Simple question of Religious Faith
I’m a Christian, a catholic to be exact. I know its a strange time to question your faith. Don’t get me wrong. I have no doubt that God exists. I also believe in Jesus Christ. Here’s the thing, I don’t know enough about Mohammed to know if Islam is for real either. It certainly could be. Why do I ask this?
I’m a trained scientist. As a scientist, one is trained to identify a problem. Form a guess or an explanation for the problem. Then identify predictions based upon your guess. Finally test or experiment with your guess and observe objectively during the experiment.
Through life experiments, one edict I have found to be more true than not is when there are multiple hypothesis that are correct for the same problem, then the truth lies in the combination of all the hypothesis.
For example, when my income increases, it could be due to more work I’ve been doing. It could be due to my using my existing time wisely. It could be increased concentration, focus, and motivation causing more avenues of income. In reality, its a combination of all these forces.
I’m beginning to question faith from a scientific viewpoint. Who’s to say, that Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Folk Religions are all right or all wrong. I venture to guess that each of them have some things correct & some things wrong.
If I believe that, then I must go a step further and wonder why am I Catholic? Is the sole reason for my being Catholic that my family raised me a Catholic. If I was born in India, would I be a hindu? If I was born in the mid-east, would I be an muslim?
Or would I have arrived at Catholicism and/or Christianity as my religion regardless?
Christmas time is here. We celebrate Christ’s birthday. Yet, I have decided to wonder about Religion.
Here’s the thing that worries me. Why did Christianity spread so fast and so far? Why is Islam growing so fast and so far in modern times? What if Fanaticism is really the cause of the growth of religion?
We’ve heard of many holy wars. The winner of the war proceeds to rule. If you are a person who wants peace and wants to live a normal happy life, wouldn’t you accept the religion of the winner of the war in order to seek the life of the least resistance. Additionally, wouldn’t the winner of the war try to convert or destroy the loser of the war?
You might ask, what brought this on at this time? Its something that’s been brewing in me for a while. Yet, I watched an historical fictional piece about the philosopher and mathematician Hypatia and the Roman time where Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity all converged in the city of Alexandria. I won’t give away the movie, but the movie provides a plausible and though-provoking example of how Christianity might have grown. Since, I am taking a more dedicated approach to my writing. I decided this was my topic today.
The winner’s of war God wins is not not the God I know. That’s not the Christ I know. Yes, we should defend our freedoms and our faith. Yet, we should also behave like Christ. Demonstrate compassion and love for everyone even in the face of danger.
I don’t know enough about the other religions, but I have to imagine much of the core message is the same: Be good to your neighbor. Treat them like you would treat yourself. If we all do that, Life will be good. Forcing someone to commit to a religion doesn’t seem the appropriate method of evangelism. That’s my deep food for thought today.
Yet, even with my questioning everything, I still Believe. I guess that’s why they call it Faith.