Thursday, December 17, 2009

Coming of Age

Below is a paper my daughter "Darth Barbie" wrote for class.
I find it an interesting, insightful missive. Your comments, discussion and thoughts are welcome:


Faith: the belief in a divine being or a divine purpose further from our own small lives. But is that really faith? Why have we become so wrapped up in the subject of religion, belief, and our own significance that religion has become the subject of faith and belief, and faith and belief almost a dirty word?

Religion has been a subject that has rattled and wandered through people’s brains since the beginning of time. But why? Why do we put so much emphasis on a small, minute, unproven subject? And why is it virtually the most talked about, argued, and motivational subject in Earth’s history, all based on one small question: “Is there a God?” This simple question has caused me so much confusion in the past weeks.[+/-]show or hide
Through out my, yes short, life, I have had my ups and downs with in my belief of the divine. As a child I was completely fascinated with god; the joy of my week being the time I spent at church singing praise with my friends. But as I grew and, as with the curse of wisdom and knowledge, became more aware of the toil, turmoil, and utter disgustingness of life, I fell out of my love with faith. I decided it was time for my disillusioned mind to regain its proper state and to stop lulling in the wish of perfection. And then came a very low point in my life. I had denied all I knew, all I had been taught. Knowledge being what I value most in life, I was left an empty shell. Not really knowing who or what I was, I traveled through the steps of life for six years, two of those never setting foot into a church. Realizing (despite the cliché) the emptiness I felt, I soon “reconciled” with my lost faith, being “re-saved” and baptized I believed I was in the correct mode of life. I have traveled as thus for the past three years, but as of recently grown discouraged within the entirety of belief.
Why, it seems, must we as “Christian” believers continually announce our belief, denouncing all else? And why, for those who have chosen that they shall not believe, or follow a “structured” religion, must they continuously attack those of us who would like to see it for its possibilities?
To me, it seems that these two groups of people live only to distress those of us in the middle. I am not saying that every Christian or every Atheist, agnostic or otherwise live for the debate; some are generally subtle. But as of late, it seems to me that the claws on both sides have emerged with a vengeance, and everywhere I turn I am flooded with the chaos of it. Why must it always be a fight?
If you chose to believe that belief in a god is a sham, only made to help nullify the horribleness in the human race, that is your opinion. But I ask you this question: How do you explain thousands of years of different races and empires of people believing in the divine, and not only one god, but many? Can you logically conceive the basic human mind, labeled so primitive to our own, could create, cultivate, and entice a following of believers in these so-called gods? And all of the civilizations of people, who supposedly never met, having religions based upon the same structure of other empires religions, though perhaps with somewhat different names, but all with the same basic principles?
And to those who cling to Christianity so closely, snubbing your nose at any and all who say otherwise: Did not your God, the I Am, say to “love all people as you love me?” and how can you completely deny the possibility of other gods when the I AM says “put no other god before me,” never refuting the fact that other divine beings may exist.
And for both whom hold-fast to only creationism or scientific evolution, can there be no middle ground? Who is not to say that the “Big Bang” did not happen and God, the I Am, or many gods, created the Earth? Logically, if God created everything, what’s not to say that he created those particles and set them alight to create the Earth? And for those who say impossible, god created everything in six days, remember God is GOD, and can do anything. And the Bible never states what the measure of a day in His time is, but does state the time in “Heaven” is infinite, never ending, beginning, or faltering. And with the same theory, who is not to say evolution does not take place? As the years have passed we have become more knowledgeable of all things, medicine, science, technology, much more than in recent decades. We are far more advanced than in the 14oo’s and even more than 16 B.C.E. What is not to say that is God’s divine advancement? For advancement and evolution it is.
I believe that we, as the overly power-hungry people that we are, really don’t want to know the truth of the divine. For those of belief, it seems to give the power of hope, hope that here is something better than this life of sadness, destruction, disease, and overall helplessness; and a copping mechanism for all of the not-so-wonderful things they have done in their lives, and the hope of a jubilant afterlife, because who wants to be nothing more but dust after you perish from this life? And for those Atheists, Agnostics, and others of non-belief, it helps them to not have to so constantly worry of the wrong that they do, or the turmoil of the Earth, because who else really wants to have the possibility of eternal damnation for you, or someone you love?
All we want is contentment to continue living as we do… the good, the bad, the love, the hate, the depression, the happiness…
…Life.

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