Thursday, April 19, 2012
Why blind faith?
On my way to class this morning I passed and was questioned by not one but two 'bible thumpers'. It got me thinking about God and religion. To clarify, I believe in God but I don't believe that any one religion has or deserves a monopoly on God. The three major, monotheistic, world religions all worship the same God but in different ways. Their beliefs however, are based on the teachings of various religious leaders and their interpretations of religious texts. I find it thoroughly astounding that these three aforementioned religions have been at war with each other for hundreds of years, at least until I remember who/what is responsible for these wars; greedy/depraved leaders and ignorant followers who would rather blindly accept the 'beliefs' their leaders feed them than study for themselves. I freely admit that I am in no way a religious scholar but I at least have the sense to read not only the Bible but other religious texts such as the Torah and Qur'an before taking someone else's interpretation as truth. Thus far, my beliefs are that fate has a fucked up sense of humor and that if you're a decent person and treat others with respect you'll go to whatever afterlife you believe in or at the very least you'll have lived a good life because those are the basic tenants of the majority of religions worldwide. What are your thoughts?
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John 14:6 are my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree that people need to be more open-minded, and forcing your beliefs on people isn't going to help anyone. People will believe what they want to believe.
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI can understand why you use that verse but think about it. If we hold that verse and the commonly accepted interpretations of it (meaning 'the Father' is not only God but also Heaven or paradise) to be completely true then the millions of people who aren't Christians will never get to Heaven or whatever paradise it is and thus are stuck going to hell. I don't believe that a God who would claim to be forgiving would place that sort of restriction on people, rather I believe that what is meant by that verse is that we should accept Jesus' most fundamental teachings which are the same as the basic beliefs of many other religions (treat people with respect and honor and be a good person).