I used to go to church until I was about ten, and then I started to think about what it all really meant, which then brought me to the question: “Do people really believe in this stuff?” I used to sit in front of my pastor, and hear him talk about how everything will be great once we went to heaven. That there was no pain, no suffering, no problems, and that we would be able to have everything that we’ve ever wanted. I began to doubt the existence of heaven, and said that even if it did exist, I didn’t know if I wanted to go there because I couldn’t picture, or understand, a world where I wouldn’t get hurt if I fell off of my bike, or a world where everyone lived together and didn’t disagree with each other.
This isn’t an article about how god doesn’t exist, how you’re a fool for being religious, or to disrespect any of your knowledge or beliefs. I know that-what many people would call-god exists, but maybe in a way that is unlike your own thinking. This article is my brief take on religion.
How many people can say that they really believe in what they’ve read in the bible, or that they’ve been taught at church? I would sit in church and ask myself why everyone wasn’t getting up and running all over the place screaming about how much they loved god and how they couldn’t wait to go to heaven. I always wondered how people could just go on living their lives and committing “sins” if they really and truly knew that they would go to hell for doing bad things. A hell where you would burn forever. FOREVER. Do you know how long forever is? This stuff just blew my mind.
I’m rambling, but that’s okay. What’s truly funny is how people always make fun of those who sincerely know that their religion is right, give their whole selves to it, and go around telling people about it. I used to see people on the subway screaming about the power of god. I’ve seen people in Union Square trying to teach others the bible (I even heckled one guy in this video), and I’ve also seen people crying because they’ve seen the beauty of god. We usually just look at these people and laugh, or regard them as crazy, BUT THEY MAY BE THE ONLY ONES WHO ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN THEIR RELIGIONS. Hell, many people consider those who say they hear god in their head as being insane.
I don’t know man. I don’t adhere to any one religion, but I know the things that I know. I don’t believe in them, I know them. That’s why I make videos talking about the things that I know. I make videos celebrating life in all of it’s forms. I even run up to strangers and converse with them about the beauty of life. I’m not saying that you don’t believe in your religion if you’re not screaming about it every second of the day, but where there is belief there is also doubt.
I’m in heaven right now. If I were in a place where it wouldn’t hurt if I fell off of my bike, or where people didn’t disagree, then I wouldn’t be living and this wouldn’t be life. In any case, I guess we’ll all just have To Wait.
This article was interesting, i never pictured Heaven being like that to tell you the truth- my vision of it is more like a utopia where God (rather than the million and one other things people focus on) is glorified 110%. I therefore don’t think that it is that is like anything else in this world- i don’t consider it a place where we’re going to be riding bikes or playing games without getting bruised but just a totally different place that we’re used to on Earth. Your point about people being viewed as “crazy” and “insane” for being intense about religious stuff is also soooo true- even movies and tv shows portray Christians as nutcases (ex. the movie Saved) and that bothers me a lot because myself and other people i know have cried from seeing the beauty of God and have experienced miracles and are far from crazy (and ik you weren’t saying that’s how you feel but idk I just had to rant about that lol). And I like you don’t have just one religion- I don’t even consider myself having one- I just live for God because it my heart I know that He deserves it and I know that He loves me and since I love him I show Him that love back; I think of it as like when you’re in a relationship with someone and you both say you love each other you want those feelings not only expressed verbally but also shown with actions and so I commit- as do other people- myself to God showing Him our love in every way possible.
Well first off i wanna say that In not criticizing or directing any of these words to you or anyone else and i have complete respect to whatever you believe in. but what i don’t understand is why do you have to define what you believe in and stick to it?If you label yourself than your closing your mind to other opinions and other ideas. And by calling yourself a “christian”, it seems that all your doing is breeding separation from other people, and separation breeds different beliefs and when people are passionate about those beliefs, then problems start arising, conflict and war and we’ve seen that many times through history.Separating groups of people through different religious beliefs, and arguing about the specifics in what the revelation is gunna bring, and what people wrote about the future is just nonsense. You cant tell the future.Everybody on earth needs to be able to understand and respect each other. we cant just keep separating ourselves like this, its just wrong.
