The other thing you could add would be the freedom from guilt. Many people see Christianity as a religion where we are motivated by and laden with guilt...the truth is many Christians are...but that is not the reality of Christianity, in fact the reality is the exact opposite.
Nicely put Dale (for a heretic),
Your language here manages to avoid the jargon which is nice. Our responsibility is an excellent reminder, as is the warning about using our beliefs as a prop for our own selfish agendas.
I've been chewing on your question for a number of days now. The whole "religion" question always gets my hairsplitting mind engaged. I struggle with the world equating my religion with my faith. I guess in the past few days of ruminating on your question I've come to the realization (at least for the moment) that my religion is the Operating System for my faith.
My religion is the framework which guides me in my relationship with God. It's my relationship with God which in turn governs/guides me in my other relationships. Religion, to me, is important only in so far as it facilitates and/or encourages relationship with God. It's not the end, it's only the means.
i think
Tell him you dont have a religion you have a relationship.....
yeah clinton i share your angst over terminology. unfortunately we have butchered many terms into precisely what we want them to mean. I like the idea of operating system becuase i would figure that religion is the practices and rituals which surround the core beliefs. but i struggle with using common words over precise words. sometimes i'm not sure which is best. yet i hope that in advocating the responsibility aspect i was able to highlight the true nature of religion without compromising understanding.
but good points everyone.
out
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