Can God Seeker Guy develop a kinder, gentler approach to religion in the new year? While he would like to soften his approach in his search and perhaps become more open in his thinking, to date he has found little or no encouragement to do so. But let’s give it a try.
Most of the worlds people adhere to some kind of religion, so there must be something that causes them to believe in the divine. What is it? I have no idea, however here is my best guess.
The human ego demands that there be something more to life than work, play, sleeping and shrimp cooked with tomatoes, onions and covered in Feta cheese. Do you as believers need religion just to get through the day or is your faith an honest effort to understand yourselves as a Homo Sapiens? You tell me!
Most religious adherents appear to believe blindly, which becomes apparent when trying to engage in religious conversation. In depth religious dialogue is rare, rigid opinions and bizarre explanations are the norm.
“The most obvious answers is that we never have to choose…”
To be sure there are those who genuinely try to explain their faith. For example, the Mormons are very patient and never raise their voice in a conversation about their faith. Many Muslim acquaintances have proven to be very intelligent and are much more tolerant than the media suggests.
While the Jewish community is less inclined to explain itself, and has difficulty separating religion from politics, we should remember that all of the great religions are born of the Jewish faith.
So what to believe? What to embrace as a lifelong guide? The most obvious answers is that we never have to choose, we are born with our religion and for the most part die with it.
If born in a Christian country to Christian parents does that make one a Christian? If so then religion is simply an accident of birth and geography. There is nothing divine in that, nothing supernatural, it is a fluke of nature. If there is only one right faith then the Almighty should have done a much better job of explaining himself, thus we could have avoided a great deal of human misery.
GSG (God Seeker Guy)