recently, a relatively close friend of mine composed an entry in his live journal about faith and his search for himself. in the midst of his words, he spoke of an interaction he had with two friends in which they discussed religion, the "self", and the need for confession(s). in summation, he came to a conclusion that i found both sincere and troubling. he said, "So yeah I guess I have been somewhat anti-social, but it's because I'm working on myself. However, just because I'm working on myself it doesn't mean I can't turn to friends... or God for guidance and strength."
i become uneasy when people talk about god and faith and religion and the role they play in life. after my own rocky past with catholicism, it's hard not to. and while i am happy that my friend feels he now has some place to find a compass for his life, i always fear people will take this compass and make it a map.
when people talk about faith, i feel they make the mistake of putting it in the wrong place. it's the faith in god. the faith in jesus. the faith in the goodness of the human soul. to me, faith should be in yourself.
i'm not trying to downplay god or religion as a pertinent or important part in people's lives. i understand how people can find themselves in looking to god for guidance and strength. i think in many ways religion is incredibly important because religion is a set of beliefs. though the organization may be different, i too have a set of beliefs. most people do, and that part doesn't bother me because i'd rather people believe in something than nothing.
what gets me is when people put the faith back in god. when they no longer look to him for guidance and begin looking to him for decisions. when they no longer look to him for strength and begin looking for an out.
if there is a god, he gave us free will... meaning god had faith in us. he put the faith in each and every one of us. he had faith in us to make the decisions. we think for ourselves because he wanted us to. following the faith of jesus and his father shouldn't be about finding all the answers in the bible, it should be about learning from what they taught and using that information to make decisions for ourselves.
have faith in yourself. god did.
posted by brett @ 7:06 PM
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