The comments you all left are so appropriate for what I was wanting... trying... to convey...
Robelyn's comments reflect a great deal of my thoughts... it's "how" one worships... how one lives, more so than where...
I remember when my Mom was dying... and I was trying to come to grips with facing the first death of immediate family in my life. A 'friend' commented to me one day that he was worried about my Mom... I thanked him and told him that I was as well. He replied back with something along the lines of not being concerned about her physical death, but the "hereafter"... because as he put it, 'your Mom never went to church.'
I was so offended! I was so angry!! I was so mad!!! I wanted to bitch-slap this 'Holier Than Thou' person as hard as I could... but I didn't. Mom and Dad lived next door to this really wonderful Baptist minister... Brother Hubbell was such a good man. I shared this story with him... and he told me to not worry... that Mom was ok and was going to be ok. Brother Hubbell later performed my Mom's funeral... and in it was a message, I'm not sure if it was for me or for the @#%^#@%@&^ I talked about above, but he told his wonderful story of how he and my Mom would spend many afternoons talking over the backyard fence... and given the conversations that they had, he wasn't worried about her salvation...
Tee asks... 'What is the right thing to believe? What's the truth?'
I think what is the right thing to believe... what is the truth... is what we think. No one has any business telling me, or you, or anyone else what is right and what is wrong... I think that what I believe, what you believe, Tee... is the truth and is the right thing for each of us to believe.
Much like Magnolia commented... she is where she is at this point in her life. That's ok for her... it just is!!
Sunny says she believes 'in love,' but that she's wishy washy on the topic. That's ok... many of us spend a lifetime trying to determine where we are spiritually... and I think that if we don't get the message this lifetime, then maybe the next!
f8hasit mentions the atrocities that have been committed historically by organized religion... and it's true. The countless numbers of people who have been killed and tortured in some God's / god's / gods' name or worship. Much along that same line, Marnie mentions the use of fear of a higher power. I recall learning it that way... that if you do this, God will punish you. My God is a benevolent God... not angry... not a punisher. Christine added that she grew up Catholic... there are many stories there...
Robin reminds us that it is a complicated decision that would be much easily resolved if we knew the answer beforehand... but we don't. I do believe that it is ok to be skeptical about things in Life, but eventually, only each of us has to believe what we believe... damn, that makes no sense!!!
Carol sounds as if she's in about the same place I am... it is a process...
Robin and Carol each acknowledge that they are glad that I didn't take my life. I recall at the time, it being such an easy decision to make, and almost too easy to carry out. I posted about it Here and Here. It's not pretty...
Shelly Rayedeane's comment is wonderful! 'Without faith in something, the soul rots.' Even if what you believe is the polar opposite of what I believe, I think it's important to have some belief.
I also like what Jen commented... 'I know that, no matter what I think, it doesn't or shouldn't matter to anyone else. ' and 'Each of us must follow their own heart in the matter of God and religion...' There is SO much truth in this!!!
And Pat... who says that as a believer, she struggles with a mix of ideas... I think the common thread that we have in the comments, and with which I would totally agree, is that it isn't something that one takes on easily...
I think the summation of the comments were wonderful, and warranted a post instead of replies in the comments section... Your comments help me define what it is I perceive myself to be... and where I am headed.
I know that this is the journey that I am on... and it is even stated in my profile... I am trying to find that mix... that blend... that successfully gets me to the end of my Life... one with little or no regrets... and as I have stated, it's not easy.
The End
_______________
~shoes~
Well, I think we have established that it is confusing. Faith is like that. I think that life would be easier if we had a guidebook, but it wasn't meant to be easy. I think we get things like friends to make it tolerable. Family if we are lucky. Sometimes they seem to make it worse, sometimes not. And then when sometimes life seems so unfair we get a miracle. We get love. We get the good stuff. I think we have to believe in it, though. We have to want it. We attract what we get. For good or for bad. Good builds on good and bad builds on bad. So, start building on good if you want more good. That is what I believe. And I am still really glad that you are still here.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things rattlin' around in my head that I can't find the words for but I'd like to say to you...
