Yet, my job is to help kids, and when they ask questions, or need answers, that is what I must do.
This is some of what the MySpace generation is feeling, and they are confused to be sure. But, aren't we all:
To save some topics for posterity, here is a June 10, 2007 blog entry, comments, and my commentary:
[10 Jun 2007 Sunday]
10:05 PM - Agnosticism
Current mood: curious
Agnosticism (from the Greek "a," meaning "without," and Gnosticismknowledge) means "unknowable," and is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims—particularly theologicalmetaphysics, afterlife or the existence of Gods, deities, or even ultimate reality—is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently unknowable due to the nature of subjective experience. or "gnosis," meaning claims regarding.
ok, so i don't know what i believe in.
this doesn't mean i'm atheist.
i just really am unsure about what i believe.
i agree and disagree with many different religions.
i am not certain of what i truly believe in.
i think that there is something out there.
what makes Christianity so superior to other religions anyway?
we weren't the first.
gah and one thing that really ticks me off about Christians is the amount of hypocrisy.
religion is usually more said than done in my opinion and most only take part in it in order to stay "with" society.
this bugs me.
i believe that nobody can be completely be sure of their religion and there are countless questions that we never will be able to answer.
i also find it very hard to follow the bible.
the way i see it: why should we listen and follow a book that was written over 2000 years ago?
i mean sure it has a good message in the end but times have changed.
we live in a completely different world than the biblical people did.
i find it silly to follow so much into the past.
we need to look into the future!
call me crazy, but this is how i feel.
maybe i'm ignorant, who knows.
i also find it very difficult to take part "worship."
i mean i find it time consuming and non-beneficial.
i prefer mediation.
i don't know, it just seems so unlikely that there is an afterlife and such when so much science has been discovered.
When the bible was formed, people had no other way of explaining things scientifically so they turned to religion.
i mean doesn't that make sense?
now that we have science it seems as if we don't need religion to rely on.
do you see where i'm coming from?
and what about evolution?
before science, god ceated adam and eve.
bam, the end.
but once we discovered another explanation, christians totally rejected it.
i mean, evolution makes a lot more sense than god made it. that's it.
errr, i hope that someday i will have found something to believe.
what are your views on religion.
(Please, no "I'm a christian all the way and you're completely wrong about everything")
Thanks.
<33
(Name Removed for Privacy)
18 Comments - 11 Kudos - Add Comment
(Name removed for privacy)
i completely get what your saying. i feel the same way. science is like soo complex now and like, idk. its just weird sometimes, you know?
Posted by *******on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 12:53 AM
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****
yes i do!
Posted by *****. on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 12:54 AM
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***** :D
your right why would we listen to a book and i still dont know what i am.
maybe when i startto think about it more and put more thougt in toit then ill figure something out
but what that said was really what i think too
Posted by ***** :D on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 12:55 AM
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*******
OHH wow, i wayy agree with you on alot of that. i really dont know what to believe in anymore. i tried out the whole christian thing, and it just didnt do anything for me. i cant understand how people could have such a loving god that allows some truely horrible things to happen. if i was a god i'f want peace love happiness and all such other things. i like the idea of evolution and coming from monkeys, but then it always circles back to the whole "what came first, egg or chicken", but then i think to myself, well if everything just came out of this one creature, like one specimen evolved, and multiplied and then continually multiplied and moved to different areas and grew and changed and adapted to what was around them. that much makes perfect sense to me, but then how did that first thing come to be. like im downright a non believer in god. in any god ive heard of it all sounds like stories to me.
my main thing is the whole bible thing. like what if, the bible was really just some little kids comic book, or super hero story? somehow the whole family died and they found the book and spread it around and people started to believe in it.
i guess i just want proof to believe in something.
i think it would be dumb of myself to fully believe in something just in case there really is a heaven or hell.
i really hope no one gets offended by anything and im not putting anyone down for believing in god and im not trying to make fun of anyones religion.
Posted by ******on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 12:59 AM
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******
i mean, science makes so much more sense than "god did it".
sometimes religion seems quite foolish.
idk, its a toughy.
and about the bible, its hard for me to believe.
i mean, they took out many books when revising it being careful to not let the books contradict themselves.
how are we supposed to know the whole truth if they are hiding books from us??
Posted by **** on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:09 AM
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*******
i always wonder, if they took stuff out of it to keep it, like, "fixed" and believable, what would stop them from putting things into it?
