What's the deal with this religion thing anyway?

Good question. I'll give you my perspective and you can take it for what it is.
I was raised solid Christian in a Protestant (re: non-Catholic Christian) church. I believed in the teachings of love and the morality, but I also questioned many of the "rules" that were imposed upon my life. Some of the teachings, like creationism, just didn't jive with what real world facts laid out. The more I questioned, the less answers people had, and more than a few times I heard "Well thats just how it is". Not a good answer for me, and apparently for the many people that have since left religion themselves. Which is what I did, left Christianity behind.
I kept my moral compass... morality makes sense living in a civilized society. Mere anarchy cannot be loosed upon the world (props to Yeats). And I became heavily involved in the sciences through school and as a hobby. The more I studied subjects like modern unification theory, evolution, quantum mechanics and cosmology the more amazed I became at the complex, living nature of the clockwork of the universe. You know what I found in science? I found God, a unifying force, beyond comprehension, master of an intricate cosmological system too far complex to have ever evolved by chance. To me, science became at every turn a measure of the wonders put into place by a higher motivation. A God, if you will.

Maybe I'm crazy, but to me, evolution looks like a reasonable tool used by God. The Big Bang looks to me like the handiwork of a greater will. The multi-dimensional universe we live in contains so many things beyond our comprehension, it's eerie. As humans we live in only four dimensions, 3 axis of space and one of time. But according to recent discoveries it looks like the universe we live contains no less than 10 dimensions, and perhaps as many as 26. What does this have to do with God you might ask...

Think of humans living as 2 dimensional stick figures on a sheet of paper. We have width and height, but the dimension of depth is alien to use. If we exist inside a circle drawn on that paper, there is no escape for us, we are limited to our 2 dimensional nature. Now, suppose a three dimensional being lifts us off the page, using its perception of depth to alter our enviroment. To our 2 dimensional minds this would seem miraculous. So take this a step futher: to a 4 dimensional being living in a 10 dimensional universe would be severly limited to its understanding of what is truely reality. God, beyond our 4 dimensions, would indeed act in "mysterious ways".

So science opens the possibilty of a God being, but what does that matter to us? Why should we worship and love such a being, and more importantly, if we choose to do this, how should we do it properly? Who truely knows what is right in relation to God? These questions started being answered in my life as I regained my faith in the existance of God. Much like gravity, which cannot be measured or seen (nobody has ever proven a graviton exists), still effects our lives daily, I started seeing God effect my life and the lives of those around me. People without hope, having incredible courage and will to go on because of their faith in God. People finding amazing oppurtunities because of their faith in God. And on and on. Do I have proof God has a hand in my life? No, I do not. But I have seen enough of Gods impact on others that I can believe in Gods interaction with humans as much as I can believe in gravity ensuring I dont fly out of this chair.

So the question remains, how to worship God? The oldest religions on record are Judaism and Christianity. That flies in the face of popular belief, until you learn that Judaism is rooted in the beliefs of the Ancient Sumarians, which is the earliest known recorded religion. To me, there is a certain comfort knowing that my recognition of a greater God is the same recognition given by the earliest civilized man. The turning point in this religious heritage are the teachings of Christ. His message of love, loving God, loving others and loving yourself is revolutionary. It not only summarizes the basis for so many religious teachings to their barest core, it is also an extremely positive way for civilized people to co-exist and interact!

So who's right about Jesus? Who has the right teachings? For my wife and I, we went back to the first Christian Church - Catholicism. We learned what it was actually about, why the guidelines it sets for people are really based on love, and understanding it's reform from a time a corruption was critical in us choosing it as our base. Like all things, it has evolved through time. Im sure there is a protestant church or two out there that is close to this, but too many protestant churches have no unifying voice. Any persons opininion can be taught as moral law, and thats just not for me. So much of the bad rep Christians get is because a protestant figurehead has decided something or someone is sinful or evil, based on their own deductive reasoning. And it spreads.

Are homosexuals evil, to be hated? No more than any person is that sins. None of us are perfect, we all lie, we all cheat, we all commit that one thing, not so good, against ourselves, against our neighbor, against our loved ones. Intentional or not. To give in to the hatred of one another, to give into the selfish desires of our own betterment at the cost of someone else, that is the true sin, and that is the root of all that is bad in this world. Mans inhumanity towards man.This goes against the sacrifice Jesus made for all humanity... his life for our betterment. He set the ultimate example of love. Laying down his life so others could live.

God, whatever God is, beyond our comprehension or imagination, interacts with us. I believe, as much as we understand love, God loves us. The promise of becoming more than our limited selves upon death, of a form of redemption, is to me the only reasonable thing to keep us going. Nothing we do on this Earth is permenant. What difference will you really make in your life? In less than two centuries each of us will be nothing more than a recorded photo or audio recording for our families, if we're lucky, to flip through and wonder about. Power, wealth and fame are all fleeting. Without love in our lives, without the promise of becoming more, this life is pointless. To gain success, to gain power, pleasure only to have it yanked away is pointless.

