Symmetry wrote:This comes fairly close to what I believe in, but I do have to bait a little and ask you when you consciously rejected Budhha, Krishna, et al?
Rejection is not always a decision, and neither is faith. To call disbelief in monotheistic religions a rejection of God is kind of a cheapening of faith to me. Most don't make that decision. I doubt that you think you're particularly more thoughtful about belief than most others who inherited their religion. My guess (and I invite correction, as I'm putting words into your mouth), would be that you follow the religion of your parents, and what is socially acceptable in the area where you live.
Acception or rejection seem like the wrong way to look at the issue of faith- it suggests a free market of belief. It's as wrong a way of explaining someone's spiritual character as it is for me to suggest that your beliefs are purely the result of where you were born.
I'll respond honestly even though I don't believe in you or the internet.
My mom taught me to be a Christian, she read the bible to me, starting when she was pregnant, told me about the God of the old testament, all the cool bible stories, Noah, Moses, Samson, Lot, Cain & Able and obviously New Testament things such as Jesus. I though yeah that's fine. She used to ask, "You accept Jesus as your saviour right?" Uh, yeah, I guess. What are you going to say to your mom? we never went to church because my dad didn't know if God was real or not.
So when I was around 20 a good buddy of mine said, "I've really been thinking about Jesus lately. You know, was he who he claimed to be, or just a really good teacher." He was being raised catholic same deal as me with better statues. I think he was 18 and just finishing high school. I didn't really know what to think, I wasn't really sure what he wanted me to say.
He was taking Tiger Claw. It was a mixed martial arts system that started in Winnipeg. They taught wing chun, Tai chi and Pakua with some other things mixed in. I was from the part of town where the tae kwon do guys would get beat up by guys that could fight. I used to tease my buddy about his martial arts. One time we were discussing it and a few of the things he had learned impressed me. Also the concept of chi is interesting. I planned on taking some Tiger Claw but it didn't fit my schedule. Then I started hanging out with a Budist influenced cult. They claimed to teach Shaolin Kung fu. They mostly worshiped the top guy of their system. I never bought into the guy so I didn't make it to the inner circle. A while after I left the system had a huge ugly schism and came apart because they tried to remove an instructor they were using as a tax shield and it didn't go as usual. I still think Buddhism is pretty cool but those guys are not a good reflection.
I also didn't get too caught up in the cult because I was a christian plus for me Taoism is a much better fit for the martial arts. Well as I aged and looked into things more and more I started to notice religion is a great idea that doesn't seem to work because of people. I think if I were to be religious I would be Taoist. Of all the earth religions it's the one that fits me best.
When I was around 23 I was working with a painter that was wearing an Amy Grant t-shirt. I knew who she was because another buddy of mine who's foster mom was a hardcore, speaking in tongues, laying hands, bible wielding lady, had lamented to us how unfortunate it was that Amy wasn't a christian any more. I asked the painter, "Where'd you get the shirt." he said, "I can't tell you." I thought ok whatever, then asked "Why?" He rebutted, "Are you a christian?" I stoped to think for a second, something I would not have done 5 years before then. "Yeah, I'm a christian, sure." He asked, "What makes you a christian?" I took a moment to think about it, I answered, "Because of all the teachings I've read Jesus' are the best in my opinion and are always right." Even though as Gahndi points out usually miss taught. Well there was a little more conversation and eventually me and the painter parted ways after he prophisiesed about me getting married and having kids. I scoffed and told him, "You're way off dude, I don't like red heads and I'm not having any kids."
(I now have two incredible kids, my wife's not a natural red head so the jury's still out on that part.)
One of the things I gleaned off my catholic Tiger Claw buddy was the way I read the bible. I just open it to anywhere and let it speak to me. I've never found another book religious text or otherwise that can do that the same way. Typically the subject will have relevance to my life at the time. The other cool thing is I can read a part that I've read hundreds of times and get something almost new and fresh each time even though I remember that part.
So eventually I started to consider the question, "Who is Jesus really?" Good teacher, prophet, street magician, son of God… or just someone misrepresented as a white guy in a robe that hung around with the jews for some reason, until they had the romans kill him 2000 years ago.
I always felt his teaching to be above any other. I always had a conection to something I thought of as God and he was always the old testament dude. I've never feared him in the catholic way. I allways had a respect of infinite power fear of him. A quote from a song I like is, "Not fear like from a gun but like the heat from the sun." Then I had to figure out where Jesus fit in with that.
I was 27 and at the peak of my life up to that point. I was semi active in that cult learning kempo and what ever else they were passing off as Shaolin kung fu/Buddhist monkery. I was bassist in an ok band. I was finishing an electrician's appreticeship. I had just earned a private pilot's license and finally had an adult girl friend. The back story on the girl friend is long and off subject. I don't know if she ever took over a ship and stole it's cargo murdering the crew or not but in every other way she was a pirate's wench. I had never kissed a girl. Lots of strange and wonderful things happened, some of it I treasure, some of it I regret. I have a pretty out there sense of humour and made a joke that hurt her feelings. I didn't know where things were going but I did love her at the time and knew I should not have hurt her like that. She told me to leave and I knew I had to. On the way home I thought a lot about what had happened. I thought about how it was everyone else's fault. Everyone had always known me as "the nice guy" and I was, mostly. I thought about how her ex boy friend and father of her child messed her up, her first boyfriend and her step mom giving her a hard time. Obviously it was one of them making her so upset, not me, I was "the nice guy".
When I got home it was christmas eve, my parents were there with my brother and his fiancee. They were happy to see me and wanted to open presents. I said I wasn't really feeling up to it and went to my lair in the basement. I went to bed and thought about what I'd done. Finally I admitted to myself, I was the one that should never have hurt her that night. I then decided I couldn't be the nice guy because it's too easy to be a jerk and there must be something causing me to do that because I knew being "the nice guy" was always the right move.
I decided I was broken like any human, I am susceptible to corruption which causes me to do evil and I need Yeshua to pay for my sin and help me make the right decisions and be "the nice guy." I offered my life to God through Yeshua as I decided to believe his statement, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." I ceased to be a "christian" and traded religion for a relationship and rejected all my other gods.
After that day I started seeing more evidence than I ever did before. Funny thing about God's evidence, it's always subjective, could have been luck, co-incidental or how ever you want to look at it. The thing is I've seen some really spectacular “lucky” things I've asked for through prayer.
So here I am, I always thought about it like "Occam's razor" if I spend my life making the choice to do the right thing and make it a better life for me and everyone I interact with and then die and I was just a random clump of cells that happened by accident. Me and those I interact with still will have had a better life when I chose to love and be kind.
Something about the cheery way he said this made me spit my drink all over the keyboard. Damn it.
It will kinda suck for alot of us if God is real...