What is the Purpose of Religion?

Is religion a club? Is it a requirement of life? Is Hell a tool to Save souls? No. Religion is a relationship between you and your God. Since there only appears to be one God, let's just call him/her/it/them God. God created the universe. Many people say they don't believe in God for a variety of reasons. Some hate God. What has God done to deserve this? He created the universe and us and gave us lives. I've thought about it quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that I've received way more than I have given. We're here and we got here somehow. Someone set the universe in motion. Perhaps He used the Big Bang and evolution to accomplish this purpose. Who knows? How would you determine whether or not God exists other than that we exist? That does it for me. From that point we can only wonder Who God is and how we can get in touch with Him. We can ascertain that all that is good is made possible by Him and all that is bad is a simple consequence of our choosing to do bad things instead. Life is a learning experience. Most people aren't interested in learning, though, they just want to suck out all the good they can without thinking about their responsibility of passing it on to the next needful person. I'm sure God doesn't appreciate that. He gives out of love and we hoard out of greed. We Americans are the worst. It's incredible how much we need.
Where is God? I don't know. I can only detect the universe. I don't know what's outside it or even if. But God created all that we know. He is not governed by the universe's rules. Is He with us? Is He outside the universe? I'm sure that both are routine to Him. He is Something we cannot detect unless He chooses to reveal Himself as He did to Moses. How many of us could handle such a thing? I think if He appeared before me, all I would feel is utter shame. All we have is our religion - our communion with the Creator. And, as far as I can tell, it's better when you don't do it alone. That's what your church or synagogue is for. People gather and share themselves and admire their Creator. They show their gratefulness. Many dance to show their joy. That's religion.

Freedom of Religion

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Modern English: Congress shall make no law regarding an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of it; or censoring the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble peacefully, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This is not nearly as complicated as the ACLU and the liberal courts make it. It is very simple. Congress cannot establish a specific religion that its citizens are required to follow. Got that? Congress cannot prevent its citizens from freely exercising their religion. Two completely different things. Don't tell me what religion to follow and don't stop me from following the religion I choose. The next part tells me I can complain about Congress when I don't like what they are doing. If you have half a brain, you will stop voting for idiots. Then the press is shown as having the right to make public things the Congress is doing, including the consequences. The people should be allowed to gather peacefully to express their dissatisfaction with Congress when there is a problem. We should be able to stand before Congress to state our cases. There is no separation of church and state here. If you think there is, you cannot read English. A Christmas display can be placed on the White House lawn if the people want it. This has nothing whatever to do with the establishment of religion. They just say, Okay, you can do it. They don't pass any laws. You can set up a menorah or any other religious object. Anything is fine short of beliefs that are antagonistic such as the KKK, who have only symbols of hatred to display. Anyone who doesn't like this amendment is free to go to any other nation on the planet. See ya.

The Evil Holidays

Merry Christmas! Hope I didn't offend you. If I did, you need to toughen up. Apparently you're a whiner. Run to your mommy and tell her an evil man said something that hurt your feelings. Call your lawyer. It's the new American way. What a bunch of idiots. Everything that is traditional is becoming offensive. Christians are offensive. Christmas is offensive. Free speech is offensive. Where will it end? Even the military is screwed. They're letting women in. That in itself is not offensive. What is offensive is that the women don't have to do as much to qualify. Why not? If they want to be a fighting man, go to the gym and build up your muscles so you can pass the test. Stop wussing up our country. Someday we will be subject to another country's will. I wish all the luck to you wusses. I was raised to deal with problems, not go whining to my mommy or a lawyer or congressman (congressperson for you wuss women). Okay, now that brings up another thing. Women rebelled against their being different from men. They started wearing pants and demanding that each word has to be scrutinized to make sure it is gender-inclusive. Then they wanted to be chairpersons instead of chairmen. Since they're trying to be men, why wouldn't they want to be a chairman? It's a title and it's not gender specific. On Star Trek they have it right. Whoever is the commander - male or female - they are called Sir. Why don't people get lives and quit whining? Merry Christmas.

A Letter to Sears

"I won't be shopping at your store for Christmas this year. I am very annoyed at how inhumane you have treated people. Thanksgiving is the one generic day we have each year to relax from work and be with family. It is the day to be thankful for all we have and share. The only reason you are staying open is to get one more greedy day of sales to shove into your pockets. To hell with the peons that do your real work. I venture to say the higher-ups will not be working. So long, you inhumane thieves of lives."

Utterly Ashamed

I have not done my life well - the number of times God had to help me along proves that - but I have always remembered that I was given a free life. There's always that dark corner of my mind where I store my shame. That corner keeps getting fuller and there's less room in my mind to enjoy things where I don't notice that huge pile. But most of the time I have been aware of the God who gave me my life and have been grateful. All through my life, however, I have been around many people who are totally ungrateful and won't even set aside a moment to think about it. In the new century, especially, things are looking quite bad. I have a car that's fun to drive, a phone that does everything imaginable, a PDA that keeps track of everything, a watch that sets itself, TV shows that I can watch whenever I feel like it, a shortwave radio to listen to faraway stations, a laptop on which I have many projects going on the Internet, yet I still have time for God. There's music on my phone - stored and radioed, I can watch digital movies and TV shows on my laptop, I have games there as well as on my PDA and phone, and still I have time to think about God and contemplate things.

One of the things I contemplate is how a person can play games, watch TV, play paintball, go hunting, collect things, go site-seeing, and do so many other things to fill his time - and never once think about Who made it possible. God gave us our lives and let us choose what to do with them. I have made many bad decisions but even I, as apathetic as I've been at times, cannot imagine not giving God a moment of my time - ever. People say things and I will ask them questions pertaining to their statement and am appalled at the answers I get. God is not something they can even honestly think about. They have their ready-made answers that pop out of their mouths without considering what has been asked.

