Soooo this is the second entry what I have decided to call " I Have Thoughts...". Its probably my philosophy minor coming out.... I'm going to make a super sweet header for it soon... hope you like!
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When I was young every Sunday we went to church… ok maybe not every Sunday but when you are 8 years old even every other Sunday seems like twice a week. And every time I heard the same story, “God loves you, don’t sin, repent….” to an eight year old that seemed like a huge waste of time. I mean honestly, I’ve got dirt to play in, girls down the street to chase and a wiffle ball tourney. As years passed church remained just a boring as ever; the only thing that changed were the intentions and strategy behind girl chasing.
At one point I began to wonder why it is necessary, and why almost all religions require some sort of weekly ritual that seems to take up way too much time. It just seemed like a bunch of repetition and uselessness. One day I decided to stop what appeared to be a constant waste of a Sunday morning, to do what I felt were better things to do Sunday mornings: sleep off the night before, watch the very informative Sunday morning commercials or pretend to do the giant list of tasks I had been putting off since the weeks before. Despite my low grade productivity I still felt like I had better things to do than to listen to the same lecture from the same pastor over and over and over again. I get it! Jesus loves me, God forgives, I’m a sinner. I’m pretty sure I can remember these things; especially since I’ve had it crammed down my throat since grade school.
Time past and I was glad to say I still remembered the majority of the random religious facts, beliefs and bible verses that I once subjected myself to on a weekly basis. It did not seem to make a difference in my life whether I went to church weekly. I got a brief recap at Christmas and Easter and I was good. I still remembered nearly everything. But one day I was forced to examine the way I had been living my life and that is when I noticed the difference.
Despite the fact that I remembered all the facts and verses and prayers, I was not living my life the same way I once was. I would not reflect on an event in life using these morals and justifications I had acquired through my childhood. I noticed I did not think about the meaning or purpose of life and it seemed much more difficult to find answers to my ailing problems. So I started to go back to church; things start to shape up, everything seemed clearer, except for the realization of what church or other ceremonies really meant to me.
I realized that church or any other ceremonies are not performed to repetitively annoy people with the same information over and over again. It is there to remind me of what I stand for and what I believe. It furthers my spiritual maturity by testing it with new knowledge acquired from life.
I still don’t make it to church every week but I substitute that ritual with some other practice that forces me to remember my belief system. It is not always a practice from Christianity, but I have found many other religious practices are able to mature my spiritual awareness accordingly. I try to be a better person every week.
When I was young every Sunday we went to church… ok maybe not every Sunday but when you are 8 years old even every other Sunday seems like twice a week. And every time I heard the same story, “God loves you, don’t sin, repent….” to an eight year old that seemed like a huge waste of time. I mean honestly, I’ve got dirt to play in, girls down the street to chase and a wiffle ball tourney. As years passed church remained just a boring as ever; the only thing that changed were the intentions and strategy behind girl chasing.
At one point I began to wonder why it is necessary, and why almost all religions require some sort of weekly ritual that seems to take up way too much time. It just seemed like a bunch of repetition and uselessness. One day I decided to stop what appeared to be a constant waste of a Sunday morning, to do what I felt were better things to do Sunday mornings: sleep off the night before, watch the very informative Sunday morning commercials or pretend to do the giant list of tasks I had been putting off since the weeks before. Despite my low grade productivity I still felt like I had better things to do than to listen to the same lecture from the same pastor over and over and over again. I get it! Jesus loves me, God forgives, I’m a sinner. I’m pretty sure I can remember these things; especially since I’ve had it crammed down my throat since grade school.
Time past and I was glad to say I still remembered the majority of the random religious facts, beliefs and bible verses that I once subjected myself to on a weekly basis. It did not seem to make a difference in my life whether I went to church weekly. I got a brief recap at Christmas and Easter and I was good. I still remembered nearly everything. But one day I was forced to examine the way I had been living my life and that is when I noticed the difference.
Despite the fact that I remembered all the facts and verses and prayers, I was not living my life the same way I once was. I would not reflect on an event in life using these morals and justifications I had acquired through my childhood. I noticed I did not think about the meaning or purpose of life and it seemed much more difficult to find answers to my ailing problems. So I started to go back to church; things start to shape up, everything seemed clearer, except for the realization of what church or other ceremonies really meant to me.
I realized that church or any other ceremonies are not performed to repetitively annoy people with the same information over and over again. It is there to remind me of what I stand for and what I believe. It furthers my spiritual maturity by testing it with new knowledge acquired from life.
I still don’t make it to church every week but I substitute that ritual with some other practice that forces me to remember my belief system. It is not always a practice from Christianity, but I have found many other religious practices are able to mature my spiritual awareness accordingly. I try to be a better person every week.
1 comments:
Wow Jerod. That was a really deep thought. Thanks for sharing. You are a good person...and Jesus loves you ;)
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