But thats just my opinion, one mans story... if it inspires you, then it was worth it. If it makes you think, then it was definetly worth it.

thanks zombie, that was certainly an interesting read.

However, I find it hard to believe that you would choose the catholic religion as your religion of choice. With all of the things going on with catholic preists these days I often wonder why anyone remains a catholic at all.

There are other failures of the catholic religion as well as other "christian" religions.

No where in the bible does it say that priests should be celibate, in fact it clearly states that elders (priests) should be upstanding citizens with no more than one wife (that is paraphrased), it also clearly states that homosexuality is wrong too, which belies the protestant churches decision to allow a gay bishop. Man shall make no idols or worship anything other than god, so what is the cross? There are a lot of other points that just go to show that the majority of today "christian" religions don't read the bible and if they do they don't follow it's teachings. That is nothing that is specific to catholics but to all religions in general.

These are some of the reasons that I always hesitate to get involved with religion, I see too much hipocrosy in it. Therefor wondering whether it is worth my time.

But yes your reesponse does make me think.

Well, a few years ago I would have found it hard to believe as well. The Universal Church held little appeal to me with my more popularized, Americanized understanding of it. I'm not even certain many Catholics today understand the rhyme and reason behind their religion, which is very sad.

Despite the evil that men do in the name of God, I think we must look to the root of a given religion to see what it is actually about. A few men doing unspeakable things should not undermine 2000 years of teaching. Unfortunatly it often does, and these human misdeeds are the problem with so many religions.

Catholicism (Universalism) is not bad. Instead of focusing on the purity of its message, or the good it has done, people remember only the worst. The buying of governments, the inquisitions, the oppression, the crusades and now, the scandals. It is not the message of the religion doing these things, but corrupt men using religion as a tool to achieve power on some level. Power over a culture, power over a community, power of an individual. And that is the problem I have always personally had with religion. It wasn't until I was olderI realized religion is much like a corrupt government, we don't disband it and live in anarchy, instead we get involved and do our best to change it from within.

To an extent, a moral compass is needed to live a civilized life. Religion serves much good in the lives of communities and individuals. Look past the human corruption, small but obtuse in its renown, and look at the steady, continuing good it has done for thousands of years. The Universal Church has done fantastic deeds, and provides an amazing moral compass. So have many other religions.

You have good, specific questions. I could give you MY answers, but they wouldn't be your answers. I have my opinions about everything you asked. Right now, I'm just glad to see you asking those questions. I honestly believe it is better to love God and to question the teachings of man than to not love God and follow some doctrine blindly. I hope you find the answers you're looking for.

I honestly believe it is better to love God and to question the teachings of man than to not love God and follow some doctrine blindly.

God does not want us to be a bunch of mindless sheep, following him just "because". He wants us to learn and grow. While I do not have time (unfortunately) to go into all the details, let me leave you with this....

This life here on earth is not the "end all, be all". God's plan for us includes much more than the megear things we can accomplish on this plane. We have the potential within us to learn, grow and be so much more. There isn't just a harp or pitchfork waiting for us when we die...there is a method to the madness.

If you want to talk more, feel free to email me....Link, I do better with emails, because I can't always be online for an entire thread......

thetech,

I can appreciate the role of religion in your early childhood as I was subjected to the same environment. I was raised by parents who took me to church every Sunday morning, night and Wednesday night.... the regular church stuff. My parent divorced when I was 12 and from that point on, I only went to church on a very occasional basis. The fact that my parents could not live in unity caused many doubts and questions. When I was 28 years old the Lord opened the Truth of His Word to me and I accepted the salvation that is found in His Christ.

lifehappens is correct. There is much more in God's plan than just this life.... if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. (1 Corinthians 15:19)

I guess I have no faith in things that I can't see or touch, but that's just the way my brain works. So I guss my question is should I bother with it? or should I just give up and go home!

Consider this- if we did not know what we know about the heavens, sun, moon, stars, etc... through the evidence of science and an unlearned man gazed into the heaves at the noonday hour, he would have to surmize the heaven is empty and void of stars. Why? due to the greater light of the sun the illumination of the stars are masked, they are still there you just can't see them. So just because we can't see or touch does not validate non-existance.

Do you think, if there really is a God, who will accomplish His will in His creation, that He does not have the power to reveal Himself according to His truth?

It is possible to see the stars in the noonday hour..... they just can't be seen with the eyes of the flesh. So it is with the Christ of the Bible!

God Bless
preacherman