religion...ramblings...

After I wrote all of this, I realized some may be offended. Please don't be...I'm not trying to upset or make fun or anything, I'm just trying to understand. This is my crisis of faith that's been going on for years that has been piqued by what I'm reading and watching.

I wish school was as interesting as the books I read for fun. Right now I'm reading The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible by A. J. Jacobs. He is agnostic, but he decides to live his life as Biblically as possible for one year. He spends most of his time focusing on the Old Testament. He tries to follow it as literally as possible. He has several spiritual advisors that he talks to, he prays 3 times a day for 10 minutes, and he seperates his fibers. Instead of focusing on the 613 laws set by Rabbis many moons ago, he picks some to focus on because if he tried to follow them all at once his brain would explode. He's not picky about what specific organization/sect/religion he speaks to...he visits an Amish farm, he celebrates Simchas Torah, and he goes to the Creation Museum.

The Creation Museum really intrigues me...in the museum there are dinosaurs and humans living together. They really believe that the Earth was created 6,000 years ago. The organization that opened the Creation Museum is called Answers in Genesis and they have a way to explain everything. According to the organization, dinosaurs were created on Day 6, the same day as Adam and Eve and all the other land animals, and they were on Noah's Ark. Of course, the fossils are from the animals that died in the Great Flood. Where are the dinosaurs now? Well, a few hundred years ago when everyone saw dragons flying around, those were dinosaurs. And Job references a "behemoth" which is a dinosaur. If you were wondering, the reason we don't have dinosaurs today...well, after the Flood, the Earth was different, they just couldn't survive in the new surroundings.

They are very convincing. They don't just give you their spin, they also tell you what scientists say. In the Jacobs book, he even says there is an astrophysicist (or someone like that) that works there and even he believes the Answers in Genesis theory. It's incredibly intriguing.

Bill Maher visited the Creation Museum in Religulous...he also went to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando. It's a Biblical theme park. He also really brings up information that I never heard in my church going days. Maher mentions previous gods that are similar to Jesus in many ways...virgin birth, baptism, disciples, etc. He mentions Mithra, Horus/Osiris, and Krishna to name a few...I'm going to need to look into those some more for my own information. He isn't kind to any religion, he calls Scientologists crazy. But he also makes a good point...who's to say what's crazy? A virgin birth or aliens inside us or men flying away on horses? I've never seen a pregnant virgin, an alien or a flying horse. (For the record, Maher says religion is a neurological disease and everyone is crazy...except it's sanity by consensus.) Maher even talks to Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda a man that believes he is the second coming of Christ (and apparently the Antichrist at the same time). There's also people in Amsterdam that smoke a lot of pot and call it a religion (Cantheism). And, one of my favorite parts is when Maher visits the Muslim gay bar. (But really, my FAVORITE part is when he's dressed like a crazy man yelling the tenets of Scientology.)

While both Religulous and Living Biblically are both two men seeking answers, they do it in very different ways. I appreciate both. Maher is funny...it's what he does for a living, but I think he makes very valid points along the way. Jacobs is attempting to get his answers by doing and I can respect that. Sometimes to get answers, you can't just ask questions, you have to experience it for yourself and learn along the way.

Bottom line...I don't know what I believe. I started going to church when I was a baby with my aunt and uncle, essentially I was raised Baptist. When I was around 10, my parents started going to church, so I went with them. My parents went to (and still attend) a Pentecostal church. Two VERY different denominations of Christianity. By the time I was 14, I stopped going to church. My dad was not pleased. I just didn't get it...I never felt the pull or maybe I did and I don't remember anymore. When I was 14, it was hard for me to look around and see all the other people my age that were going these really horrible things, and I was supposed to keep going to church so that I wouldn't do those things? We're talking drugs, drinking, and sex....I didn't do any of that at 14...and not at 15, 16, 17, 18 or even now!...I was a really good kid and it wasn't church that made me that way.

Now with everything going on, I just don't know. Mark talks about going to church, but would it help? If he believes it will, then yes...I think it will help. But if he's just going because everyone else tells him he should, then it's not going to change anything.

See...I believe that a belief is true when it is believed...and it's true for the believer, not for everyone else. Essentially, it's impossible to argue with believers because in their head it's true...there's no changing it and really no reason to judge because they could be right.

I have to stop now...I'm going to start rambling even more and not getting anywhere.

Bottom line...I think Religulous is something that everyone should watch because if you're going to believe something, eventually someone will question you and you have to be able to defend your belief intelligently. That's part of what makes the movie funny, some people have no idea how to get their point across without sounding silly. Maher even gives props when someone has a genious analogy (the Holy Trinity like water/ice/vapor - from the man that plays Jesus at Holy Land).

Seriously, I'm done now.