ReplyDeleteMainly though - "to his own master he stands or falls"... and I'm thinkin' the moron that uttered those words to you is still falling.
You know how you can open the bible (whatever version - whatever religion)and find just one single verse on the page, read it and then think it through? And then - the person next to you can read the same verse then think it through? Well... guaranteed you are going to give each other different interpretations. Why? 'cause each of you adapted that verse to MEAN something to you - you each applied it to something happening in your life and heart and soul... you each took it in and applied it to your own faith.
I think religion and spirituality - spirituality and religion - are the same as that verse. It is what it is - to you. And that's all that matters in the end.
I hope I made sense...
xoxoxoxo
gobbles
I agree with Jen, it doesn't matter what anyone else believes, you most follow what you believe.
ReplyDeleteI think that XZ$!#7YGV man of 'god' is going to have a problem with the "Judge lest thou be judged" thing.
ReplyDeleteAs to the awful things done in the name of religion, I was in a conversation on that very subject with a friend this afternoon. We were debating the difference in Mark's beatitudes and Luke's. Mark says "Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God." Luke says "Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of God."
He said Mark wrote that at a time when there were many people who remember the actual words of Jesus and were witness to them. Luke wrote it a generation later from second hand witness in an attempt to get converts. I said, "You mean politics existed in the Church 2000 years ago?" He said, "Yes."
Of course this is the learned guy who told me that when I get to heaven I won't recognize anyone. Sigh
this sort of post is the reason why it makes me so mad that the label "people of faith" is hijacked by so many intemperate and flat-out nutty people. well said.
ReplyDeleteI think it has all been said and it is all being thought about by those of us that choose to think. It is really what you believe that matters. No one and I mean no one knows your soul but your God. It really is between the two of you. It's like trying to explain to people why a relationship works, or why you think something is humorous, you either get it or ..you don't.
ReplyDeleteBut my gracious you are too special and have I ever said Cool?!
Carol-the gardener
I personally hate having religion shoved down my throat. It totally turns me off. I don't like being told I have to go to church or I have to do whatever it is religion seemingly "requires". My brother has become a born again, not sure how that happened. When my Mom passed back in January he commented he had talked to her and felt fairly certain she would go to heaven. I said that my belief was that as long as you believed in God and were a good person I felt you were going to heaven. He said there was more to it than that. I said I would take my chances.
ReplyDeleteBecause Mom wasn't religious we had the service at my Brother's church. Rather than being a rememberance of my Mother it was a sales pitch to get your soul saved. I was angry and appalled. My Mother would have HATED that service.
I realize he did what he thought was right so I can't fault him for that but that whole thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
@ Robin... You said: "We attract what we get. For good or for bad. Good builds on good and bad builds on bad. So, start building on good if you want more good."
ReplyDeleteI so totally agree with her comment... it seems to approximate the definition of 'karma,' which by the way, I do believe to be true.
@ Gobbles... 'You said: It is what it is - to you. And that's all that matters in the end.'
I also agree with this comment...
@ Bathwater... I thought she (Jen) made a great deal of sense...
@ Charlene... LMAO @ "Of course this is the learned guy who told me that when I get to heaven I won't recognize anyone. Sigh"
@ Magnolia... I KNOW!!! Of course, what I define as the 'average' people in this topic wouldn't be the ones to get out and make 'edgy' statements...
@ Carol... This sums it up the best, I think... "It is really what you believe that matters. No one and I mean no one knows your soul but your God. It really is between the two of you. It's like trying to explain to people why a relationship works, or why you think something is humorous, you either get it or ..you don't."
@ Just Another Girl... I know... when I realized that funerals were for the living, not the deceased, I saw them in a totally different slant... I don't want my funeral... at my death... to be a recruiting ploy...
LMAO!!! I would come back and haunt whoever did that!!!!! My kids are on notice!!!!!
~shoes~
Faith is not a means to an end. It is a journey of many steps.
ReplyDeleteLong talks over the fence between two people who seek meaning in their lives is just as valid, if not more so, than congregating in house of stone.