Spiritual Faith -challenged

[Tayla]

Recently received word of two close associates who are by far extremely different in their faiths/beliefs. Each going thru "life" circumstances.

 

The One Gent is a devout student of faith...I admire his discipline and openness. His Brother has recently been put on life support...prognosis is not well. This is probably one of the few times where I am not in awe of his dedication. He is basically ( for a lack of better words) Glorifying in the fact that his brother will be prepared to meet God. He makes no gestures of struggles but instead treats it like a celebration to behold that his brother is dying. I cannot find that faith to be alluring. To him, he has already written his brother off and is now in spiritual glory that God is calling his brother.

 

Another Gent friend who is more agnostic and pragmatic has learned of his fathers ailing (terminal). He is following all the steps to keep his parent comfortable. He even sat and prayed with a few of us. That to me spoke more about his humility.

 

So given that humans , when tested, do seem to come together to support. I often wonder how such faiths can be so dern different! One glorifying and then the other simply wishing comfort for the life that is about to be surrendered.

 

Are our spiritual paths that different that as humans we seem to forget the living? By far my spiritualism is in need of a make over...for I am still a work in progress....What are you thoughts when challenged by faith? Do you seek other avenues or simply surrender to the inevitable? Appreciate any feedback on this scenario....

[scrapbooker]

If I had to guess, I would bet that first guy is in denial or trying to avoid the crisis of faith loss and bring about. I have known people like this. They think having NO grief is some badge of faith....or maybe they are just afraid of the grief. And sadly, some churches and teachings demean and scold people for ever grieving or being sad. That to me is shameful.

 

I lost someone who was very dear to me a couple of years ago after a long illness. I went through a whole myriad of emotions, including anger and "WHY?" I did, however, find some comfort in the faith that she was at peace and I would see her again someday.

 

I'm not sure what a person's individual coping mechanism when faced with loss has to do with humility. We each deal with it in our own way.

[MightyPen]

Well I don't have "faith" in any religious sense.

 

We humans are burdened by possessing the knowledge of our own mortality while being (at the present) no less able than other animals to actually prevent our eventual deaths. In short, we all turn to dust. A ladybug doesn't know this, but we do.

 

That makes it hard for many people to process their feelings and fears when they lose someone close to them. I try not to be cruel to people, especially grieving people, but I do view many people as being weak-willed for needing the crutch of religion in difficult times. Why in the world would people think that humans get some sort of "second chance" at life after death? We're just animals...the smartest animals on the planet, obviously...but still just animals. We're not made of some unique components. What, 98% of our DNA is identical to chimps? I just don't get why anyone would accept a crutch, other than that they are desperate and grabbing at straws to help themselves get by.

[BC1980]

We humans are burdened by possessing the knowledge of our own mortality while being (at the present) no less able than other animals to actually prevent our eventual deaths. In short, we all turn to dust. A ladybug doesn't know this, but we do.

 

That makes it hard for many people to process their feelings and fears when they lose someone close to them. I try not to be cruel to people, especially grieving people, but I do view many people as being weak-willed for needing the crutch of religion in difficult times. Why in the world would people think that humans get some sort of "second chance" at life after death? We're just animals...the smartest animals on the planet, obviously...but still just animals. We're not made of some unique components. What, 98% of our DNA is identical to chimps? I just don't get why anyone would accept a crutch, other than that they are desperate and grabbing at straws to help themselves get by.

 

I think that religion is an extremely effective coping mechanism. Though I go to church, I often have a very difficult time believing in Christianity. I've read countless books on Christianity (both for and against) in an attempt to find the smoking gun that will prove its validity. Why? Because I WANT it to be true. Because if it is true, that gives my life meaning and makes all of the difficult times more bearable. At some point, I had to come to the conclusion that even though I wanted God to be real, there was no proof of that.

