(no subject)
So, I said I had a lot of content to add here a few days ago, and I was being pretty honest therein. My choice this time is something to help you all understand a bit more about the reason I think the way I do. This won't explain everything, but it'll offer a few certain inklings to help, alongside whatever knowledge you already have about me.
My Own Religious Beliefs
I would have to say that I've always been rather spiritual or religious, ever since I was a little boy. With this same thought, I would venture to say in my own hubris that I kind of got it more than other people my age. For example, when I was in kindergarten we were told to make a card about who or what we need to pray for. Others made theirs about praying for their dogs, or for things they wanted (sort of like a glorified Christmas list) while I made mine for "the dead and the dying". Though, I don't claim any sort of superiority over my fellows at that time, I simply attach myself to intellectual life more easily, I suppose.
This may perhaps be natural, but it's probably nurtured along by my own upbringing. You see, my father was Roman Catholic, and my mother is Protestant, bordering on Lutheran. This forced me from an early age to 'reconcile' the two in my thoughts because, after all, I wouldn't want either of my parents to go to hell. I loved them, and love them both regardless of their differing opinions. However, I do have to admit that I lean more on the side of Roman Catholicism than Protestantism. Maybe I'm just a touch Deist as well.
This being said, I was definitely a milder Roman Catholic at least until I was fourteen, where I started to explore myself spiritually. I dabbled in Paganism, Buddhism, and a touch of Shinto alongside a period of Atheism before coming back to Deism, and borderline Christianity around the age of 17. Since then I've been becoming more firm in my belief, though I'm taking a distinctly more Jewish or Academic stance on my faith. At the same time, I've always had an interest in philosophy. Though I quickly became burned out on Eastern philosophy. This is solely my personal preference, but I find more wisdom in European philosophy, with the exception of certain foolhardy attitudes that have sprouted up in the past two hundred years.
I recognize that the Bible, and both Testaments have been in the hands of people for thousands of years. People who more often than not infuse their own prejudices into it, even if they're completely well-natured in their intent. As a result, it's impossible for the Bible to be one hundred per cent God's word verbatim, so a good Christian or Deist, from my stance, doesn't allow themselves to accept a superficial interpretation of the Bible. He or she owes it to themselves to truly analyze the Christian texts to find Jesus' true words. This is something I don't claim to have particularly 'accomplished', but I am most certainly in the process of doing it, and time and time again I'm coming to the conclusion that Jesus' core teachings were that he wished for people to "do unto others as they would have them do unto them". More specifically though, his primary teachings were about non-exclusive love, or a love that includes everyone, Christian, non-Christian, black, white, liberal, conservative, socialist, capitalist, old and young. Not just love between God and Man, but between Men(Hence, Fred Phelps is actually terribly misguided).
As I said earlier I have sort of a "Jewish" or "Jesuit" attitude in regards to Faith in that I believe one must educate themselves about the religion they believe in, instead of merely accepting what other people tell them to think. A problem I recognize amongst more and more Christians in the United States. However, I preach. There are flaws to my own methods, chief among them that it's actually incredibly hard to do this, and you have to be provided with good logic, something I don't pretend to not have. Hard, because you need to spend a lot of time reading, and comparing texts while you need Logic to be able to mend the Texts with the events of the world. For instance, why would a Loving God send his son just to the Middle East, thereby 'dooming' people who wouldn't have contact with the West for hundreds of years. That wouldn't be the action of a Loving God, so therefore the key to Salvation must lay in some other route than simply accepting "Jesus as your Lord and Saviour". If I may, perhaps it's related to the chivalric idea of "being beautiful in Spirit", or a love for justice, courage and Righteousness.
Though, I have to admit that this investigative method does bring me a great sense of calm and wellness. Not only have I started consolidating my faith, and reconciling it with my Logic, which I in turn use to reconcile the Bible with the World. Through this process I am strangely also finding myself amidst all these theories and discussions. I suppose, I would have to agree with the Ancient Greeks that Learning is one of the chief pleasures of the world, and one of the most important aspects to a Good person.
