[letter to ??]
The election results weren’t ideal, you’re right! Bernie was never going to get the required number of votes to secure a nomination, so it comes down to the convention, when the democratic politicians (superdelegates) pledge their final vote. They’ve not voted yet, so there’s still hope that they will realise that Bernie is the only choice to prevent a Trump presidency! My project couldn’t have had enough of an effect during the primaries, but it’s taken up until about a week ago for me to even realise what I need to do. So I’m still committed J
I haven’t been to church in a while because I started going to Quaker meetings, and it reinforced a concern I’ve always had about the current popular Christian approach to life. In Quaker meetings, we talk about how to love and improve yourself, both for a better life, and also to make the world around you better. We also talk about how to love the world more, with the fact in mind that until your heart is overflowing with love, you won’t have enough love to properly share it with others. Why don’t we do more of this in church?
The approach I’ve seen in church is almost entirely focused on praising God. There are often valuable life lessons during the sermons, but for the most part it feels like, rather than learning how to love yourself and love others, it’s about loving God. That’s the idea I got from talking to people in my early experiences too, when I started this journey on the path of faith – an extreme example would be the guy who said that rather than devoting my time to giving blood, I should devote my time to Jesus. I know that’s not what everyone thinks, but it does align more with the impression I get from church than the ideas of the Quakers.
I also had a dream, yesterday, where I talked with God. We spoke about a few different things, and without Them saying so, I know I was talking to God. Taking the form of a woman, She spoke to me about the church, when I mentioned my reservations. She said that church is filled with some really wonderful people, but there are those who like the rules and restrictions a bit too much, and they’re holding back the whole movement. Why are we clinging to the restrictions that cause harm and push others away from faith?
I’m still committed to the faith – absolutely! And it’s rare to meet a Christian who thinks that time spent learning about Jesus is more important than time spent giving blood, but it is a troubling fact that we’re encouraged to love God *more* than we’re encouraged to love ourselves and others, with a huge chunk of each service dedicated to praise and worship. God knows that we love Them, and in my experience, They only want us to be happy. Singing itself is fun, but it feels like the focus is misaligned. I’d like to see more sermons involving self-development, and less praise and worship: We need praise too, and while giving thanks through worship is great, God knows how much we love Them. Why are we focusing so much time on loving God, when church offers so much potential teach us how to better love ourselves and others?
I think the biggest issue I have is that Christianity seems to push away non-Christians. It certainly did with me, earlier in my life, and it’s hard partaking in services where I can see it happening in front of me. For example, the idea that God is male is harmful, although understandable: God reaches out to you in a way that makes sense for you, and as it was males who wrote the original bible, living in a patriarchal society, it makes sense that they saw God as a He. But it still encourages male dominance, and the words of the bible encourage suppression of women. Why are we allowing this to continue?
And the ideas put forward in the bible, things like slavery, capital punishment, and homosexuality, are all clearly harmful… but it seems to be forgotten that these are just the recorded ideas of people, living in a certain place in time, trying to make sense of holy inspiration. It doesn’t mean they got it right. I don’t know for sure that I’ve got anything God’s told me right. The bible is not the direct word of God. It’s the interpretation of inspiration. Even still, since it’s been translated into words that make sense to the widest possible audience, there’s an even greater distance between the original inspirations and the messages we can now read. I understand the focus on the words of Jesus, but it doesn’t make sense to me to give massively higher regard to the ideas of people thousands of years ago, than the ideas of people living today. Why aren’t we working together to make sense of the inspiration we all feel now?
Finally, I struggle with the current method of prayer too. Talking about your problems is enormously beneficial, and it makes sense to use God as a divine counsellor, but being asking for God to grant wishes – about yourself or others – doesn’t seem very in line with the experiences I’ve had with God, who has said (to me) that there’s no need to pray, just to be thankful. I do talk one-sidedly to God, and it helps me work through things. But in the bible, while it was said that if you ask for things your wishes will be granted, it was also said that you need to follow the right path first. In my mind, when you follow a path of pure goodness, you stop requesting changes! Instead, you either work to make the change you want to see, improve yourself so that the things that trouble you stop being issues, or accept that there are some things you can’t control. I only pray now (as in, hands clasped, talking to God prayer) when prompted, and I only talk about what I’m thankful for when I do. And I’ve seen the effect my actions have had on others: People stating their prayers before me always make wishes, but people praying after I’ve given thanks tend to give thanks themselves too, rather than asking for things. I’ve seen first-hand how changing the idea behind prayer can change a person almost instantly. Changing other staple ideas could have a massive effect too, but it’s just not being done.
I know I’m in a unique position, so see things differently: I came to faith recently and was always against the idea of religion, so the ideas put forward by the current form of Christianity haven’t completely taken hold of me, and I’m still fully away of the things Christianity does that repel people. I know my ideas are radical too, but Jesus was a radical. He came along, identified the issues caused by people’s bad ideas, and worked hard to make something better. Being a Christian, as it’s defined – “Christ-like” – surely means doing more than just thinking about what he said. He was a man of great action, and instigated enormous positive change. He refused to accept what he saw as clearly harmful ideas. He aimed for inclusiveness rather than segregation. He did all this no matter how many people liked what came before.
Jesus was a radical, so if we want to follow his lead, it’s right that we should be radical too.
Thanks for reading, I really appreciate this opportunity to talk about the things that have been buzzing around my mind. I’m going to start going to church again, but it feels more like I’m learning about the Christian faith, than learning about the things God wants us to learn.