How can you honestly understand someone else's opinion if
they sincerely differ from yours? For years I have been trying to
understand the beliefs portrayed by organized religions around the
world. Whenever someone is explaining part of their religion to me and I
bring something to their attention, about their religion, and they don't
know the answer, their replies always seem to be based around faith. You
just need to believe.
I've been asking people for years, why do you believe? The answers vary
from time to time but the essence of the answers are similar. Our
conversations seem to start out with a few facts, which leads us into a
friendly discussion about their religious beliefs and how they were
formed. Whenever I start to dig a little too deep or ask some of these
people questions that they don't have the answers to, the conversation
always ends abruptly and the word faith always seems to appear.
I feel like this is the easy way out for religious believers.
I'm sure that they get frustrated with me, asking them questions about
their religions, that they can't answer. Most of these people won't even
bother to find the answers for themselves either, this has often
irritated me, but at the same time I think I understand. Most people
want to be a part of something but won't take the time to be involved in
it. Living a life based on a little information, a lot of hope and the
rest completely immersed in faith, seems like a life that is lived
without questioning the most important thing in your life.
If I went to a place of worship and asked this question "What's the Most
Important Thing in Your Life?" I would imagine most of these people
would tell me it was their God or gods. God seems to be the main focus
on their lives but they don't seek to understand how he came to be, why
he doesn't help the poor, why won't God communicate with us, or even
something as simple as understanding some, at the least 10% of your
religion.
I don't believe there's anything wrong with living a faithful life. I
have faith in things that are out of my control and am still seeking
answers to their origins and existence. The sun, Earth, air, water and
even God. I suggest to religious, nonbelievers and spiritual people all
over the world, to gather a little more information about your beliefs,
if they are indeed important to you.
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