Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Religion: Dissecting People's Obsession

This topic of Religion is meant to help myself put my questions, thoughts, and ideas into actual writing. I write this to express my feelings, and receiving some answers or suggestions would be great. This is NOT about me choosing to leave the Church.

This is not meant to offend anyone. Thank you.
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In my eyes, there is some use for religion if you still do not completely put all your faith into it. In some instances, it's human nature to want to believe something is true, especially if it provides an answer for a question..in this case, the question is Life and the answer is God.

Why are people so willing to blindly, completely believe the words of the Bible? Yes, many people are genuinely touched by His words and preachings, and I completely understand and respect this. But to me, is there just a deeper, human need for answers that drives people to believe in a religion? Are they just living on hope that the religion is truth?

Before I start, I want to state that there is absolutely nothing wrong with relying completely on faith and hope. It is just my opinion that sometimes, that just isn't enough for me.

Think back to a great book or movie that you read or watched, one that has many twists and turns, yet ended with a gigantic cliffhanger. Didn't that feeling of not knowing what happened, what could possibly happen, and what might not happen just completely bewilder you? Didn't it drive you slightly crazy?

That's the innate human need that I'm talking about. The need for an answer. The need to discover the unknown. That's why the biggest question in the Universe, "what is the purpose of life?," yields the biggest answer. Or should I say, "answers." The world's various religions can be seen as a way to fill that human instinctual longing for answers and conclusions. It gives people a sense of purpose and meaning.

Because what's worse than the feeling that life is purposeless?

Another cliffhanger that life provides us with is the subject of death. I won't talk about this topic too extensively..as it makes my mind wander too far to the point that I actually get scared. I digress. Religion gives us the concepts of Heaven, Nirvana (I know that you don't need to be dead to reach Nirvana, but still), and Reincarnation. All possible answers for the question of death. These alternatives are comforting to believe in.

But my main thinking of why people are obsessed with religion? The feeling of community that religion brings. People are apart of something bigger than themselves. They are surrounded by like-minded thinkers who, for the most part, are willing to act selflessly to help others. It's a great atmosphere.

It doesn't matter which religion is "right," per se, all that matters is that people are being shaped by good morals and just being good people overall.


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Props go out to friend Jaypee C., cousin Michael C., and girlfriend Gerre Mae B. for giving me great, honest opinions and comments. I've used some of their input to shape this entry.

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Some topics (but not limited to) that I hope to cover in the upcoming days (in no particular order):

1) Other Religious Alternatives
2) Guilty Conscience About Lack of Faith
3) Catholics Against Homosexuals

Friday, July 22, 2011

City Series: NYC

I'm on a bus right now to Philadelphia, my second home. After about half an hour of traffic in NYC, I'm finally on the Turnpike on a beautiful aesthetically pleasing ride, while the weather outside is furiously scorching. At 10:30 AM.

Driving past the NYC skyline is always inspiring for me.

I have the world in my backyard. A city sprawling with corporate types, hard laborers, hipsters, bums, immigrants, and everything in between, lies a mere 15 minutes away from me. The city is so enormous, that it is almost unrelenting. An island, a rock, just completely filled with nonstop blocks of storefronts, apartments, and schools. The wide streets form a a grid navigated by energetic and fearless yellow cabs and equally energetic and fearless pedestrians who's second nature is to casually jay walk. Somehow, getting trampled by a pedestrian becomes a serious threat.
 
The buildings here are probably the closest things to actually living up to the name "skyscraper." The Empire State Building can almost poke a hole into the blue dome ceiling above us all.

The energy here is just different. If American culture values and relies on competition to be successful, as opposed to the all-for-one/one-for-all mindset that resides in Japanese culture for example, then the Big Apple is the damn Olympics. Cultural melting pot. Busy and non-stop. And cut-throat competitive.

Japan is Wimbledon.

They call New York City the World's Capital. I call it my backyard.

Too bad that means the Hudson is my swimming pool.

You're all invited.


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Have a nice, safe weekend everybody! Stay hydrated and give your mom a hug and a kiss.

Erick

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Religion: Flaws

This topic of Religion is meant to help myself put my questions, thoughts, and ideas into actual writing. I write this to express my feelings, and receiving some answers or suggestions would be great. This is NOT about me choosing to leave the Church.

This is not meant to offend anyone.Thank you.
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I like to think of myself as a decently versed Catholic. I know a good amount of history about the Church, I've read a few Bible passages, and I've listened to priests' homilies and sermons. But I come across so many questions that I've never had answers for..or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough, which is extremely possible. I know that I must do more research if I'm to tackle these topics properly, but here's some random questions that I have when it comes to the Catholic church.

Something that has bothered me is the fact that the highest level in the Church's hierarchy that a woman can reach is to be a nun or sister.  I've read that the Catholic church can't change this because Christ made the roles for men and women clear when he was on earth, and that no one else has the right to change that. That because he selected all male apostles (12 Disciples), it could be seen that he purposefully didn't choose women. This can be explained by the era He lived in, as women were seen as inferior to men. But this can't be the case, as different Bible verses state that Jesus didn't have a problem breaking the society's rules about women (Matt. 9:20; Luke 7:37; John 4:27). Also, it is stated that even though it seems unfair that women can't be priests, God has given women some things that men can't do, like give birth to children.

