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author_by_night) wrote2007-11-29 08:13 am
Leap of Faith: A Spiritual Invitation
In today's world, sharing your beliefs is taboo. If you do share them, you are judged, you are told not to share them so loudly, and there are hateful people who actually do horrible things to people of different faiths than themselves.
A few years ago, I did a Livejournal Invitation wherein people shared their beliefs. The purpose was to express your beliefs - whether Christianity, Islam, Taoism, or even Atheism - without fear of condemnation, without fear of judgement. I learned so much about my flisters, and about faiths I knew little about or had never heard of at all. I am going to open the invitation once more.
Say anything, anything at all. And your beliefs do not even have to be specific to a religion - if you believe in reincarnation, if you believe in ghosts, if you believe in parallel universes... those may not necessarily be tied to a religion, (although they may be), but they are still beliefs, and I'd like to hear about them.
One warning, however - I will state that this is not a debate. We are not here to condemn other beliefs - only to express our own.
no subject
I grew up Presbyterian and I still find a lot of things in it very moving spiritually. I love the formal language used at times, the concepts and the worldview it provides. The hymns I sing in service have also given me moments of my strongest belief-when I hear a certain hymns, sometimes I feel like God is here undoubtedly. This also goes for some classical music. What can I say, I'm a band geek!
But...when it comes to calling myself Christian I can't do so. The Bible seems more like a text to be studied than a source of absolute truth. Sure, the language and phrases are beautiful, but I just can't believe in it. Same for Jesus. I like the guy, but I can't call him the Son of God.
I believe there is God, and it's beyond gender. It's beyond any concept our limited, faulty brains can come up with so for the most part I don't try. However, I'm very skeptical whenever someone attributes an event or coincidence to a higher power. I'm a rational person and for the most part I don't believe in direct heavenly intervention or at least not the way we think about it. (If someone is there to help, God set it up long ago and it's not like he set it up now, it was part of the fabric of the universe...or something).
I'm convinced that almost all religions hold some truth. I want to learn about them more so I can steal parts from them to use for my own purposes. I don't know and don't think about the afterlife because I'm a pragmatic person and I'll find out anyway eventually. Because I'm so pragmatic, I don't usually do a lot of self-reflecting about what I believe. So that's why I'm posting this. Thanks a lot for the opportunity!