Now this is a topic that is controversial to say the least. Faith is not identifiable in any tangible sort of fashion. You cannot point at it, touch it, feel it, hear it, taste, or even smell it. Certainly you cannot see it either. We all know it exists though. So how do we define it?
I do not believe faith is simply going to church every Sunday, and it is by no means something as trivial as being in compliance with a bunch of silly, meaningless traditions established by church leaders hundreds of years ago. I can't imagine that faith can be defined by lighting hundreds of candles and counting beads as you pray. I imagine it must be more than sipping grape juice from a plastic cup and nibbling a stale cracker. Undoubtedly faith exceeds the emotional catharsis most of us experience at what has become a typical church service...a service that resembles a rock concert more than a quiet, reverent place to learn about and honor God.
Faith is defined in several different ways on www.dictionary.com. The essence of the definition it seems though is "a belief in something". I'm okay with the belief part I think, but I wonder about the something, and how that belief is developed. Now this brings me to the part where I have to sit and reflect on my own beliefs a bit. Doing so can be quite uncomfortable as I don't even know all the answers pertaining to myself. However, I'd prefer to be honest and admit I don't know than to lead on my lovely readers and pretend I'm far more sure of myself than is true.
So to begin, I believe in God, yes that one...the one with the capital "G". I believe that God is THE higher being in control of this universe, down to the tiniest atom in my human makeup. I'm certain that God has plans for all of us even though we aren't quite sure what those plans may be. I get a bit confused though when it comes to questions of predestination and heaven and hell. If this God in whom I have faith is so gracious, loving, and merciful, why then does he banish souls to hell? And what is to say that I will not be one of those poor souls languishing in misery forever even though I am trying to live a good life because doing the right thing is simply the right thing to do?
Muslims pray multiple times a day and make pilgrimages to Mecca. Hindus won't eat beef. Many other religions practice all sorts of different rules and regulations as part of their faith. They truly believe if they do these things they will go to Heaven. The Muslim men sincerely believe that if they live a good life they will be awarded numerous virgins in heaven. As Christians, and I don't mean that in terms of organized religion but as followers of Jesus Christ, what do we do? I am inclined to think that, as I often say, we have missed the point of the pageantry. We go to our churches. We wear the trendy jeans and carry our Starbucks cup like it's a badge of honor. We know where to go to see and be seen by the right people. We help the homeless not because we want to show love, grace, and compassion, but because it has become the cool thing to do. I believe our faith should be based on our love for man. Loving as Christ loved is far more challenging than one might imagine. We say we are "seeker friendly" and "relevant", but how are $300 jeans relevant to single mom who can't afford to feed her children, or to the prostitute who's been beaten by her pimp, or to the young girl battling anorexia so she can feel like she fits in, or to the man who lost all his money gambling and has a sex addiction? How does an emotionally cathartic church service practically help these people and build their faith in anything more than the almighty dollar that affords the lights, multi-million dollar sound systems, and the "rockstars" playing on stage in their designer "stage wear"?
This being said, I choose to put my faith in the love that Christ showed to all people unconditionally. I still cannot define that faith in a tangible sense, but I can however define it by actions.
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A search for sense in my life
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This is me...
The last few years of my life have been...well unstable to say the least. I have been tried and often failed, but in those failures I've also found great successes. The greatest success is a better understanding of my own personal strength and resilience. Not that there hasn't been plenty of fun along the way too though. I've definitely acquired some colorful stories that serve only to add more character and charm to my flourishing life. That being said, I invite you to join in and partake of my adventures and life lessons.
About Me
- AARice
- Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- I'm a girl with an array of eccentricities and curiosities. I've recently found my way down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland, otherwise known as the single life. Please feel free to join me as I document my many unique and interesting adventures as I try to find my way through this life.
3 comments:
I agree. I heard a long time ago someone say that "faith is the belief in things unseen". I have a huge issue with churches and organized religion in general. To much emphasis is placed in the politics, pageantry, and heirarchy of running a large organization with the goal of growth. Sounds more like a corporation to me than a family. To often they are more concerned with how things look and not how they truly are. I mean reality is reality folks...deal with it. Not that all churches are bad. But I would say most of the good ones are probly small with a tight knit group of friends.