But still, these suggestions (I'm not calling them facts), still concern me. So the Catholic church can't change rules that were made thousands of years ago? The Church can't adapt? Elsewhere in the world, like the Middle East, where it is common for women to still be treated as inferior, change is being made. For example, Arab women aren't allowed to drive, yet an ongoing revolution (maybe not the best word, but you know what I mean) from the women themselves shows them acting independently and driving anyway. Many people are supportive of this throughout the world, many who are Catholic. But why encourage change, when your own religion doesn't even support it? I understand that some historical Catholic rituals must be kept sacred, like the Sacraments, but to not let women preach? I don't feel great about that. Especially when I know that even my devout-Catholic mother could provide Church goers with more inspirational and informative sermons and homilies.

Another little thing that I have a problem with is..why can't priests get married? You may think that this is me trying to be humorous here, but I really am not. Women are blessed with the greatest gift of all: being able to give birth to children. It's an amazing miracle of life when it occurs. But why are priests not able to join everyone else in the world and get married and have sex? Priests preach about love, something they definitely experience from the Church's local church goers through hospitality and a sense of community. But for some reason, they can't experience love with a significant other? It doesn't make sense to me.

This problem here is probably a good reason why Catholicism is seeing a lack of new recruits for priesthood. It's a serious concern, especially among young adults whom the Church aims to recruit. I just don't understand this limit for priests. Surely there are some "good, historical reasons" that the Church could give, but again, this is all about adapting to current society, in my point of view at least. And maybe this is a bit of a tangent, but wouldn't letting priests experience real love with a women decrease the frightening amount of child molestation cases that the Catholic Church's priests face? May seem like a wild proposition, but think about it and it makes sense.

All in all, these are just some random thoughts about flaws that I see with the Church. Believe me, I have more. I just want to save those for another post.

Thanks for reading.





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Some topics (but not limited to) that I hope to cover in the upcoming days (in no particular order):

1) Other Religious Alternatives
2) Guilty Conscience About Lack of Faith
3) Catholics Against Homosexuals

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Sources:

http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0201sbs.asp

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Perspective

I've had a rough night and day so far, going through some frustrating times. I've talked before about how life may bring you through some really dark tunnels, when there seems to be no end in sight. But in the grand scheme of things, that tunnel may only be a few miles long, really short compared to the (almost) eternal marathon that life seems to be. Frustration is only a ripple in life, sometimes even a larger wave. It will cause discomfort, but for a short amount of time.

But that wave could possibly overwhelm you. It's times like these that you need to use the power of perspective.

I was driving to work, slightly angry, sad, and a little bit shaken up. My mind was drifting into all these crazy, seemingly impossible, thoughts. I was frustrated beyond belief, actually.

Then I saw traffic building up on the side of the road. My anger spilled over and I cursed under my breath, remarking to myself about how idiotic slow drivers can sometimes be. But then I realized that the car that was moving extremely slowly was a hearse, and behind it was a morbid looking line of cars moving just as slowly. That's when I felt terrible about myself, realizing that my anger took control of me and blinded me to the importance of life.

Like actually living. Life is short and death is inevitable. Which is why one must live everyday as best as he or she can. You never know what can happen. You may lose a loved one, you may know someone who has fallen ill, or maybe you yourself may have something dire happen. It puts everything in perspective.

I know what I want in my life. I have an amazing family, friends that are practically family, and a girlfriend who I want to make family. But in times of frustration and anger, when its at the point where your boiling blood is about to overflow, take a step back, realize how good you really have it, and gain some perspective. Deal with your problems maturely, move on, and live life.

Sometimes you may find yourself moving too fast. Remember to pace yourself. Remember that eventually, you'll be leading a slow line of morbid looking cars.

Don't take anything for granted. Live to love and love to live.




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Sorry if this post seemed a little dark. Love you all.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Religion: Questioning

I'm going to make this an ongoing topic that I'll keep posting about in the future. I know that I can't fit all of my thoughts in this one post, so this will be the start of my new series about Religion.
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This topic of Religion is meant to help myself put my questions, thoughts, and ideas into actual writing. I write this to express my feelings, and receiving some answers or suggestions would be great. This is NOT about me choosing to leave the Church.

This is not meant to offend anyone.Thank you.
___________________________________________________________________


I like to think of myself as a good, practicing Catholic. I go to mass every Sunday, I pray before meals, I've attended a Catholic elementary school and even University, I keep rosaries and symbols of my faith in my car, dorm, and wallet. Yet I wouldn't call myself devout. Odd?

Definition of devout:
1. Having or showing deep religious feeling or commitment.
2. Totally committed to a cause or belief.

I do not believe I am entirely, 110% committed to the Catholic faith. This does not mean that I do not accept the religion anymore, simply that I just have so many questions about Catholicism. When I first realized this about myself, I was a bit troubled. How could I be raised in such Catholic upbringing all my life but still find myself unsure of things?

The religion, actually, all religions, relies on faith and faith entirely. I picture religion sometimes as some one being stranded on a completely unmapped island, just forcing himself to live out of pure faith that some one will save him. Yes, the movie Cast Away is a perfect example, but how many times out of 10 would that man be saved?

I loved going to Catholic school (St. John's the Evangelist, represent) and I love attending a Catholic university (La Salle University in Philadelphia). Catholicism has a great moral code that is taught to the children, something that I'm extremely grateful for since it really has shaped my own character. But since these same children are raised believing in the Holy Trinity and everything in the Bible, there isn't room to question these ideas. They are given to us as facts.

What I'm trying to say here, is that we've never had opportunities to question our own religion and explore others. Most religious families preserve their faith and raise and grow their family within that religion's boundaries and morals, which is fine by all means. There is nothing wrong with that.

But now, I am putting my questions, built up over the years, into words.



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Some topics (but not limited to) that I hope to cover in the upcoming days (in no particular order):

1) Catholic Flaws
2) Other Religious Alternatives
3) Guilty Conscience About Lack of Faith