My Own Religious Beliefs
I would have to say that I've always been rather spiritual or religious, ever since I was a little boy. With this same thought, I would venture to say in my own hubris that I kind of got it more than other people my age. For example, when I was in kindergarten we were told to make a card about who or what we need to pray for. Others made theirs about praying for their dogs, or for things they wanted (sort of like a glorified Christmas list) while I made mine for "the dead and the dying". Though, I don't claim any sort of superiority over my fellows at that time, I simply attach myself to intellectual life more easily, I suppose.
This may perhaps be natural, but it's probably nurtured along by my own upbringing. You see, my father was Roman Catholic, and my mother is Protestant, bordering on Lutheran. This forced me from an early age to 'reconcile' the two in my thoughts because, after all, I wouldn't want either of my parents to go to hell. I loved them, and love them both regardless of their differing opinions. However, I do have to admit that I lean more on the side of Roman Catholicism than Protestantism. Maybe I'm just a touch Deist as well.
This being said, I was definitely a milder Roman Catholic at least until I was fourteen, where I started to explore myself spiritually. I dabbled in Paganism, Buddhism, and a touch of Shinto alongside a period of Atheism before coming back to Deism, and borderline Christianity around the age of 17. Since then I've been becoming more firm in my belief, though I'm taking a distinctly more Jewish or Academic stance on my faith. At the same time, I've always had an interest in philosophy. Though I quickly became burned out on Eastern philosophy. This is solely my personal preference, but I find more wisdom in European philosophy, with the exception of certain foolhardy attitudes that have sprouted up in the past two hundred years.
I recognize that the Bible, and both Testaments have been in the hands of people for thousands of years. People who more often than not infuse their own prejudices into it, even if they're completely well-natured in their intent. As a result, it's impossible for the Bible to be one hundred per cent God's word verbatim, so a good Christian or Deist, from my stance, doesn't allow themselves to accept a superficial interpretation of the Bible. He or she owes it to themselves to truly analyze the Christian texts to find Jesus' true words. This is something I don't claim to have particularly 'accomplished', but I am most certainly in the process of doing it, and time and time again I'm coming to the conclusion that Jesus' core teachings were that he wished for people to "do unto others as they would have them do unto them". More specifically though, his primary teachings were about non-exclusive love, or a love that includes everyone, Christian, non-Christian, black, white, liberal, conservative, socialist, capitalist, old and young. Not just love between God and Man, but between Men(Hence, Fred Phelps is actually terribly misguided).
As I said earlier I have sort of a "Jewish" or "Jesuit" attitude in regards to Faith in that I believe one must educate themselves about the religion they believe in, instead of merely accepting what other people tell them to think. A problem I recognize amongst more and more Christians in the United States. However, I preach. There are flaws to my own methods, chief among them that it's actually incredibly hard to do this, and you have to be provided with good logic, something I don't pretend to not have. Hard, because you need to spend a lot of time reading, and comparing texts while you need Logic to be able to mend the Texts with the events of the world. For instance, why would a Loving God send his son just to the Middle East, thereby 'dooming' people who wouldn't have contact with the West for hundreds of years. That wouldn't be the action of a Loving God, so therefore the key to Salvation must lay in some other route than simply accepting "Jesus as your Lord and Saviour". If I may, perhaps it's related to the chivalric idea of "being beautiful in Spirit", or a love for justice, courage and Righteousness.
Though, I have to admit that this investigative method does bring me a great sense of calm and wellness. Not only have I started consolidating my faith, and reconciling it with my Logic, which I in turn use to reconcile the Bible with the World. Through this process I am strangely also finding myself amidst all these theories and discussions. I suppose, I would have to agree with the Ancient Greeks that Learning is one of the chief pleasures of the world, and one of the most important aspects to a Good person.