Please be warned: it doesn’t get any more personal an opinion than this. If I do offend anyone, please forgive me.
Two of the greastest Firefox extensions I’ve discovered in recent months have been the StumbleUpon toolbar (to randomly find interesting new websites) and the Clipmarks button (to save the best parts of webpages instead of the whole thing). Thanks to them, I discovered this: 9 QuestionsFrom A Christian About Christianity. (Please take a time to read them before you continue.) (Thanks. 
) And it certainly stirred up a recent controversy! I received 33 comments for the clip on Clipmarks, and the discussion certainly got heated at a point. It’s natural; religion will always bring out the passion in people, both devout and atheists.
What I certainly noticed is that I sort of dropped the bomb, but didn’t go back to pick up the rubble: I didn’t answer these questions myself! I guess I was reluctant to do it:this will always be a very delicate subject, even more so than politics, so I will be very careful addressing this.
But here goes.
I don’t want to answer them individually, but as a whole.
I go to church every Sunday. When I commit what I know to be a sin, I go to confession. I take communion, I had First Communion, Confirmation, and will get married in church. No big deal, most Latinos are pretty religious. But in the times we’re living, with political unrest, high crime levels and such, it’s not infrequent that we turn to God and ask Him: “Dude, what’s up with this???”
This is the thing about God: you either believe in Him or you don’t. You are going to ask for proof of His existence or you accept Him wholeheartedly. The only thing I wish God would change –and I’m no one to ask this of Him– is that He would a better talker, as good as He is a listener. Then, all of these questions wouyld have an answer right from the source.
But that’s the thing with God, as I would see it. He asks a lot from us, just by accepting things in blind faith and that’s that. It’s a tough sell –most of us are a lot more critical-thinking than that; we just can’t take things lying down. We need evidence. We’ve all become CSI’s.
And it’s perfectly valid. Heck, I think it’s mandatory. Jesus Christ came to be an example, and that means being more intelligent, more wary, more creative, more critical –as long as it’s for doing good.
I think all of these questions can be answered concerning free will. I believe God loves us so much that He made us absolutely free –even to make mistakes. that is why our world is so absolutely f***d up right now; we have abused that free will. And the teachings of God are not enough to correct our evil ways. Remember the parable of Lazarus the poor, who lived at the steps of the rich guy? When they both died, the rich ended in Hell, while Lazarus ended with Abraham and Moses in Heaven. When the rich guy pleaded to Moses to send Lazarus to his family to correct their ways, Moses said that they had the Scriptures, let them follow them; if that wasn’t enough, there was nothing they could do.
I think that also answers the “11th hour prayer”. Somebody once told me something shocking: “God’s love is so infinite, it is possible that Hitler is in Heaven.” At first, I was outraged. That’s impossible! The greatest killer in History, in Heaven, just because he asked for forgiveness???!!! Impossible! But then I rethought it. And before you cry blasphemy, I still believe it to be impossible. But not because I question God’s love; I seriously doubt Hitler repented at the final hour. No, ol’ Adolph is burning in Hell for eternity, that’s for sure. But God gave him a chance all his life; the bastard just chose not to take it.
I realize I didn’t answer many of the questions at all. It’s because anything I–or anyone– can tell you anything truly enlightening. This is another thing with God: He makes us ask the questions, but also makes us look for the answers ourselves, giving us little hints on the way. Of course, many times it’s not enough, but what else can we do? We can either not believe in Him anymore, simply accept what has happened, or really try to seek the answers. Which I believe is what Brandon is doing.
I intend to take these questions to my local priest. He’s a young guy, very intelligent, and an excellent talker. And very open-minded. I’ll let you know what he says.
In the meantime, I publish this story I’ve read many times (even in a Daredevil comic!) which always inspires me; tell me what you think.
By chance, a monk and a powerful knight shared a table in a road inn, and they started to talk cordially. Of course eventually the conversation turned to religion, and the eternity of souls. The knight boaste, “I have never followed the Commandments. I have killed when I have had to, taken women and wealth galore, never denied myself anything, and now I am master of many lands and castles. You, on the other hand”–and he pointed the monks ragged robes and bare feet– “have lived a pious life, and that has led you to absolute poverty. I ask you this: how would you feel if you die tomorrow, and discover that there is no Heaven, no Salvation, no God?”
The monk thought about this carefully for a while and finally answered: “Well I suppose I’d be very sad. But now I ask you, milord: what will happen when you die… and discover there is?”
There was no answer.
October 8, 2007 at 3:21 pm
To start off with: I agree with you completely. However: you may take this as one of the easy ways out, but my particular brand of christianity treats the entire bible as a metaphor, and not a literal history of the religion. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in it; but it means that I treat it like it really is, a set of stories that were passed down from generation to generation, and most likely embellished upon the way by whomever was writing, retelling, or translating that particular section.
Just my addition to what you’ve already said, I’m not trying to correct or reprimand anyone.
–Andrew
October 9, 2007 at 1:35 am
Great Blog, and I did read the comments from your link before commenting on this one.
I have been where you are, coming from a similar background, and found myself constantly asking question that were similar to those you ask. What I found, given my instilled belief system, was that it was almost impossible to find answers that were not processed through the sausage machine of my upbringing.
It was helpful to me in my search to step right away from any possible preconditions and think of ‘what if’
What if, for example, there was a very advanced civilisation somewhere in the universe, headed by and under the control of a super being.
What if, under the direction of that super being, that advanced civilisation travelled the universe, and at some time had come across planet earth, discovering several types of ape like creatures.
What if, under instructions from that super being, one or some of those ape like creatures were selected as potential, for whatever, and were provided with a means to become capable of interacting with that advanced civilisation.
No reason for believing all this, but thinking of it as ‘what if’ then surely those ape like evolving creatures on planet earth would have concepts of that super person from an advanced civilisation as being God.
As intelligent people, there is no need to go on because the ‘what ifs’ and the potential confusions and consequences are obvious.
But thinking outside the box like this does take us away from the brain washing to which we have been subjected and allows rational answers to rational questions without the plethora of conceptions and misconceptions that have built themselves around religion.
Incidentally, having wallowed in questions for many years, I now believe in all the basics of Christianity, without most of its add-ons.