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Re: My darlin angel gal Mandi(Score: 0) by on Mar 15, 2005 - 02:55 PM | Your theories make sense as far as they go - but you have made some sweeping statements that really aren't true.
Plenty of incredibly intelligent people trust truly in religions. My childhood church was full of them. Champion debaters, professors of dead languages, engineers, inventors, mathematicians, artists, musicians, authors, lawyers, doctors, architects; for such a small church, we had a really amazing average intelligence. In fact, I was rather shocked to find that the rest of the world was, in general, quite distressingly less intelligent than I was used to. So it seems that intelligence and religion can walk hand-in-hand.
Intelligent people do not just remain in religions for the social benefits. There are a myriad of reasons why an intelligent person would sincerely believe in something like Christianity. I can cite one reason - the reason I stayed as long as I did. Love. I loved God. You can crack all the sexual jokes about it that you want - the fact remains, I was in love with a deity. He was supposed to be the embodiment, no, the source of all that was good, and true, and beautiful, and I loved Him and wanted to be with Him forever. I tried with all my strength to do the things I had been told would make Him happy - the things He liked. I only stopped because I found that many of the people who had been teaching me about Him were far from trustworthy. I found that, as far as I knew, He didn't even care about the things I had been told He cared about, and maybe, He didn't even exist at all. I faced up to the fact that, with the information at my disposal, I could not know for sure one way or the other. So I embarked on a quest - a quest to find what I felt was right and true, with an occasional word to my lost Love, hoping that if I was making a huge mistake, that He would see my intentions and judge me by them. After all, if the Deity were to cast me aside for doing the best I knew, then He was no love of mine. So that is where I am. I am facing the unanswerable questions, and dealing with the fact that I don't have a clear answer.
There are many people I know - my own family, even, who also face the same unanswerable questions. They are intelligent enough to realize that they have no solid proof to back up their beliefs, but they choose to take their risks, just as I choose mine. They have chosen to walk by faith, just as I have chosen to walk the path of exploration. It is their choice, though at times it pains me to see them tie themselves (to my mind) needlessly in knots over some (to my mind) pointless regulation, I still respect the strength of their devotion, and hope that their desires are realized in some way, even if it isn't in the form they visualize.
I am not denying the fact that many followers of religions are exactly as you describe them. Even in this church I describe, there are plenty of those who love to chain themselves and others down, and who close their eyes to the fact that they are dealing with unknowns. These people are the reason why I am where I am today. These are the ones who make the most noise, too. The lovers are a private type, and are more concerned with the interplay between them and their Deity. If you hear one speak of their faith, you're not likely to end up being put on a guilt trip, or feeling pressured. But some won't rest until you feel as guilty and stressed as they do.
But I guess that's the thing. To the lovers, Christianity is not a religion, but (as cliche'ed as it has become) a relationship. I haven't experienced much of other religions, but I suspect the demarcation is similar in them all.
In a way, when I think about it, I miss my old love. It was comforting having such a great Being to look out for me, and exciting to have such a goal to fight for. If it only hadn't been made to be such a burden to carry to live up to the standards He supposedly imposed, I might have stayed, despite the uncertainty. True, there would be a chance that I was just devoting my life to a fairy tale, but it was a better fairy tale than the ones that many (even most) people live their lives for, be it True Love, Power, Success, Fame, or what have you. But I guess I was never one to sacrifice adventure for security. So here I am, figuring out life on my own and taking what comes. Who knows, I might just find out a few answers before I'm done. I might just even find out that my old Love really exists, and is actually proud of me for taking the riskier path in my quest for truth. But then again, maybe not. I'm not hanging any hopes on it. |
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