The nitpickers and anal people associate it with details and exclusive truths. Let’s sidestep that whole mess for a moment and cut through to the core – the real Truth, if indeed there is any at all.
I believe Faith is personal. It’s direct. There’s no bullshit, no intermediaries, no barriers. It’s about you and how you deal with shit.
Here’s Huston Smith:
“Religion is the call to confront reality; to master the self.”
If you run more with the hip hop crowd, try Talib Kweli:
People let me paint a picture
You know I ain't a christian
I ain't a muslim, ain't a jew
I'm losing my religion
I speak to god directly
I know my god respect me
Cause he let me breathe his air and he really blessed me
-Talib in “Around My Way” from his album “The Beautiful Struggle”
I’m going to be up front. Because of certain events in my life – personal events, which I won’t share here – I believe in God.
I’m young, and I’ve only just begun to grapple with this question. I’m not entirely sure I know what it means to believe in God, even what it means for myself. But I do.
I believe in God.
Now, this does not mean I would voluntarily spend time in church, or that I’ll take the time to educate myself about historical interpretations of God, religion, etc. I don’t know anything about the Bible (though I hear it’s a good story), and I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to the subtle (and even the big distinguishing) differences between the major religions of today.
I still curse. I still drink (in moderation). I still have impure thoughts. And occasionally I slack off morally, though only on the micro-scale, of course.
These things are all part of being human. Humans are imperfect.
Past-president Jimmy Carter on human imperfection (from an interview w/Playboy magazine):
"I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do--and I have done it--and God forgives me for it."
There is, I think, an entirely simplistic view of religion/spirituality that claims that believing in God entails being perfect, being morally pure, and being righteously against anyone who tries to dilute that.
That’s a lot of absolutes, and not a whole lot of room for absolution. The Calvinists, with their fire and brimstone, and their human depravity and doomsday gloom – well, they seem pretty dumb in hindsight. (sorry if I got their views wrong, it’s been a while)
There’s also an equally simplistic view that believing in God entails being dumb. That it implies weakness. I have several aspiring-scientist friends (and other friends) who hold this view, and who sometimes enjoy verbally kicking other people for their faiths. Also, Bertrand Russell’s essay “Why I Am Not a Christian” does a good job of using cold logic to disprove God.
To be fair, a lot of people who believe in God seem to do so in a thoughtless brainwashed way. Many also believe inconsistently – they are fair-weather/foul-weather believers, and remember their faith at selective times only (for example when asking for help during a difficult time).
But what I do know is that a lot of legit people have believed in God and made active use of their faith to do extraordinary things. Take Ben Carson, for example, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the lead surgeon of a team that in 1987 separated a pair of seven-month-old German conjoined twins who were joined at the head – the first such separation where both twins survived. He used his belief in God to turn around a troubled youth (to put it tritely), and he sees God in science.
Ultimately, I guess I care only superficially how other people use their faiths.
Most of all, I care about me.
I know that I use my faith to stay me through troubled times, and to ground me and keep me humble when I manage to succeed.
I don’t ask for help and expect it to fall from the sky. My faith doesn’t put constraints on my ability to think and reason. And it doesn’t impede me from making full use of my own self-agency.
How do I practice my faith? And let me be clear – faith is active, not passive. You won’t get something for nothing. (And paying church fees isn’t worth anything in itself)
I “practice” my faith by expressing gratitude every single day.
In the shower, in my car, on a run – these are all times when I remember how grateful I am for what I have. It really doesn’t take much. Just a quick thank you in my head.
What have I gotten in return?
In a life that has proved highly uncertain so far, and where I can’t often count on much (whether people or situation), I turn to my faith as something that is constant. I draw strength from my faith, and from the knowledge that no one can take it away from me.
How could this possibly be weakness?
I believe that people everywhere going through difficult times - and life is hard, make no mistake about it - people everywhere should be able to draw strength from Faith. And they should do so without worry of being labeled "weak" for having a "crutch."
So there it is. If I had to sum it up now, as I understand it at 20, I’d say that Faith is simply gratitude. That’s what it is most. Being grateful and realizing that you have a chance to do something incredible with your life.
And drawing strength from that awareness.
I hope I haven’t turned off those hard-core atheists out there reading my blog.
I hope you’ll see that I’ve (I think) logically justified something that completely throws logic out the window.
I hope you’ll stay reading as I learn more and live more, and as I explore this explosively controversial thing called Faith.
-David
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