I was raised Catholic.
I went to convent school.
Through the Catholic Church I learned to help the poor and to (try) and love my fellow humans. Very simplistic.
I never really was into to the dogma, but I still consider myself a Christian and that has facilitated my liberalism. Through the Catholic Church I was encouraged to join youth organizations that encouraged us to help those poorer than we were, to be kind and respectful of everyone.
Christians get knocked on this site all the time. Some for good reason. I just can not get my head around the royal 'Christian Right.' On some level I can see the Christian Right as the Saducees. Enchained in dogma and their own self worth. No humility and absolutely sure it is their way or the highway.
In the end, when we die, we'll find out or not.
I am Christian because the idea of Jesus intrigues me and moves me greatly. The idea of his sacrifice is enough. The idea.
I am not stagnant in my Christianity. I do not practice or think of being a Christian in the same was as I did growing up.
I wonder about the singularity theory of how the universe started. I wonder where the singularity came from. Did it come from nothing? How could it have come from nothing? Did some powerful something make it happen? I wonder about dark matter, dark energy and all the billions of stars, nebula, black holes, quasars, suns. They are so beautiful in the night sky and the pictures from Hubble. So stunning.
I wonder about how life started on earth, if there is life on other planets. I wonder at the purpose of making cockroaches, Trees. Are trees the nose hairs of the world? A filter?
But I never wonder about the wonder of caring for other humans, sacrificing for them or keeping the 10 commandments. Because it makes sense to me, even amongst all the other wonder.
1. You shall have no other gods before me. (Focusing us.)
2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
(This is where the results of not keeping the commandments effect generations. The worship of money is a prime example. Crime, social problems, drug problems etc. The worship of an institutional defined beauty. The fashion industry...for profit. Self image problems.)
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. (Respect)
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
(Rest and time to be with our spirit. I believe that we are made up of body, mind and spirit. Kind of like the trinity. God is Mind (overmind :) ) Jesus is the flesh, the body. And the Holy Spirit, well that says it all. We exercise or minds, intellectual pursuits, our bodies..some of us do sport activties, go to the gym. But do not forget ones spirit.)
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. (Respect. Now I know that there are some parents who do not deserve it, but in general I think this is a good thing.)
6. You shall not murder. (Self explanatory.)
7. You shall not commit adultery.
(Why make a vow and then go back on it. One's word is the measure of the person. We must try to make better matches. The 10 commandments does not say thou shall not divorce though. And it does not say thou shall not have gay marriages either or that it is just between a man and a woman and all that crap. No matter who, make the vow, keep it or get out of it and then continue. But while in the vow, keep it in your pants and keep your panties up ladies.)
8. You shall not steal. (Self explanatory)
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
(Lies. Just watch the soaps or TV drama or even our government. Lies can cause such havoc that can last over the course of many television seasons.)
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."
(Envy eats at a person. Killing a person for their sneakers, cell phone, car. Trying to keep up with those Jones, who ever they are.)
I think these are good guidelines for a healthy society.
They work for me, they may not work for you, but I believe that if we kept these commandments, the world would be a better place. I'm not for holding a gun and forcing people to follow them. But I think they could work.
Simplistic, I know.
God created the world in 7 days. Some people believe that. All that says to me is that the world took time to be a place where life could grow. 7 days or 7 billion days...it doesn't matter. Not to me.
I am a Christian and still there are messages in other religions that I enjoy and think valid. But in the end, I think Jesus resonates most in me, though the Buddhists speak about life is suffering, get over it and move on... I like that. It has helped me through grief of losing a parent recently. Not Christianity. But I am still a Christian. But I do relish some Islamic teachings and rituals as well. I was totally moved by how people stop and pray during the day as a community. The voice calling from the mosque and the people stopping, getting on their knees and praying. It sent shivers over me. I thought, I could get into that. And how would that work with our good hard working Christians to stop 3 times during the day and drawn to tend to ones spirit? Ceo's along side janitors and clerks and bankers and ... how would that make this a different place?
I cried at the Wailing Wall.
The Western Wall (Hebrew: הכותל המערבי, translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi), sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall or simply the Kotel (lit. Wall; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Kosel), and as al-Buraq Wall by Muslims,[1] is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem which is also of significance to Islam. Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great. The remaining layers were added from the 7th century onwards.
(from Wikipedia)
The energy there was so strong. I was so moved. People praying, hard.
Sufis.
Hermits.
Buddhists.
Traditional religions.
I guess it is people and their energy that moves me in the end. Their spirit or their tending of their spirit through ritual...whatever gets them through it.
As an adult, I am Christian through choice. A choice to tend my spirit by the idea of an act of sacrifice by a Jew called Jesus. Some say he did not exist. It doesn't matter to me in the scheme of things. I just think of how big the universe is and everything gets kind of wonky but the idea stays.
And for me personally, it works.
Is there a God? I believe, yes. What is God? I dunno. But that is ok because I do not know what dark matter and dark energy is right now, from my perspective in the universe. No one knows how gravity acts past the event horizon of a black hole though there are theories and that is all ok with me. One day I may meet my maker, I sure hope so because my parents will be there, my friends and loved ones. Or not. But I will be dead and what does it matter either way?
Whatever gets you through this day and the next.
What Dreams May Come....
I am a Christian and a Liberal and I am ok.