This is a question I have been asking myself for a long time. Who is God? Is there a God? If there is a God, why are things the way they are? Does God have favorites? Does God control destiny? Or is God just someone up there? To me, it is very difficult to believe in God. I want to control my fate, I want to control my life. But does God even do those things? There are so many people that God can’t keep track of everyone. So is it just a general thing? More coming on God…
March 3rd, 2006
There is a great quote below. I like the thought of an internal God. Or a self-God. Kind of like there is a God within each person’s conscious and soul. This is an interesting thought. I like to think of God as a state of being, not a person or holy being. God is, perhaps, within each human to guide us or listen to us. And perhaps when we pray, we are praying to our inner selves. It is similar to a transcendental view minus a few things. God is our internal perfection. Not a person, not a higher being, not someone other than ourselves. But infact us, in a different form, different for every individual.
March 5th, 2006
“To believe in God or in a guiding force because someone tells you to is the height of stupidity. We are given senses to receive our information within. With our own eyes we see, and with our own skin we feel. With our intelligence, it is intended that we understand. But each person must puzzle it out for himself or herself.” Sophy Burnham
“The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.” Eric Hoffer
March 9th, 2006
So I think what really bugs me about religion is when people think of me as less of a person b/c I am not a christian, or a catholic. Religions that like to preach that their religion is the only “good” and “right” religion really bothers me. Kind of like the quote above. Everyone needs to discover their own religion. I think that as I have been getting older I have been discovering more and more what I believe in. It offends me though, when people try to convince me to believe one way or another. It is so personal and to me it is such an internal search within myself. I think religion is very important to every person, whether they have a God or not. Religion does not have to be about God, it can be philosophy, it can be you’re soul.
March 10th, 2006
It is true that without preaching people would not have beliefs to follow. But think about it like this, why does anyone ever need to be told what to believe? If it is real, shouldn’t we feel that in our own hearts? Shouldn’t it be something we discover on our own? If there is a God, which is an internal search, then I think that no one necessarily needs to be preached to in order to discover that the person believes. I understand organized religion in a way, sharing feelings, having a leader, recognizing the history of religion. But I don’t believe that that is the reason people believe.
March 11th, 2006
In regards to your “in regards to march 10th” comment: But if you’re not listening to your heart then the feeling isn’t real, so what is the point of believing in something false? To me, lying to yourself about something so sacred is not right. It’s the opposite of religion and morals. Finding what is in your heart is more important than having “religion” if the religion is simply be followed and taught without the thought that it requires to become real. I know someone and respect them so much for the thought, love, compassion, and energy he puts in to his faith. That is something in his heart. My discovery is in my heart because no one has told me what to believe. I don’t even have the same beliefs as my parents. But going to church every Sunday is not having religion in your life unless you believe in it and question it and after you question it, you still believe in it.
Marth 19th, 2006
Everything eventually ends up how it is supposed to end up. But this is an attitude. Some call it fate, some call it destiny. I think it is both of those. I think it is something we have to create though. Fate is not predetermined. It is something we have to find in ourselves. Waiting for things to happen, being upset with things that do happen… It may be a waste of time. Always find the reason for things. There always is a reason.
April 3rd, 2006
In America, Christianity is a dominant religion. And where I live, Catholism is the major denomination. I recently had a great debate about whether it is okay to have an optional class on christianity in a public school. There are two questions: is it legal? and is it morally correct? Now, the answer depends on a few things. My general opinion is this: it is legal if it is treated as a history class. If there is a teacher who is willing to sit and talk nonbiasly and not preach to his/her class, then I think it should be legal. Whether it is moral or not is a little more borderline. I think that it definently is saying that Christianity is more important. It is closing in on the gap of separation of religion and state. Government officials (teachers) are getting involved in a particular religion, etc. The second situation is if the class is less history based and more preached. I think that if at any time the class on christianity crossed over to a class saying that christianity is better than other religions or preaching christianity that it is no longer legal or morally correct. Teachers are not allowed to show their religion. Schools are public facilities (recall we are not talking about private schools here). When the government suggests that one religion is greater than another, that is crossing the line. It is offensive. It is not right. The government is not allowed to influence the population towards one religion or another. It is our first ammendment right. Depsite the fact that the class is optional, I still believe that it is not legal or morally okay to have a Christianity class that preaches in a public school. It is invasion of the public’s first ammendment.
April 13th, 2006
I think my spirituality is increasing. I feel more united and at peace. It is not a relationship with God as so many think though. I feel like my spirituality is related to the earth. I feel like summer brings out a sense of connectedness within me. Although it is not really summer yet, all of the signs are showing as spring emmerges and the things I love are appearing. With this, my senses feel awakened and revitalized, and despite a hectic schedule and feeling exhausted, I still feel more at one with my self and earth. It is like the polarity of the earth and it’s gravity connects us all as one being and the sun shines over all as it shines over one and it makes sense to me. The dankness of winter creates an unpleasant blanket that does not allow the connectedness for me that the warmth and generousity that summer does. Why, I do not know. Although there are times in the winter where I feel a similar sense of spirituality, it is not quite like this. It’s as though as one body, the Earth, changes, so do I. How unique it makes us as we respond to nature’s changes.
“I tried to find Him on the Christian cross,but He was not there; I went to the Temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the moutains and in the valleys but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Caaba in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and philosophers but He was beyond thair understanding. I then looked into my heart and it was there where He dwelled that I saw him; he was nowhere else to be found.” ~ Jelaluddin Rumi
Heard you’re meditating now…
“Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation… Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides and his inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation.”
“The only notions of God that I outright reject are those conceived, preached, written, believed, or killed for by men.” ~ Kenton Thomas
In regards to May 9th:
For a religion to gain followers and start a movement one of the prerequisites is that is has to preach that it is the only way. If it is not the only way why bother changing or believing?
You’re right that religion is a very personal and private thing. We’re all different, and so even if we claim to be the same religion we each believe slightly differently. “To each his(her) own” in opinions and Gods.
in regards to may 10th:
most people need to be told what to believe and what to feel in their hearts because they don’t listen to their hearts. with all the clutter and worries of the day most people don’t take time to look inside and see what their heart is saying. people shouldn’t need to be told what to believe, true, but some just don’t look inside. some glance over at the preacher and then look up in the heavens looking for an answer elsewhere.
God is more than simply relative, more than a simple idea, more than we can truely understand, is so much more. What we want and what can be completely different. Try and wrap your head around these (some fun thoughts) picture God as an infinate being. Point is we cannot, we have finite minds so we cannot comprehend God which also helps describe who God is. Well I have plenty on God, but that should be a fun for now.
Then about your April 3rd comment. Rather then straight out teaching Christianity teaching creationism would be more appropriate. Evolution is still a theory, as it cannot be proven as equally as God cannot be physical proven, same goes for the beginning of time, same with much of what we would concider science or theology. Now i am not knocking science but allow teaching of the major theories and let the kids learn logic to really allow freedom. When you get the chance I recommend taking philosophy classes and studing many religions.