Yes, separation can be a bad thing but when you think about it, it is inevitable. Everyone thinks differently and sometimes those different people meet other people who think like them and they become separate little/big groups- democrats, republicans, yankees fans, mets fans and etc. but anyway my point is why are you considering religion to be the ONE topic that everyone should agree on? Wars don’t just start because of religious reasons- they may often be the cause but not the only. And actually how exactly am I “breeding separation” from people by calling myself that- a Christian is someone who believes that Jesus was God’s son and that’s what I believe (and ik I said I don’t rlly have a religion but Christianity is my religion I just don’t go narrow it down into one of those other categories like catholic, protestant, etc. like other people) so a Christian is what I am. Would you tell Obama not to tell people he is a Democrat because it will cause separation? If separation didn’t exist the world would be a boring place where we would all think the same and be the same- separation is just a necessary evil in every part of our lives.
Maybe you haven’t been to a “black” church cause I sure remember people jumping up and going crazy but half of that was just showing off and pretending. It all has to do with faith, which literally means a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Some people say they can feel it and know it’s true. I used to love going to church and youth group but then I realized that even to practice, a church isn’t needed. I personally have found something from all religions that can be used in day to day life. We kinda had a convo about this before but the Bible and Qur’an have valuable life lessons regardless of whether you believe in it or not
It’s very easy to fool oneself into thinking that an intense emotional experience is the same as an authentic spiritual experience. The mind is so powerful and creates “feelings” that indeed are experienced as very real but it doesn’t always follow that that mind is linked into some kind of absolute or “eternal truth.”
What’s nice here is to see younger people thinking about these things, asking questions, defining their stance and pretty open-mindedly to boot. Good for that!
Matthew – you sound like a pretty spiritually eclectic fellow. You might enjoy the work of Joseph Campbell, if you haven’t heard of him. He synthesized much from the world’s religions, folk wisdom and other spiritual traditions and came up with some basic commonalities to them all. His signature work is the book, “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” but there’s all kinds of stuff available for a lighter introduction. Peace!
Amber- Thanks for your comment. When you said, “If separation didn’t exist the world would be a boring place where we would all think the same and be the same- separation is just a necessary evil in every part of our lives,” it brought me back to one of my initial thoughts of life not being life if people didn’t disagree. It’s a sad and unfortunate fact for many, but to disagree is to live. BUT, as luciddream pointed out, many people in the world have disagreed on many things to the extent of starting wars, murders, and a myriad of other crimes. Many people can’t just agree to disagree.
Luciddream- Labels are something that I used to think about frequently. I used to feel obligated to label myself as something in order to have a place in society. I would see label in the boxes to check of what race you were, labels in certain economic brackets, labels in movie genres, just a lot of labels everywhere. You saying “If you label yourself than your closing your mind to other opinions and other ideas” hit what I know right on the nail. Thanks a lot for that, it means a lot to me to know that someone feels, or at least thinks, about certain things the way I do.
Tha5ftazzazzin- I actually thought about “black” churches while writing about how if people really knew that their religion were right, then they would be jumping around and screaming. There might be a certain degree of authenticity in “black” churches that isn’t present in many others, but we wouldn’t be able to really determine those who were faking, and those who were lying. Wow, this makes me think back to when my mother sent me to bible camp in New Hampshire, and I had one of the scariest experiences of my life there. Thanks for that man.
Robb- “It’s very easy to fool oneself into thinking that an intense emotional experience is the same as an authentic spiritual experience” — SO TRUE. I had one of the most intense emotional experiences maybe a month and a half ago, and I thought it to be god revealing him/herself to me. I know it was definitely an eye-opening experience, but I’m still not exactly sure what it was and what it wasn’t. I’m curious, where exactly do you think an absolute or “eternal truth” would come from? Ourselves, or what? I have actually heard of Joseph Campbell, but never read him. I’ll check out that book, and maybe a few others for, as you said, the lighter introduction. I really enjoyed your comment Robb, I hope you come back to this site and maybe write something of your own!