And they have been supplied well with all sorts of comebacks. Yet I can interrogate them just a little and they will admit that they really don't know what they're saying (it just sounded good) and they tell me they just really don't care, in so many words. It seems to be an American phenomenon to wait until the last possible moment, then tell God you're sorry and everything will be fine. Suddenly it fits into their schedule. Something tells me that's not making God happy.

I'm about to sound religious here as I explain a concept, so some of you might want to go play with your toys so you won't be uncomfortable. Christians have a word called 'repentance' which they don't really explain well. However, it is a very simple concept. God wants to see us face to face. If we don't feel like it, we turn our backs to Him. We are very greedy little critters and we're just so busy. There we stand entertaining ourselves with our backs turned to Him, shunning Him. Hopefully, at some point in our lives while there is still a chance (not dead yet), we realize that He is still there, waiting patiently. Our conscience starts to hurt and we realize what a horrible thing we have done. Then we repent. That means we turn back around and acknowledge his presence. He is still there, loving us and caring about us and helping us behind our back, and we finally find the time to turn back around and admit it.

I am glad - and you should be, too - that I am not God. There would be a lot of impatience and zapping going on. I get very tense when I am ignored. My daughter has a bad habit of trying to strike up a conversation with her mother when I am disciplining her about her latest error. What would it be like if there was a whole world of people out there doing that? No, I wouldn't allow them to do whatever they want to do, then suddenly show up on my doorstep when they need something. I would be very bad in God's position. You would actually have a reason to hate me.

Nobody has a reason to hate God. They just do. I'm ashamed of the whole human race. Especially me.

Prayer

Last night I was watching the 700 Club. I know that some of you have just had a brain anurism but I watch things for their value and ignore things that are not relevant. I'm not advertising the 700 Club. It is one of those things I wouldn't recommend to those who have weak foundations. However, there are some things I love to watch - digging a well for a community in a faraway land who have no suitable water supply, for example, gives me a thrill. Orphans who are shunned by their people finding a home does, too.


What I saw last night on the 700 Club struck a nerve. This verse was read: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3.5-6)


There in a single verse is my entire philosophy of prayer. I am annoyed by those who say that God always answers prayer, sometimes the answer is just no. That seems rather lame to me. I seldom pray for myself - that's other people's jobs. When I pray it is for others. God has taught me over the years just to trust Him. Things have happened in my life that cannot be explained. I don't ask God for help, He just does it. It's as if I were a small child and my mother and father listen to me but don't necessarily do what I want. Their goal is what is good for me in the long run. That candy looks mighty fine. Why won't they give it to me? They don't care about me. I hate them.


Sadly that's exactly the way people treat God. He's taking care of us but we don't like the way He's doing it so we hate Him. I know someone who is mad at Him because his daddy died on Christmas day. It seems like a good complaint but if you do a little math you'll see how silly it is. There are 6,875,438,181 people in the world as I write this. Considering the number of days in a year as a nice, round 365, that means that about 18,836,817 of us will die on Christmas day. Are all their relatives and friends going to be mad at God?


"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."


My philosophy about prayer is that God answers them all. He doesn't say no. What He does is lead you onto your next path. Accept it and don't try to explain what you don't understand. When I heard the verse above I was astonished that I had never seen the verse this way. Trusting in the Lord with all your heart is your prayer. Not leaning on your own understanding is accepting what path He chooses. Surely you wouldn't want to choose your own path when there's Someone much more qualified. In all your ways acknowledging Him is accepting his choice, whether you like that path or not. He will make your paths straight.


Sometimes trying to understand why He chose the path He did is like trying to understand what is beyond the universe. I have taken a passive role pertaining to me. It is your job to pray for me. It is my job to pray for you. Like the angry child who can't have his candy, we do not understand the effect every move will make on the future. We don't know which way is the right way to get where we're going. God does. We might suffer. But as I said, life is a learning experience. Sometimes you're not the one learning. Sometimes it is those who see you.

What is Religion?

Religion is the belief in a higher Power, Something supernatural. Some worship nature. I think that is offensive to the One who created nature. Other religions are simply philosophy about how the universe works. Buddha almost died practicing Hinduism. Jesus did die trying to purify Judaism. By the way, the Jewish leaders he was trying to straighten out were the ones who had him killed, not the Jewish people.

To me religion is the relationship between a person and his Creator. We do not really know much about the Creator except this: Someone created all we know who is not subject to the creation's rules. Therefore it is a futile effort to try to prove or disprove God. You might say that everyone's religion is whether Someone caused the universe or it just happened. I find the latter option rather ridiculous though I'm still waiting for the final report. Good luck with that.

I believe there is a God. In fact, I'm pretty certain. I have seen things that are beyond coincidence in my own life. So the whole premise of this blog is that there is Someone we don't understand who gave us lives we didn't earn nor deserve. The typical person who hates God cannot deal with that fact.

I live in Texas and we have tornadoes. I have seen many tornadoes and have seen a good number form. One day bad weather moved in and  I was watching the sky. Directly above us a large tornado started forming. I seldom just stop everything and pray but this seemed to be a rather good idea considering the circumstances. As I asked God not to let this tornado cause misery I noticed something happening in the corner of my eye. Something that looked like a wall cloud came across the sky and took out that tornado. That is something I will always have burned into my memory.

I think most of the time God answers our prayers in ways we don't recognize. However, sometimes He just steps in and does something obvious. This is just one of many things I have seen. He didn't do it because I had some sort of influence on Him nor did He do it because I deserved it. What I have is a free gift He gave me and life is a learning experience. Some learn, some don't. The meaning of life is to be grateful.