Thursday
Oct292009
Zealousy Divides
Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 02:27PM
A Christian friend of mine recent made the following post on FaceBook,
"The thing that gets me is that so many Muslims are willing to die for their faith, yet Christians are afraid to live just as radical. I'm not saying Christians should become suicide bombers, by no means. But Christians should be willing to die to their flesh"
This statement nicely sums up everything that absolutely terrifies me about faith, and the faithful. To me it is a horrifying notion that someone would espouse belief to the point of being willing to die for your faith as virtuous. It is not. This sort of zeal can only serve to divide people. It serves to draw lines and separate us into groups so that we might side us, versus them, and frankly, I think it is disturbing.
When we begin to have faith in our beliefs that are so strong, that we become absolutely convinced that we are right, then we also make concrete in our mind the notion that all others must therefore be wrong. This leads to hate, violence and civil unrest. America is a melting pot, we are a society made great by our diversity, by our differences, to discourage that weakens the very fabric of our society.
Why should someone be disappointed that more people of their faith are not willing to "die of the flesh"? (Side note: Is there any other way to die?) I would contend that it is a good thing that most Christians are neither willing to die nor kill for their beliefs. To claim that the willingness of radical Muslims to martyr themselves is a virtue, is to discredit the fact that Christianity is nearly 800 years more advance in it's evolution than Islam. It is saying that the progress of the last 800 years should not have happened. It flies in the face of a peaceful and tolerant society. Let us not forget that 800 years ago Christians were burning "witches", making use of slave labor, and beheading people for the "crime" of heresy. Would anyone actually want to return to that? Certainly no sane person would.
Over the last 800 years, Christians have grown, matured and become more tolerant, which is a remarkably positive change that has been embraced by society with the exception of a few right wing radicals who have become more vocal (mostly thanks to the internet) supporters of fundamentalism. It is almost always these fundamentalists who are the loudest, and bring the most discredit and shame to their faith, these are the people who kill doctors and blow-up abortion clinics. Is that something people do in a civil society? Honestly, would the Christian deity Jesus Christ have condoned the killing of people? Since when is it the place of mortals to pass judgement upon people, isn't that the purview of god himself?
Judaism is even older than Christianity, and generally even more tolerant. You don't here much about too many radical Jewish organizations, and most radical Jews are political radicals more than religious radicals. The evolution of the Abrahamic religions is clearly evident.
I think the primary thing that all people should understand is this... Your faith does not invalidate the beliefs of anyone else. Nor do their beliefs in any way invalidate or lessen your own beliefs. Tolerance, peace and goodwill are all virtues which lead to a strong, prosperous and civil society. Is it sad that more people of faith are not willing to "die of their flesh" for their beliefs? Absolutely not, it's a good thing. It's a sign of progress. Because people can be very strong in their personal beliefs without having to force them on others, and without living in a homogeneous culture.
Question faith, and question authority ALWAYS. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes...
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. " ~Buddha
As always, comments are welcome, please let me know what you think!
"The thing that gets me is that so many Muslims are willing to die for their faith, yet Christians are afraid to live just as radical. I'm not saying Christians should become suicide bombers, by no means. But Christians should be willing to die to their flesh"
This statement nicely sums up everything that absolutely terrifies me about faith, and the faithful. To me it is a horrifying notion that someone would espouse belief to the point of being willing to die for your faith as virtuous. It is not. This sort of zeal can only serve to divide people. It serves to draw lines and separate us into groups so that we might side us, versus them, and frankly, I think it is disturbing.
When we begin to have faith in our beliefs that are so strong, that we become absolutely convinced that we are right, then we also make concrete in our mind the notion that all others must therefore be wrong. This leads to hate, violence and civil unrest. America is a melting pot, we are a society made great by our diversity, by our differences, to discourage that weakens the very fabric of our society.
Why should someone be disappointed that more people of their faith are not willing to "die of the flesh"? (Side note: Is there any other way to die?) I would contend that it is a good thing that most Christians are neither willing to die nor kill for their beliefs. To claim that the willingness of radical Muslims to martyr themselves is a virtue, is to discredit the fact that Christianity is nearly 800 years more advance in it's evolution than Islam. It is saying that the progress of the last 800 years should not have happened. It flies in the face of a peaceful and tolerant society. Let us not forget that 800 years ago Christians were burning "witches", making use of slave labor, and beheading people for the "crime" of heresy. Would anyone actually want to return to that? Certainly no sane person would.
Over the last 800 years, Christians have grown, matured and become more tolerant, which is a remarkably positive change that has been embraced by society with the exception of a few right wing radicals who have become more vocal (mostly thanks to the internet) supporters of fundamentalism. It is almost always these fundamentalists who are the loudest, and bring the most discredit and shame to their faith, these are the people who kill doctors and blow-up abortion clinics. Is that something people do in a civil society? Honestly, would the Christian deity Jesus Christ have condoned the killing of people? Since when is it the place of mortals to pass judgement upon people, isn't that the purview of god himself?
Judaism is even older than Christianity, and generally even more tolerant. You don't here much about too many radical Jewish organizations, and most radical Jews are political radicals more than religious radicals. The evolution of the Abrahamic religions is clearly evident.
I think the primary thing that all people should understand is this... Your faith does not invalidate the beliefs of anyone else. Nor do their beliefs in any way invalidate or lessen your own beliefs. Tolerance, peace and goodwill are all virtues which lead to a strong, prosperous and civil society. Is it sad that more people of faith are not willing to "die of their flesh" for their beliefs? Absolutely not, it's a good thing. It's a sign of progress. Because people can be very strong in their personal beliefs without having to force them on others, and without living in a homogeneous culture.
Question faith, and question authority ALWAYS. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes...
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. " ~Buddha
As always, comments are welcome, please let me know what you think!
Reader Comments (1)
I just want to clarify that "dieing to your flesh" is an inward battle. It's about lining up with you believe is right, with the Bible (as I believe it to be, the word/will of God).
For example (since you quote the Pro-Life bombing)...I for a long time was indifferent about abortions. I believed the choice was between that woman and God ultimately. But after studying it out in the Bible and learning that God hates the shedding of innocent blood, the battle (and dieing of my flesh) inside of me, as to whether I should be indifferent about abortion was something I had to let go of. I had to let my ideas about abortion "die."
It's a mindset shift, of taking what you believe to be true and lining it up with what God says is true. It's something Christians of today fall short of, clearly evident through the hypocrisy in the church of Christians who say one thing Sunday and do another the 6 other days of the week.