Religion fascinates me. This interest is recent, however. I used to dread opening my Faith First text book in middle school. I only went to church to be rewarded with brunch afterwards. Lately, though, I've found that learning about faith can be life-transforming. Although I was baptized and raised Catholic, and I still go to Mass every Sunday, I still get stuck on some pretty major parts of Christianity. I find myself saying, "Hold up. You expect me to believe that God sent his human son to Earth? And then he performed all these miracles, and then died, and then Resurrected? And that had something to do with sin? And now you're telling me that those wafers are actually his physical body, just because you said some special chant?" I don't feel comfortable reciting the Nicene Creed - it makes me feel like I'm in some creepy cult.
But there is some value to this thing called faith. Psychologists have found that people who practice a religion are much more likely to describe themselves as happy. I think if I just focus on the most important parts of religion, it can really help me keep things in perspective. Addicts are taught that the only way to overcome addiction is to develop a strong sense of one's "higher being," as in God, Yahweh, Brahma, etc. Gerald G. May wrote an entire book entitled Addiction and Grace, which theorizes that every human has an addiction, because addiction is defined as anything that keeps us from loving God completely. O.K., so what the heck does it mean to love God? Well, Christianity says that the only way to reciprocate God's love is to love those to whom we have physical access - ourselves and everyone around us. Here's the transformational part - when I'm freaking out about something, this gives me an out. If I just convince myself that my problems (addictions) are secondary to "loving God," then they seem much smaller, and therefore much more manageable.
Is it just me, or is that just a slightly more sappy-sounding (a.k.a. Western) way of saying exactly what Krishna is saying in the Gita?
In reference to your Gita allusion, I would have to agree that it is a less “sappy” way of making that general statement. Now I do not believe in most of the “knowledge” presented by Christianity or any religion for that matter, but I do acknowledge the existence of it. Religion has never fascinated me or really touched me. The second I step in church is usually the same second I want to step out of Church... Pretty philosophical comment though and it’s cool how you made a reference to something relevant to class. Also, “Gerald G. May wrote an entire book entitled Addiction and Grace, which theorizes that every human has an addiction, because addiction is defined as anything that keeps us from loving God completely.” Gerald G May was a doctor, psychiatrist, and even a theologian towards the end of his life. He was a remarkable man, but in this instance I strongly feel he is incorrect.
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ReplyDeleteWas it Marx who said "religion is the opiate of the masses?" Sometimes that statement looks uncomfortably true. And it is not an easy time to label yourself a catholic, to be sure. But then I listen to the Ave Maria floating up to the sky, and I BELIEVE, I KNOW, that she hears us and protects me. How do I reconcile the two?
ReplyDeleteJulia I am glad you made this blog because I think that many people would agree with you on not being sure about some things we have learned throughout the years in Catholic teaching. I feel that when kids go to a catholic school for a long period of time (this is my 13th year in a catholic school) that they begin to say prayers out of memory not of meaning because it gets to the point where they don't see it then anything more than a religion class.
ReplyDeleteI commend you for doing this blog, because it isn't an easy thing to admit that you have doubts or problems with just agreeing to something someone says about your faith, because I am sure that there are many people who would agree with you but don't admit it.
Religion is always a difficult topic for many people. I do have to agree that the statement mentioned is a more "sappy" way of saying what Krishna had said. For me, that is much easier said than done. I am a Catholic and I pray to God, especially when I need help, but I too struggle sometimes with some aspects of our religion. The Bible can be taken in different ways, which can be confusing at times. This is my thirteenth year in a Catholic school, so I have been through many years of religion classes. Despite this fact, not all my questions have answers people can give, which leaves me confused and uneasy. I try to move on and just focus on what I know and feel in my heart are true, which helps me through the day and keep my love for God. In school, it seems we pray just to have everyone quite down, which makes the prayer less significant to us. When I pray on my own, the prayers do not seem memorized and feel more personal to me. It is not easy having faith in a higher being or other components of different religions, but I feel faith helps the mind, body, and soul in this lifetime. All our questions and doubts may not go away or be answered as we would like, but we just need to go on living and believing in whatever feels right in our hearts.