Hi Matt,
its an interesting article you wrote,
Alot of it makes sense
Firstly the issue of people going to church but they are not taking in what church is all about. Personally we believe that alot of people have just said to themselves: Ok, i guess this is who god is and what church is suppose to be. – Without ever fully experiencing god.
However Church is a place of excitement, its where we meet to celebrate the life and purpose and hope we have found in Christ. But more importantly when you encounter god, we believe that as a person you will be changed. The moment you connect with god and realize he is real : you wont be the same. You realize that his message is Truth and therefore its something you want to share with others ( and yes some do take it to the extreme)
So to us its only logical that you give your life to God because you know that when you follow in his ways: Life truly becomes how its meant to be. It never means that it gets any easier.. but we know that God is always on our side… thus bringing hope peace and purpose.
Also its true when you say: Where there is believe there is doubt.
Its difficult for a mind that is doubting to truly be objective and say: Lets get involved in this with an open mind….
However, we again believe that if one truly says: God, I want to connect with you and get to know you.. that God will reveal himself to that person in a Personal way ( and that doesn’t always mean on a Sunday morning during church
Just a few random thoughts !
Be Blessed and goodluck on your journey !
RLC
So glad to have a religious person’s perspective RLC. I loved it when you said, “However Church is a place of excitement, its where we meet to celebrate the life and purpose and hope we have found in Christ. But more importantly when you encounter god, we believe that as a person you will be changed.” I think that that is the exact way it should be for those who go to church, and have REAL faith in god. Even though I don’t consider myself to be a religious person, I agree with a lot of the things that you said. It seems as though we may just be expressing the same thoughts through different perspectives (If that makes sense). I feel for life, in the same way that you and many others feel for god. I respect your beliefs and knowledge RLC. Your comment was truly a pleasant surprise, and I hope that I see you on this site more often.
Wow RLC, I love every word of what you just said and couldn’t agree more with it.
Matthew. I’m glad you appreciated my comments. To answer your question I believe what we might call “eternal truth” is deep down inside every one of us. In a sense it comes from ourselves, but certainly not the day to day selves and roles we play in the world. My perspective is highly influenced by the thought system of A Course in Miracles, by the way, of the FB group where I saw your link, so this just one “outlook.” Anyway, there is a part of us, deep in our minds that has never been disconnected from God, our creator, and when we successfully remove all interference to that connection, we can experience God directly. To me, this experience is one of complete peace. Lack of doubt, lack of emotion, lack of excitement, lack of questions, these are all things of this world and our little ego-selves, sometimes called the “false self” in Eastern traditions. This is the part of us that blocks God’s eternal peace, love and joy from our awareness. The idea that you and others have expressed, about needing conflict, needing disagreement, etc. is all of the ego self and not the spirit. That is “life” yes, but the life of the false self in the world, a world of opposites. What is eternally true cannot have an opposite and does not need an opposite to be appreciated and valued.
More mystical approaches will tell you that eternity is not “forever and forever” but actually BEYOND time. (First heard this from Joseph Campbell, BTW.) Our human minds can’t wrap themselves around that concept, not really, so we substitute “forever.” It would be more accurate to say “always.” As it was before time began, is now, and will be after time ends. When I was younger I used to think that Heaven would be boring, because it would be ALL peace, ALL the time. No contrast, no variation, etc., but these are all functions of TIME and the life of the false self, aka ego. In fact, without time passing, the idea of boredom is meaningless, because boredom is something that happens OVER A PERIOD OF TIME. So, today I trust that there is an experience of direct connection to God that will be eternally fulfilling, joyous, peaceful and loving that when I have totally dropped my ego self and only spirit is left, I will not only “understand” but it will become my only state of being. And I trust it won’t be boring! I could go on and on, but you might want to check out A Course in Miracles for more about what I’m saying.