 

I like your example with the ladybug. Maybe it's a curse to be more mentally advanced than other animals. More often than not, we seem to use religion to explain what we do not understand. Mental illness is a great example. My last ex, his wife died suddenly. She was pregnant at the time. Literally, she was fine one day and died the next. He became religious after that experience as a way to deal with it. He would explain to me what he thought happened after death and would reason out the meaning of her death. He had some very convoluted beliefs that he had come to. He truly believed all of it, and none of it was based on logic. I think all of these things gave him a way to deal with what was an overwhelmingly awful experience. Maybe he wasn't able to deal with it in any other way. Maybe that was the only way he could go on living his life and the only way he could find peace.

 

I think there are many religious people like my ex. People who have come by religion as a means to cope. I think there is also the opposite end of the spectrum that completely throws religion out the window in the face of tragedy. I'm probably the latter. Becoming a nurse made me question the existence of God in a new way. I lost a lot of faith after seeing so much tragedy. I see a person with schizophrenia (like my aunt) and wonder what type of cruel God would make a person that way. Others see something different. Again, religion is used to put order to our existence and give meaning to that which we do not understand.

 

Something else I have realized is that we have little to no control over how we process these things. I know a lot of religious people who 100% believe in their religion, and I used to wish I could be like them. I used to wish I could make myself believe, but we don't control that. So yeah, I think it's very complicated and not entirely under our control.

[Tayla]

Thank you each for your replies and as varying are the shades of a sunset, so too is how folks interpret spirituality and faith.

 

These friends sure do have a different way of coming to terms...

[truthtripper]

Other animals do grieve. I used to own two cats and when the older one died the younger one stopped eating for a week. A friend experienced similar when she had to put down one of her dogs. Her other dog howled for many months before coming to terms with his companion's absence. I once saw on a wildlife documentary that elephants periodically visit the remains of their deceased family members. So obviously it's only natural to grieve and there is a process of recovery involved.

 

I don't think it's the religion itself that discourages grieving. I think people manipulate and abuse religion to escape grief. Religion isn't a crutch, people use it as a crutch to escape the pain. It's a kind of denial.

 

The role of religion is to support people through grief, rather than to obliterate it.

[BetheButterfly]

Recently received word of two close associates who are by far extremely different in their faiths/beliefs. Each going thru "life" circumstances.

 

The One Gent is a devout student of faith...I admire his discipline and openness. His Brother has recently been put on life support...prognosis is not well. This is probably one of the few times where I am not in awe of his dedication. He is basically ( for a lack of better words) Glorifying in the fact that his brother will be prepared to meet God. He makes no gestures of struggles but instead treats it like a celebration to behold that his brother is dying. I cannot find that faith to be alluring. To him, he has already written his brother off and is now in spiritual glory that God is calling his brother.

 

 

Faith isn't always alluring. In the early days of Christianity, Christians risked being tortured and killed for their faith. How they responded to this was by praising God and concentrating on the afterlife instead of on the temporary life on earth.

 

Out of curiosity, does he pray with and comfort his brother?

 

 

 

Another Gent friend who is more agnostic and pragmatic has learned of his fathers ailing (terminal). He is following all the steps to keep his parent comfortable. He even sat and prayed with a few of us. That to me spoke more about his humility.

That's awesome.

 

So given that humans , when tested, do seem to come together to support. I often wonder how such faiths can be so dern different! One glorifying and then the other simply wishing comfort for the life that is about to be surrendered.

Are they from 2 different religions? Or different denominations?

 

Are our spiritual paths that different that as humans we seem to forget the living? By far my spiritualism is in need of a make over...for I am still a work in progress....What are you thoughts when challenged by faith? Do you seek other avenues or simply surrender to the inevitable? Appreciate any feedback on this scenario....

When challenged by faith, I concentrate on my own relationship with Jesus Christ. While my Atheist friends like to call Jesus my "invisible imaginary friend" lol, he is just as real to me as my parents are, as I am.

 

As for seeking other avenues or surrendering to the inevitable, are you meaning seeking cures for diseases or giving in to death? If so, I do believe in seeking medical aid and in striving to live a healthy lifestyle. Many Christians for centuries have been involved in medical institutions for a reason, because they are striving to follow Jesus' example of healing people as best as they can.