Faith is a very personal, individual
thing. People believe in different gods
in different ways, and I respect that. I
have the utmost respect and admiration for people who are pure and faithful in
their belief, whatever that belief is. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hare Krishnas whatever. I respect and admire them all.
But the thing that doesn’t sit well with me
is those who seem to have a convenience approach to their religion. People who pick and choose the best bits of
the faith – the bits that suit them, and conveniently ignore the rest. That doesn’t seem right to me.
You could say who am I to judge, I am not
religious, so how can I pass comment on others. And at least they are following some of the beliefs and customs, surely
that is better than none. But is it
really?
Who are you to decide which parts of the
religious norms and ‘rules’ are important and which aren’t? Why is it that so many of today’s modern
religions seem to be a watered down, customized, convenience version of the
original intent?
Now, I can’t and wont pretend to know anything
about the Bible, but the very little I do know, is that there seem to be some
things in there, certain ‘rules’, that seem to no longer be followed (women in
church?) while others (homosexuality?) are still completely taboo in some
sectors – why is that? Why are some rules
followed and others not?
I’ve heard the argument that some practises
and rules are outdated, that they don’t belong in today’s modern society and
while that makes sense on one level, it still doesn’t feel quite right to
me.
The ‘rules’ that so many people are
fanatical about today, that some people go to war about, will those be done
away with tomorrow? And who decides when they are no longer relevant or
important? Why are today’s rules
important and yesterday’s rules obsolete?
I was talking to a Jewish friend of mine
about another Jewish couple I had recently met. I found the new couple so interesting; they were explaining to me their
‘rules’ about not driving on the Sabbath, and not being able to pick up a pen
to sign a document etc. Fascinating
stuff. I told my Jewish friend about
this couple and he laughed them off. Said they were nutty to be hanging on to that old stuff and I
disagreed. I said I respected and
admired them enormously for sticking to all the parts of their belief, not just
the easy parts or the ones that suited them.
I know that some practices are outdated,
and that some ‘rules’ are in conflict with modern day human rights* (for
example gender equality issues etc), I am not talking so much about those rules
as the example I see from so many people who seem to have a Religious Lite form
of faith. I’ll pick out the good bits,
the bits that suit ME, and bugger the rest.
As for me, organized religion doesn’t feel
right for me. Faith yes, belief yes, but what I consider to
be man-made religion just doesn’t feel right for ME. But as I said in the beginning, I greatly
admire and respect the religious purists. Not the fanatics, the nutjobs and the
terrorists that seem to live on the fringes of almost ALL religions, but those
who quietly and faithfully go about living the life they believe in. They are the true believers in my eyes.
Now if we could all practise that tolerance
and love of fellow man that all religions say they believe in, we might have
some attempt at a peaceful global coexistence.
* Interestingly enough, our constitution protects
against discrimination for sexual orientation, so one could argue that the ban
some religions have against homosexuality is unconstitutional and an
infringement of basic human rights. Now
how do you factor THAT into your belief system?
dickheads who were very hung up on the old flag, they
flew the flag outside their homes etc. I
am pretty sure those types don’t fly the new flag outside their homes home. But even for those of us who have embraced the
new South Africa with open arms, even we don’t fly the flag outside our homes
etc. I know I am generalizing here, but
on the whole, South African’s do not seem to have the same amount of emotional
investment tied to their flag as say the Americans do. We just don’t seem to get that passionate about our flag. Are you? Do you fly the flag outside your home? Do you itch to jump to attention and salute
when you see your flag? How do you feel
about your country’s flag? (Please let me know what country you are
from if do you respond)
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