I will tell you this: That the experiences I have had, and they have been brief and infrequent, of direct connection to God, have been extremely, deeply quiet – mentally and emotionally – and as soon as I have tried to grab hold of it or even start to describe the experience to myself, it vanishes. It’s probably more like what practitioners of eastern religions experience through deep meditation. Anyway – keep questioning, my friend. The traditional dogma of most religions has not worked to bring us any closer to each other or make a more peaceful world in any real significant way. Little blips here and there, but the world is still pretty much the place of war and conflict it has always been and sadly, a lot of that is over traditional religious belief. I know there are genuine seekers and peace-makers within probably every religion, but I don’t believe it’s the religion itself that makes them that way, but for those that really want peace and union, religion and spiritual traditions can provide some tools to achieve that. Okay – enough outta me! This old guy needs his sleep!
Wow Robb, I sincerely thank you for all of that. A Course in Miracles definitely seems like it’s worth reading, and also a bit complicated. Did you find it to be so? I’m also familiar with the concept of there being a “false self,” I think Eckhart Tolle might have spoken about the ego, and about how that is not who we really are. I actually partly agree with that, and also have to hammer out the details of it to myself haha. I think I have experienced those moments of complete peace, that also do seem to disappear once I TRY to hold them. “What is eternally true cannot have an opposite and does not need an opposite to be appreciated and valued.” That really struck a chord with me. I would be more than happy if you could write an article about that on here, and share your thoughts with everyone else because they are not only interesting, but also deeply stimulating. The thought that eternity is beyond time blows my mind, and makes perfect sense at the same time. Is there a chapter on eternity in the book? I would love to read it. This was great Robb, and I’m really happy that you shared it. I hope to see you eventually writing on this site, or at least some writing from a few of the people that you know have read the book!
I somewhat agree with this. I believe in God, but my belief doesn’t pertain to any specific religion. I’m taking a World Civilization class and it’s broadened my views on some untouched subjects and helped confirm others. For one, I do not believe in the Bible. I believe that since people wrote it, their own personal views and thoughts were intertwined with what God may have said, which makes the Bible corrupt. I mean just think about it, if God (and remember this is a God who believes that everyone has free will) told you to write the Bible, wouldn’t you put your own thoughts and words into it? There is no book or legislature more powerful then the Bible, it starts wars and makes people hate other people which goes against everything their Bible stands for. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin, it also says that it is a sin to lie, steal, murder, and commit adultery. The Bible also states that there are no levels of sin, that sin is sin. The Ten Commandments say “love thy neighbor” yet people who believe that homosexuality is a sin think it is ok to yell obscenities, (some groups) murder gay people, and tell them that they are not equal. So for those people who believe that being gay is a sin, chances are they have lied once in their lives, so those people have committed sin as well yet, no one chases them with signs and yells obscenities at them. If you believe in the Bible you can’t pick and chose what to follow and what to go against. I’m sure God doesn’t want anyone hating anyone else, well at least not the God I believe in. It just amazes me, how lines begin to blur when it comes to religion. Those people who preach about God are usually the ones committing the most sin, while people who stay quiet and just try to be good people accomplish the same thing those hypocrites try to achieve. In essence, I believe God made us to be the people we were born to be, he has a few rules but I believe as long as we try to remain good people, who do good things, then we will be later rewarded for that, whether we be straight or gay, white or any other race.
i feel u matt, i hate how some people say they believe in God n shit..u either do or u dont and the people that truly do are the ones trying to spread His word (even though some of the people in time square really ARE crazy) personally i lost my faith a while ago. none of us really know what’s going to happen in the after life because Heaven and Hell arent places, theyre opinions. in greek mythology one guy was forced to push a boulder up a hill and everytime he gets close to the top it rolls bak down. and like how someone is having a great time at a certain place and they say “this must be what heaven looks like!” they dont really mean that cuz they really cant know until the end.
oh, and nice picture hahaha
Take a sincere look into Islam.
I do consider all the ideas you’ve presented on your post. They’re really convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for starters. May you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.