::
yawn... woke up. And someone's tag made me happy. =]
can I wake up like that everyday? haha. =p
I think I'll continue what I wanted to write yesterday, albeit with some input from your post mei.
I shall write about... RELIGION. Not that I am very familiar with religion or that I am a devoted believer, I am an agnostic. I believe it cannot be proven god exists or not, and hence I have a more or less neutral take on religion.
You see. I have been a christian before. I have.. heard about buddhism from BSP x.x. I have read a little about islam through the newspaper o.O. alright alright I'll stop.
Since I have been a christian before, most of my impression and thoughts of religion stem from them. The good and the bad.
First of all, religious people seem to struck me as complacent. It sounds extreme and generalising, but I do not mean to offend. This is the impression I had when I was turning my back on christianity months ago. The people in my cell group were very inspired christians, very devoted and seemingly happy. They spent most of their time worshipping god and glorifying god. These activities included tutioning others, organizing services, etc. What struck me was that they abandoned what they used to do and committed entirely to the church in the hope of glorifying god. They gave up their ccas, work, and it made me think what they could have achieved if they continued down their original paths? They are only teenagers. If volunteering at the church is already their top priority, what will be of them when they grow up? Hopefully pastors, and theologists.. who knows.
Moreover in their speak everything was attributed to Him, be it success or failure, it was meant to be and we should accept it and see what He has planned for us. For weekly cell group meetings, we used to recount experiences in which He has helped us with during the past week. When I heard them recount their experiences and putting it to God's name, a part of me can't help but feel disturbed. When everything is 'meant to be' and 'planned' and that god will have his reasons, it stops us from asking the Why's and reflecting on our actions. My mentor used to say Failure is just a form of Feedback. If you fail and still believe this is only part of His plan and that you should just keep on doing what you did to make you fail, to me that is not only disturbing, will not help one improve and but is also a somewhat deviant interpretation of christianity. [there is this very good article on Time.com about God vs Science, I challenge any good christian to read it. =]
At that point of time, I simply did not belong in the cell group I was in. After I turned my back to Him, I have realized not every christian approached christianity the same way. In fact, some just proclaim themselves christians and go to church because their parents go to church. Meaningless. Eventually I came to the conclusion the fault does not lie with christianity or religion, but with the way it is interpreted and the way it is practised.
Quoting some Ki passage I read, we can never be justified in our beliefs. How each of us interpret and practise christianity is entirely up to us, and to say which is right or wrong is not only impossible but pointless.
---
Actually I wanted to elaborate more on the good of religion/christianity, but.. my mum wanted to cut my hair... o.O haha.. so now that she is done.. I am in no mood to write any further.. -.=
anyway, the previously mentioned article is here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555132,00.htmlIt was the cover for Nov 13's issue of Time magazine. Read it k? =]
::
.:firestarter blogged on 8:38 AM:.
...