Monday, May 21, 2007

Living the Faith

Interesting experience finding myself the target of a group of women who are trying to prevent others who don’t understand, refuse to understand or just plain disagree with the RC church from sharing their opinion. I posted about the suicide and the disconnect that seemed evident in the lives of the family. My whole point was not about whether the RC should have done the service, but that the family clung to a set of values that they did not really believe — or at least did not live.

Thanks to the person who wrote me to tell me how I became the target. I tried to reply but my e-mail was kicked back.

That to me is the paradox. Why we claim allegiance to something, yet have no practical application. I would have asked the same question whether he was clutching a rosary or a KJV Bible. Neither were a part of his life.

The question that I ask is WHY? Why the allegiance to the RC, UMC, Baptist or whatever faith tradition, if we do not live it? The hypocrisy of clinging to a false faith suggests that we all (whatever tradition we are in) have failed this family.

I am willing to minister to these families in need (Even when others won’t, refuse to, cannot — that is not the issue) because I want to try to bridge the gap that exists in the survivors lives. Religion is meant to be lived, not a magic ticket to heaven or anywhere else.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The question of why people cling to things they do not necessarily totally believe in (I'm paraphrasing) is a good one. It also is relevant to things beyond the church--like politics, ethnicity, nationality, etc. We are human beings, we are social animals. We need to feel we belong to a tribe--that is simply how we are hardwired from a social and biological standpoint--and for some very good reasons. I guess another question is, when we pledge loyalty to a group or religion, are we bound to believe 100% of the Canon? Or can we pick and choose? Or is it more important to follow what one's heart sees as the true, basic messages that Jesus Christ tried to teach us and accept the organized religion of our choice as only a way to find the tribal identity we need to feel more comfortable as human beings? The basic teachings of the Bible--don't lie, cheat, hurt others, judge, etc--are fairly consistent across the board. We all know what those things mean. It just takes a strong conviction to standup when your official tribe doctrine is obviously going against those teachings. Jesus did stood up to his religious leaders and look what happened to him. It's a scary thing to stand up for what's right sometimes; sometimes standing up for what's right is the same thing as casting yourself out of your tribe and that goes against some very deeply ingrained instincts.