Posted by ******on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:12 AM
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*****
i know.
there really is no telling...
Posted by ******. on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:13 AM
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******
i know and i hate that.
and since we are on the god topic, what kind of loving god allows wars to happen and judges people that he supposedly created?
and how could someone be gay if god didnt want them to? doesnt he have a plan for everyone? so hes got life all marked out for anyone, so anyone that is different, or not what his bible says.
i dont know.
im really not all that informed on it.
i guess i just really dont get how it could all be.
Posted by ******] on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:26 AM
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*****
yes! i especially don't understand homosexuality and religion.
ok, so god created everyone's life path.
he apparently already knows everything that you will ever do and become.
well then he led that person to become gay or bi or straight, right?
yet, churches constantly discourage and/or resent homosexuality.
pretty stupid if you ask me!
Posted by *****. on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:29 AM
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****
AH! i sooo agree with you on that. like to the EXTREME! if he planned everyones everything, why would he plan for someone to fail, or to be something he wouldnt except.
ha, your fast becoming one of my favorite people.
tis quite fabulous.
Posted by ***** on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:46 AM
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*****
Kudos on figuring it out before age 16 like I did.
Posted by *****on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:02 AM
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*****
ha, yeah.
i've put a lot of thought into it lately.
Posted by ***** on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 1:10 AM
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♥everyone calls me jana banana... ((( THIS IS MINE)))))
Okay: now this is hard to write since I work for a church, but my degree is in psychology, not divinity, so I come from a whole different perspective than some youth directors.
My background is Baptist; Northern Baptist is about as different from Southern Baptist as you can get, it's much quieter, more like a Methodist service, but it is still pretty strict. There way is the ONLY way, and that didn't make any sense to me. I was the kid that made my Sunday School teacher crazy, asking questions she could not answer. I got "saved" every single time they did an altar call, whether it was at the skating rink or at a church, and evey time felt nothing. Every time I opened a Bible, it was about someone killing someone else, a war, all really negative, awful stuff. I felt exactly the way you describe in your blog, almost word for word.
When I was in high school and into my early 20s, I studied Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. THAT made sense to me. The whole concept of loving every sentient being, whether it be a small insect or another human being. But then, the more I studied Tibetan Buddhism, it started getting weird. Lots of strange traditions, classes that made no sense whatsoever. So I started studying other religions. Judaism (Jew), Hinduism, Unitarian, etc. I did a LOT of reading in those years.
Then, I read a great book comparing Jesus to Buddha. It was amazing. It made so much sense. There is a period of time where Jesus went away, and no matter how many translations of the Bible has been made, no one really knows where he went. Did he travel East and sit under the Bodhi tree and discover enlightenment through meditation, like Buddha? Or are he and Buddha one and the same? Or could Jesus be one of many spiritual masters that have lived on this planet, like Buddha in India, Confucious in China, wonderful Native American Indians, etc? It is hard for me to understand and embrace religions that hate homosexuality... which is biology in it's perfect form, you are either born that way or you are not. It is even harder for me to understand how religion could support racism... like there is a separate heaven for white people??? And the worst thing is the total disregard for other religions, especially good, kind, wonderful humans that have lived on this planet. If Gandhi is not in a fundamentalist heaven, then I wouldn't want to go there.
My advice to you and to all who read this, is to research, research, research. This is why I made my choice to be a Methodist years ago. They are more tolerant on races, and are becoming more and more accepting of homosexuality, and do not judge other religions. All are welcome at the church, and at the communion rail. (some churches ban other religions from receiving communion at their altar) The whole anti-gay thing comes from just a few verses, and when you really study the context of those verses they make no sense. I can give you a few examples of some, there is one where Lot tells men coming to rape his male guests.... and he throws out his own daughters and says, "Here, take them instead"... that is pretty crazy. And the whole raping of men in those days was an act of violence, and still goes on in some places.. prisons, to name one... and there is no mention of a good, loving relationship between two people of the same sex like we can understand in our world today. Although, some Bible scholars that are tolerant say that they did indeed find some non-traditional same sex partners that when you read them closely, sound like loving same sex couples that you would find in today's world.