ReplyDeletehere we all are, discussing how hard it is to believe. It occurs to me that this would be an entirely different discussion if we were talking about action rather than belief. Is there the same aspect of discomfort with 13 years of learning what it is to behave like a faithful person?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you wrote about this because religion bothers me. The more religion is forced on me, the more I distance myself from it. Before coming to St. Mark’s I did not go to a Catholic school so besides religion classes once every other week, I was not obsessing over every rule and detail of Christianity. These ideas of what we should pray and eat and when to sit and stand make no sense to me. No one knows exactly how God wants us to worship him. Who decided we have to spend exactly one hour repeating exactly what is said at every mass. Those words have no meaning to me anymore. I would much prefer deciding on my own when to pray to God and say something that actually means something to me rather than repeating something I don’t understand. I would like to just pray on my own terms and treat people right and hope that that is good enough for God.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure anyone I know believes everything the Bible or Rome tells them. Personally, I take the Bible as a book of stories that try to convey lessons. There are some things which are weird in our religion that you just have to sort out for yourself. Jesus always referred to himself as "the Son of Man," and actually rebuked Peter when he said he believed Jesus to be the Son of God, telling him NOT to go and tell anyone he thought that. Why does that story always get overlooked? Even when it's read aloud at church, no one ever talks about THAT part. They just talk about how wonderful it was that Peter was the only one to say "The Son of God," despite Jesus yelling at him for it. It's all a matter of faith and wondering "if we can't know, does it really matter?" Why get caught up on the specifics? I tend to pray to the "Lord" or "God," and I keep an open mind. I do think there's someone up there who has obviously revealed himself to people. Many religions to me seem to be some path to this God we can't understand, and though we may not always like the organized Roman Catholic Church, I think it's a great community to be a part of. Plus, it's given us so much incredible music and poetry.
ReplyDeleteBeing moderate, going the "middle way" seems to be the correct path in any religion, and that's what I go for. I have some unusual personal beliefs. For example, I don't believe in hell. There's actually a story in the New Testament somewhere I remember where Jesus explains the punishment of those who don't do good as being thrown into some burning trash pit, but it seems to me like a story a parent tells to scare their child into behaving. I think anyone, be them Hindu or Jewish or Catholic or even some misguided kid in a cult, would go to heaven. It's hard to think of Hitler being there, but I think as long as one person he's hurt or killed could forgive him, God could. I also don't see why supporting evolution contradicts a God. If God is the source of all truth and creator of the universe, and science is the seeking of the truths of the universe, then the two cannot contradict each other. Some things in life just seem to convenient or too much of a (ha-ha) deus ex machina to be coincidence.
It's really hard for practicing, sane, moderate Catholics to avoid prejudice, especially at St. Mark's, believe it or not. There are a lot of people who give a big reaction when they find out I go to church or believe in a God and/or assume I believe something ridiculous or "blindly follow" something. I think my faith through, I do good because I like to and it just makes everything else better, and I don't dwell on little things. That's the gist of my take on it all, though it's not a great picture of it since I don't want to make this really long... It's also odd that my brother, always showing me the new rock song he learned on guitar and hates going to church, walked in and showed me that he learned "Amazing Grace." Weird, huh? That brings me to something else: God clearly has a sense of humor.
Woah, see what I mean? That was really long. I could write a book on this stuff.
ReplyDeleteReligion is a complex topic to choose from Julia because there are many different opinions on it. I do agree, however, that religion does make people happier. This is the case because I think it gives people something to believe in and to give their lives reason. It also helps explain to people why their here on Earth. More importantly it helps explain the overall concept of death to people, by showing them that there is something better for us after our life on this planet. This concept gives humanity hope that they will eventually get there if they live a relatively good life. There are also the far-fetched ideas based in religion, like the creation of mankind which goes against science. Nonetheless, it is our faith as Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or whatever other religions there are to believe what we have been accustomed to believe, and to have faith in that no matter what. That's my belief... and I'm sticking to it.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see where you're coming from with your standpoint on religion. I think that, especially in Catholic schools, the idea of religion is pushed a little too strongly. I think that once provided with a foundation knowledge of some of the basic religions that we should be left to choose for ourself. I too take challenge with a great deal of the Catholic faith. But I also see how it can relate to a lot of other religions that I find a great deal more appealing to me. This is why I also agree with your statement regarding teh Gita.
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