To me faith tends to get mixed in with religion. I shouldn't do that cause I know they are completely separate but that's the way my head functions for some reason. I do believe God is the creator andfather of all things. I do not understand him though. I don't understand how he can just watch all these aweful things happen in the world( floods, murders, rape, genocide, stupid wars,oil spills that RUIN peoples lives) and not step in. But at the same time I know it's all part of some perfect plan, and I guess it's like putting all your chess pieces in just the right place for the final take down. But it's really hard for me to wrap my head around all that. Aubrey always tells me to pay attention to signs and see where they take you. But to do that I have to let go first. That's the hard part. And the old book says "faith without deeds is dead". So lately I've been paying attention and trying to stay out of my head. And shockingly all kinds of stuff has been happening. Probably was all along, I was just too blind to see it. Any way I've rambled enough. I love that we tend to agree on these things but You actually have an elloquent and interesting way to say it.
Oh and about lost....faith and science, destiny and freewill were the two biggest themes of Lost. Watching that show actually made me really look at how I viewed life and what I believe and what is important. It's cheesy I know. But all great art is supposed to connect to us on a deeper level. That show was a work of art. Extremely rare and profound for tv. Plus it had all kinds of wierd polar bears, smoke monsters, time traveling, multiple realitys, and some group named Dharma that did all kinds of wierd sciencey things. It's a great show. WATCH IT!!!
Cheerio,
Matt Riggs
Great collection of thoughts and ideas, Alexis. I appreciate your way of viewing this and allowing your self to admit to feeling uncomfortable with ideas that have been with you for a very long time. Hats off to you, Luth, for the follow up as well!
Sometimes I think Christianity should rather be called “Paulianity”, as I feel that today Paul is much more quoted then Jesus (in fact I would argue that Jesus is often used to back up Paul rather than the other way around). But the two differ greatly. If you read Jesus directly you see much more about ideas, not as much the rules (I'm actually not a fan of Paul to be honest). You see Jesus practice love and forgiveness as well as anger at the fundamentalists. He told us to love our neighbors and follow some basic rules as well as practice some form of action that would allow us to remember these things.
You see Paul encouraging slaves to stay put, saying that homosexuals they would burn for eternity (interestingly the Greek word does not mean a gay man but rather a young boy kidnapped and forced to perform sexual acts with older men against their will – loving, eh? I could get chastised for this, but my theory is that Paul was actually in the ol' closet...), people to follow specific rules... He was a legalist by trade and simply applied this way of thinking to Christianity. And its easier to follow this way of thinking than it is to follow ideas like loving your neighbor (which in Mark could also be translated to mean “to be contented with” - as in, be contented with your neighbor as your self – meaning we are all part of the same community).
Its strange that faith and belief are being equated with each other. In the middle ages, when the Bible was first translated, faith meant trust or loyalty. Sort of throws a wrench into the idea that it means a blind acceptance of doctrine, doesn't it? What really gets me in all of this is that those who profess certain ideas are absolutely positive that they are right no matter what. The arrogance of certainty, to me, is the most dangerous ideal of them all.
I've attended church maybe 4 times in as many years. But some of those times have been in lovely old cathedrals where the sound carried and created an ambiance of what I can only define as “bigness”. I get why people built these amazing buildings (politics and flash aside). You feel in these places that God is bigger than normal. All we define as God is meaningless. I remember one day realizing that it was strange that people referred to God as a “he” when gender identifications (such as reproductive organs) are meaningless in a diety who does not reproduce. The truth is, when we define God in any name we are limiting God to the association we already have with that word when the truth is beyond understanding. I love standing in a church realizing that my definitions are meaningless, that like looking in a telescope at the stars, the reality is beyond my comprehension and to attribute human characteristics is perhaps as heretical as some might take these very words. I love what Leonard Cohen said “You say I took the name in vain/I don't even know the name”. This is where I am now. I don't know the name, but still I say hallelujah.
Luther – I share your wonder at why the worst of human nature is allowed. To take it further, why would God create us with such potential for horrific acts? I mean if God knows everything including the future, he created us to perform these horrific acts, right?
I think we might just be animals and the nine of the ten commandments (as Jesus also repeated) keep our nature in check. You see similar ideas in almost every major religion – ideas like compassion, charity, love, forgiveness... Without these ideas we would likely kill ourselves completely. Satre said it perfectly. In his play “No Exit”, where a group of people are placed in a hotel room, driving each other crazy for all eternity, the point of the play comes across: Hell is other people.
Anyway, Ali, great stuff. Very thought provoking and well thought out. I appreciate your attitude and willingness to look at the big picture!! Thanks for reading my rambling reply...
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