Don't just choose a religion and say, "Oh, I am a Buddhist" without really reading all you can find about it. And that is the tough thing about being a kid, you are compelled to be whatever religion your parents are. And you may not agree with what that religion is. The best, kindest, most tolerant people in the world are the ones that find the best parts of many of the world religions and disregard the ones that do not feel right. I had a best friend tell me one time that the only parts of the Bible he reads and likes are "The ones in red", meaning in some older Bibles the words of Jesus were printed in red ink. I think that was what made me come full circle again, was just reading about Jesus. He was the ONLY one in the Bible that was fully accepting. He sat with lepers, prostitutes, people from other races and religious beliefs, and not only accepted them all, he loved them all unconditionally. He hated the idea of changing money in a house of worship, and it freaked him out so much he overturned tables and had a big fit. He spent time alone, praying/meditating, and told people to not make a big deal about fasting and praying to get attention, to be more quiet and personal with your faith. I like that. I think if he came back to earth today, he'd be working in the soup kitchens, and wouldn't step foot into the big fancy churches built "in his honor".
There is no way that anyone can be 100% sure of their religious faith until they are well informed. And even then, there will be doubts. I think that science even is perplexed about the awesomeness about creation. If we evolved from monkeys, where is the missing link? Why are they not evolving anymore? I think that the Fibonacci sequence, the math perfection of something as common as the face of a sunflower or the spiral of a pinecone is amazing. I think that Da Vinci had the right idea, he was a genius and could "see" the perfection of seemingly random things coming together. For me, it is comforting to go to church and be with other people who come together to use their resources (their tithes and offerings) to help our fellow man. That is the nicest thing about good churches, they are taking care of others. If it weren't for them, they'd be no organization that would be so generous to raise money to help the poorest of the poor. Most other organizations lie about where the money really goes, and it goes to make the heads of the companies very very rich while just a small bit goes to where they say it goes. At churches, it's all public record and it's easy to track where it all goes.
So, forgive my long post. Know that it is good to question and to learn. When you read the Bible, concentrate on the chapters that pertain JUST TO JESUS. The Old Testament is really about another period of time in history with very strict Jewish laws that really don't have much to do with today, but the cool thing is that it is a good way to read about the history of mankind, and how we evolved. Jesus was sent down here because they were doing it all wrong. They didn't realize that God wasn't a hateful being that smited them and sent down vengeance, he was love. Even the strictest, most fundamental religion has to admit that the biggest rule that Jesus spoke of was "Love One Another", simple as that.
So, kudos to Christophe for coming up with a very good discussion. It'll make you a stronger person to really come up with your OWN decision regarding religion. Blindly believing what another feeds to you is how something as terrible as the Holocaust happened. A smart man and woman makes up their own mind. Just beware of folks that try to sway you to their way... if something feels wrong in the pit of your stomach, listen to that intuition. Beliefs or people that are good and positive will never steer you down the wrong path.
Posted by ♥everyone calls me jana banana... on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 8:05 AM
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*****
AH!
thank you so much jana.
i think that i'm gonna be asking you a lot of questions.
religion is such a broad thing that i know extremely little about.
i need to study the bible more (the jesus parts), and read a lot about other religions.
ii think that all religions are connected in ways.
i just need to figure out what i believe and how i feel about certain things.
right now i feel a great sense of ignorance and i want to change that.
i am so glad that i have you (a good friend and youth pastor) to help me.
on more blindly believing for ****. i am gonna do a lot of reading!
i loveee you!
Posted by *****. on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 11:12 AM
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****[♥]
I totally understand where your coming from, i mean how are you suppose to live by a book and actually understand it, cause truthfully i don't even understand the bible.
What are you suppose to do if you don't really understand it?
i have no idea... So how can i decide what to do next, it's like im caught in the middle of a bunch of religion stuff
Posted by *****[♥] on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 9:14 AM
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*****
we just have to read and not blindly believe in what others tell us.
it's your decision in what you believe.
Posted by *****. on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 11:13 AM
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*****
well, i see where you're coming from, but i'd personally rather be safe than sorry.
Posted by ***** on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 9:42 AM
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*****
Wow this is really interesting and i belive what you say is true, ha now ive got something to say if someone calls me an atheist. thats happens to me a lot it seems. but you see i know im not. this was very deep, thoughtful, contraversal today to many people but who cares really what others think as long you yourself are happy with what you belive in and who you are.
Posted by ******on [11 Jun 2007 Monday] at 10:24 AM
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Pretty damn deep, and half of these kids are only like 13, 14 years old. And my friends in the 30's and 40's are saying the SAME EXACT THING.
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