to tell you the truth, I have no idea...
I had a professor up at Western Carolina, English professor to be precise, named Thomas Jefferson Hughes. Wonderful man, incredibly intelligent and quite enlightened too boot. He's never explicitly talked about his religion, or even if he has one. I know that he isn't agaisnt God, but that he isn't for the way most Christians portray God. Dr. Hughes is one of those guys that many people here in the south would probably call a Liberal Scum-Tree-Hugging-Hippie. Moving on, however, we come to the point of this mostly pointless post. He has his website through the school and a list of some of his favorite quotes. One of which I must say is very near and dear to my Heart.
"If you can't find God in a sunflower, in the trees around you, or in the eyes of a child, you will never find him in any book of religion."
-Deepack Chopra
I do find this remark to be a rather brilliant one. I challenge everyone(mainly those of the Christian faith) to sit back and think about that for a minute.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I was born and raised Lutheran and have attended New Jerusalem Lutheran Church my entire life, its what I know and what Im comfortable in. I have found plenty of times that my faith has wanned and I've faultered from the path of God, but time and time again, I've been pulled back to where I should be, only to waiver again. Along the way, I have found myself challenged and tempted at all angles, from those that would pull me to God through their methods, or pull me from God all together, but I've somehow managed to stick to my guns and keep on truckin with Jesus.
Many times I've been centered in an argument with people of extremely strong faith, about faith, and which way you should go, or perhaps that one way is better than another. This is where the above quote comes into play. I personally can't say that any Christian denomination or sect has truly found or has the right way to believe. I've seen the whole gamut: Bible Thumping Baptists, Hail Mary Catholics and Door Knocking Witnesses. Now, I say to them, thats fine and dandy, but I like keeping my open mind. I'd like to not offend anyone by this, but so many people get trapped in the doctrine of their denomination that I feel they loose sight of Jesus all together. They get so wrapped up in the words of the Bible that they forget the meaning of the people and loose sight of the God that is all around them.
What is the Bible? Its a book. nothing more, nothing less. At the end of the day, The Bible is a book. Whats important are the meanings of the words, the faith and belief that can be derived from the words, not the book itself.
"If you can't find God in a sunflower, in the trees around you, or in the eyes of a child, you will never find him in any book of religion."
-Deepack Chopra
Amen.
"If you can't find God in a sunflower, in the trees around you, or in the eyes of a child, you will never find him in any book of religion."
-Deepack Chopra
I do find this remark to be a rather brilliant one. I challenge everyone(mainly those of the Christian faith) to sit back and think about that for a minute.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I was born and raised Lutheran and have attended New Jerusalem Lutheran Church my entire life, its what I know and what Im comfortable in. I have found plenty of times that my faith has wanned and I've faultered from the path of God, but time and time again, I've been pulled back to where I should be, only to waiver again. Along the way, I have found myself challenged and tempted at all angles, from those that would pull me to God through their methods, or pull me from God all together, but I've somehow managed to stick to my guns and keep on truckin with Jesus.
Many times I've been centered in an argument with people of extremely strong faith, about faith, and which way you should go, or perhaps that one way is better than another. This is where the above quote comes into play. I personally can't say that any Christian denomination or sect has truly found or has the right way to believe. I've seen the whole gamut: Bible Thumping Baptists, Hail Mary Catholics and Door Knocking Witnesses. Now, I say to them, thats fine and dandy, but I like keeping my open mind. I'd like to not offend anyone by this, but so many people get trapped in the doctrine of their denomination that I feel they loose sight of Jesus all together. They get so wrapped up in the words of the Bible that they forget the meaning of the people and loose sight of the God that is all around them.
What is the Bible? Its a book. nothing more, nothing less. At the end of the day, The Bible is a book. Whats important are the meanings of the words, the faith and belief that can be derived from the words, not the book itself.
"If you can't find God in a sunflower, in the trees around you, or in the eyes of a child, you will never find him in any book of religion."
-Deepack Chopra
Amen.