Convictions and Complacency

There is a story, which is fairly well known, about when the missionaries came to Africa.  They had the Bible and we, the natives, had the land.  They said "Let us pray," and we dutifully shut our eyes.  When we opened them, why, they now had the land and we had the Bible.  ~Desmond M. Tutu, "Religious Human Rights and the Bible"

While many of you probably laughed or nodded your heads in agreement, I shook mine in disbelief. At the end of the day, I am very deeply rooted in my religious convictions. That is not to say that I practice them as I should...

I was born into Seventh - Day Adventism. For the majority of my life, I knew nothing else. Growing up in a very conservative church made me quite square. When someone sang or preached in church, I was used to hearing the congregation say "Amen." If the individual was really good, they'd say "AMEN" multiple times. Clapping, shouting, speaking in tongues, and falling out was just not acceptable. At one point in time, I believed that questioning was unacceptable as well.  But, as a pre-teen, I'd take every opportunity to try to stump the pastor or an elder with some off the wall question that had taken me a week to come up with.

Nothing felt better than the satisfaction of someone not knowing the answer to my questioning. It made religion and religious convictions seem negotiable. But one day, when I was asking my usual hard questions, someone suggested that I take the time to get a Bible and search for the answers myself. If I was questioning the Seventh Day as Sabbath or why I shouldn't eat pork, I needed to find that out for myself; and, I did.

But I'm not here to tell you what to believe. I'm just here to talk about how much my religious convictions have caused discord between myself and the many people that have shown up in my life. I guess the true problem is that they felt that the decisions that I made were just signs of my complacency. Their opinions of my decisions proved that they believed that my convictions were solely made on the basis of obligation.

I definitely still believe in questioning God. But, for me, there are certain things that are non-negotiable. Whether someone believes or thinks that religion is just this construct that has been put in place to keep us docile, doesn't change the fact that some people choose to believe wholeheartedly in things that may seem to be fairytales. 

My decisions to stick to my convictions have forced me to lose many friends and lovers. At a certain point in time, I believe that it can cause a breakdown in one's psyche. However, there is something to be said about why we believe what we believe. Here are the questions: "What do you believe? Why do you believe it? And finally, should your belief be considered to be anymore valid than the next person's?

Comments

[Lise]

see here's the thing. you know me. you know that i am no big believer in any higher power, though i am not at all cocky enough to say there is nothing... i am not just ready to believe anything the self appointed human leader tells me i should. that's just me. and you know that i am always saying that "there is a special place in heaven for those of us who use ALL of our brains..." right?

i really think that people put limits on their higher power, and you can't fault them, it's human. we, as humans lack the true understanding of a god figure, as our minds cannot conceive of such a thing -- we don't possess limitless knowledge. so we put our gods in the same boxes we put ourselves in... rather than striving to make better use of the power we do have.

you know since the Great Debaters movie, everyone's new favorite quote is that poem -- Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate...etc. people like the way it sounds... but i still don't think they get it yet.

the so called non-negotiable things are not necessarily non-negotiable -- but i think that a lot of people simply lack the understanding to find a place for these things in the world. it doesn't fit into the human idea of a sensible plan -- but really -- who are we to determine what does or doesn't make sense? we are not fit to unravel all the mysteries of the universe. why not just live in harmony with things as they are.

what do i believe?

i believe that religion is the human way of trying to make the world make sense gone haywire. i believe that very few things are straight up good or bad -- only perception and thinking make them so. i believe that it makes little sense to sit and wonder how we got here, but instead, we should focus on the fact that we ARE here, and what to do with the time we have.

is my belief more valid than anyone else's?? i like to think so -- but don't we all... but i can't help but feel that if there IS a god, if i get to meet this god one day the benevolent being will pat me on the head and say "you're my favorite. you're the only one who got it right!"