I Believe....
... in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine of trinity I was brought up on as a Catholic.
Religion, a topic of discussion which has been haunting me for a while, as it somehow stirs up many different emotions for different people and I have being trying my best to steer clear of this topic as to avoid another unnecessary "war". Yes war, as somehow, whether big or small it ends up being a war of some sorts all because there is a lack of tolerance and respect for each other's culture, beliefs and way of life.
Religion, a topic of discussion which has been haunting me for a while, as it somehow stirs up many different emotions for different people and I have being trying my best to steer clear of this topic as to avoid another unnecessary "war". Yes war, as somehow, whether big or small it ends up being a war of some sorts all because there is a lack of tolerance and respect for each other's culture, beliefs and way of life.
My belief, and let me stress this - it is my belief - not someone else's theory (but based on what I have read and understand) religion to be.
Many centuries ago, the Bible was written by some scholars sitting in some monastery somewhere with a pile of scrolls of stories that were told through the ages and handed down from generation to generation. Along the way the stories either got longer, shorter or even changed, depending on who was telling the story. So like all stories go, it started off with "Once upon a time.....".
So once upon a time someone commonly known as God (in my version of events) created the world and he made Adam and Eve who had three sons. Okay now my analytical/logical brain has kicked in. How could these few people end up creating the whole world we have today? This is the question I asked myself and then started to analyse the stories in the Bible which makes sense to me.
Adam and Eve were not just two people to begin with, they represented the human race made up of man and woman. Their sons were not just three people but were three nations. I think that Cane and Abel were nations known as Canaan (ancient Israel) and Babylon (the ancient Arabic world) and the third son Noah was the people who believed in righteousness and who lived in both Canaan and Babylon. Both Canaan and Babylon sought favour with God and in doing so they were constantly at loggerheads with each other as to who was the best and who had the right to rule the land.
Neither of the two nations won favour with God and continue to this day continue to do battle for His favour.
Noah who lived amongst these two nations decided not to be part of this ongoing battle and left and spread out into the rest of the world. But as all good stories go there is always a villain and a hero to make the story exciting so today good and evil still rule the world.
Along Noah's journey into the rest of the world they started identifying leaders within their communities and decided to follow that leader's way of life. There have been many leaders who preached of love, forgiveness, serving, peace, sacrifice, tolerance, humbleness, etc the list goes on. These leaders some of us have chosen to still follow even though they are no longer around. The leader I was brought up to follow was Jesus Christ but over the years I have come to know of other leaders who have left their legacy behind. People like Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and many others who people have chosen to follow.
All these leaders shared a common goal as far as I am concerned and that was to serve their fellow human race and to do it with love.
Religion for me is not a one size fits all, it is a way of life that is made to fit each individual in the way they feel comfortable. Imagine someone wears a size 3/4 shoe (like me) and you are asked or forced wear someone else's shoes which are a couple of sizes too big for you. You will not be able to get very far in them. You might end up with blisters, which will ultimately slow you down. So the same goes for religion. You need to feel comfortable in your religion. Sometimes it means embracing a religion which you were never brought up with.
If I have not mentioned it before then let me share with you what I wanted to be growing up. Coming from a Catholic background and spending lots of time in the company of nuns known as the Little Sisters of Jesus, I wanted to become one of them. These nuns live in the communities which they serve. They wear simple blue clothing with leather sandals no matter what the weather. For many years right up until about the age of 22 that is what I wanted to be until one night I had a dream/vision (whatever it was) I understood it to be a message. I dreamt that I was with these nuns and we were in a community of poor children. There I was with these nuns but I was not dressed like them. When I awoke from that dream and tried to analyse it, I realised that I did not have to be a nun in order to do good. I just needed to live a good life and serve my fellow human race in which ever way I could.
I am no goody-two shoes, but everyday I wake up with the hope that by the end of the day I would have made a difference, if not to myself, but to someone I met along the way.
As far as I can tell from the many different religions we have today every one of them claims to be the true way to the end of our journey in order to seek favour with God. I believe that we need to enjoy the journey and to love ourselves and live a life that others might want to follow.
Far too many wars have been fought because of religion. Our world does not need to be one dimensional. It is a multifaceted world which has enough resources for everyone.
Many books have been written on how to live our lives and one of them is the Bible which is a compilation of stories told by many different people who were witness to some of the events at the time. Some of us might be familiar with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They were all witness to the same events but each one told the story differently because they understood it differently.
The war against our fellow brothers and sisters no matter what race, colour, religion or region they come from or occupy must come to an end. The way I believe this can happen is to start with ourselves.
Forgive yourself for all your transgressions, love yourself and you will find peace.
Noah who lived amongst these two nations decided not to be part of this ongoing battle and left and spread out into the rest of the world. But as all good stories go there is always a villain and a hero to make the story exciting so today good and evil still rule the world.
Along Noah's journey into the rest of the world they started identifying leaders within their communities and decided to follow that leader's way of life. There have been many leaders who preached of love, forgiveness, serving, peace, sacrifice, tolerance, humbleness, etc the list goes on. These leaders some of us have chosen to still follow even though they are no longer around. The leader I was brought up to follow was Jesus Christ but over the years I have come to know of other leaders who have left their legacy behind. People like Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and many others who people have chosen to follow.
All these leaders shared a common goal as far as I am concerned and that was to serve their fellow human race and to do it with love.
Religion for me is not a one size fits all, it is a way of life that is made to fit each individual in the way they feel comfortable. Imagine someone wears a size 3/4 shoe (like me) and you are asked or forced wear someone else's shoes which are a couple of sizes too big for you. You will not be able to get very far in them. You might end up with blisters, which will ultimately slow you down. So the same goes for religion. You need to feel comfortable in your religion. Sometimes it means embracing a religion which you were never brought up with.
If I have not mentioned it before then let me share with you what I wanted to be growing up. Coming from a Catholic background and spending lots of time in the company of nuns known as the Little Sisters of Jesus, I wanted to become one of them. These nuns live in the communities which they serve. They wear simple blue clothing with leather sandals no matter what the weather. For many years right up until about the age of 22 that is what I wanted to be until one night I had a dream/vision (whatever it was) I understood it to be a message. I dreamt that I was with these nuns and we were in a community of poor children. There I was with these nuns but I was not dressed like them. When I awoke from that dream and tried to analyse it, I realised that I did not have to be a nun in order to do good. I just needed to live a good life and serve my fellow human race in which ever way I could.
I am no goody-two shoes, but everyday I wake up with the hope that by the end of the day I would have made a difference, if not to myself, but to someone I met along the way.
As far as I can tell from the many different religions we have today every one of them claims to be the true way to the end of our journey in order to seek favour with God. I believe that we need to enjoy the journey and to love ourselves and live a life that others might want to follow.
Far too many wars have been fought because of religion. Our world does not need to be one dimensional. It is a multifaceted world which has enough resources for everyone.
Many books have been written on how to live our lives and one of them is the Bible which is a compilation of stories told by many different people who were witness to some of the events at the time. Some of us might be familiar with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They were all witness to the same events but each one told the story differently because they understood it differently.
The war against our fellow brothers and sisters no matter what race, colour, religion or region they come from or occupy must come to an end. The way I believe this can happen is to start with ourselves.
Forgive yourself for all your transgressions, love yourself and you will find peace.
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