Wrote this a while ago, finally getting around to pushing the publish button.
I've been thinking a lot about religion, faith and fear in the aftermath of the Paris attacks and the recent San Bernardino shooting. My thoughts are all over the place, but I want to put them down to make sense of them. I don't know what I'm thinking until I read what I write.
These attacks are horrifying. I cannot imagine the sadness and grief that the families who lost loved ones must be going through. They are such senseless deaths. But so are the deaths of the Syrian refugees who are fleeing the very same extremist terrorists that the world fears. The death of a Parisian in a gun attack is senseless, but equally as senseless is the death of a Syrian child whose boat was turned away at a border of a country that could have been a refuge.
The world is so broken right now. I don't have the answers. But I cannot imagine that refusing to take refugees who have nowhere else to go is any part of the solution to fixing this broken world. I don't think any rhetoric blaming Muslims generally, or any rhetoric that causes further misunderstandings about the faith and the largely peaceful population of believers, is part of the solution either. So when presidential candidates start spewing ridiculous comments that we shouldn't allow Muslims into the US, I seriously want to punch them in the face. Not that that would be any part of the solution to fixing this broken world, but it would make me feel a teeny bit better.
I love Jesus, but I hate religion. Because I love Jesus, and I really really want to know him better and be more like him, I try to see people how he might see them, other than how I actually see them. Mother Teresa used to see Jesus in every single person she helped - when she washed their wounds, she was washing Jesus' wounds. When she wanted to see Jesus, she didn't look up to heaven, but looked into the eyes of the person next to her. And that makes a lot of sense to me, because God made us in his own image. Not only some of us, but all of us. And so, I tell myself when I come across someone (especially those people that I don't like), that there is a piece of God reflected in this person, and I should look for that piece, other than the annoying piece that makes me want to run away and/or punch them in the face.
Here's what I love and believe about Jesus. He is the bridge between me and God. He is the thing that makes me understand God's love and grace and mercy and forgiveness. He IS God's love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.
Here's what I don't believe about Jesus. I don't believe he is the only way to God. I realize that is heresy for most Christians. The more I ruminate on it, the more I believe for myself that Jesus is salvation. I don't mean salvation from hell. I mean salvation from myself. Salvation from my sin, my self-hate, my hate of others, my unforgiving nature, my bitterness, my ingratitude. For me, whether there's a heaven or hell in the afterlife is both an open question and irrelevant. Even if this life is all we have - especially if this life is all we have - living life with the grace of God (i.e., love and forgiveness) is really the only way. And I personally experience that grace through Jesus. But if others can experience the grace of God in another way, then who am I to say that it's wrong?
I guess what I mean to say is that - we don't know, do we? We don't know for sure if there is only one way to God or one way to heaven (if there is a heaven). But I do believe that living with the grace of Jesus is the only way I know how to be even close to content.
I think that God wants to be known by us. And I think in each of us, there's a God-sized hole that wants to know God. And whatever road helps each of us to understand God's loving heart - well that's your own journey.
I've been thinking a lot about religion, faith and fear in the aftermath of the Paris attacks and the recent San Bernardino shooting. My thoughts are all over the place, but I want to put them down to make sense of them. I don't know what I'm thinking until I read what I write.
These attacks are horrifying. I cannot imagine the sadness and grief that the families who lost loved ones must be going through. They are such senseless deaths. But so are the deaths of the Syrian refugees who are fleeing the very same extremist terrorists that the world fears. The death of a Parisian in a gun attack is senseless, but equally as senseless is the death of a Syrian child whose boat was turned away at a border of a country that could have been a refuge.
The world is so broken right now. I don't have the answers. But I cannot imagine that refusing to take refugees who have nowhere else to go is any part of the solution to fixing this broken world. I don't think any rhetoric blaming Muslims generally, or any rhetoric that causes further misunderstandings about the faith and the largely peaceful population of believers, is part of the solution either. So when presidential candidates start spewing ridiculous comments that we shouldn't allow Muslims into the US, I seriously want to punch them in the face. Not that that would be any part of the solution to fixing this broken world, but it would make me feel a teeny bit better.
I love Jesus, but I hate religion. Because I love Jesus, and I really really want to know him better and be more like him, I try to see people how he might see them, other than how I actually see them. Mother Teresa used to see Jesus in every single person she helped - when she washed their wounds, she was washing Jesus' wounds. When she wanted to see Jesus, she didn't look up to heaven, but looked into the eyes of the person next to her. And that makes a lot of sense to me, because God made us in his own image. Not only some of us, but all of us. And so, I tell myself when I come across someone (especially those people that I don't like), that there is a piece of God reflected in this person, and I should look for that piece, other than the annoying piece that makes me want to run away and/or punch them in the face.
Here's what I love and believe about Jesus. He is the bridge between me and God. He is the thing that makes me understand God's love and grace and mercy and forgiveness. He IS God's love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.
Here's what I don't believe about Jesus. I don't believe he is the only way to God. I realize that is heresy for most Christians. The more I ruminate on it, the more I believe for myself that Jesus is salvation. I don't mean salvation from hell. I mean salvation from myself. Salvation from my sin, my self-hate, my hate of others, my unforgiving nature, my bitterness, my ingratitude. For me, whether there's a heaven or hell in the afterlife is both an open question and irrelevant. Even if this life is all we have - especially if this life is all we have - living life with the grace of God (i.e., love and forgiveness) is really the only way. And I personally experience that grace through Jesus. But if others can experience the grace of God in another way, then who am I to say that it's wrong?
I guess what I mean to say is that - we don't know, do we? We don't know for sure if there is only one way to God or one way to heaven (if there is a heaven). But I do believe that living with the grace of Jesus is the only way I know how to be even close to content.
I think that God wants to be known by us. And I think in each of us, there's a God-sized hole that wants to know God. And whatever road helps each of us to understand God's loving heart - well that's your own journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment