I have been thinking about religion lately. I've been reading the book The Master Game: Unmasking the Secret Rulers of the World by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval. I don't necessarily believe all the arguments they are laying out, but they do spend a great deal of time in the beginning of the book discussing the old Christian religions like Catharism, a dualist religion that swept through Europe in the 1200's. There's a lot more to it, but I won't get into the whole historical thing.
Catharism taught that there was a Good God an a Bad God. The Good God was all energy and light and souls. The Bad God created matter and the Earth and tricked the Good God into giving life to his creations molded from matter. This trapped the souls into the bodies. The matter around us and the bodies we inhabit were considered a literal Hell on Earth. There was no world below. This was hell. They had to try to purify themselves to get out of these bodies and turn back into light and energy, otherwise they would be continually reincarnated. Again, I am simplifying all this, but this is the gist of it.
My first thoughts on this are that life must have been really tough back then to believe that this material world was hell. They didn't believe it could get much worse than this. Wow. There were even stories of these Cathars that were being held prisoner for heresy before being burned at the stake and once given the chance to be burned, ran and threw themselves onto the fire to release their souls. That's crazy.
I bring all this up because my wife and I have had to start having conversations about baptism and what we're going to do. Neither of us really care for going to church or are very religious. I was raised Methodist. I enjoyed the time in my youth as a member of the church but became very disenchanted with the whole scene. I saw members of the church committing adultery together. We turned away a 15 year girl, a friend of mine, for being pregnant. We would kick out homeless people that wandered in from downtown looking for solace in God. (We didn't want the riff-raff around) I just kept thinking that this was the opposite of what we preach. As I got older and smarter I saw a lot of holes in the organized church. I think the Bible is more of a guide, not the exact words of God. Its a book full of stories with how to live and giving people a higher purpose, but is used wrong by so many people.
My wife was raised Catholic and had her own reasons for disenchantment. Her family is hardcore about being Catholic, though, even though most don't even attend church. They just associate their family with Catholicism. This was the cause of great struggle when my wife and I moved in together before marriage and decided not get married in a church. I also refused to convert, causing other issues. It wasn't a hard stance or an argument, I just didn't want to do something I didn't truly believe in. I'd be lying to everyone, including myself.
So, now we have to figure out how and if we are going to baptize our baby boy. Since my wife's family is so crazy, we may have to concede that one and baptize it Catholic. My parent and family wont really care one way or another. The problem is that that seems disingenuous. Neither of us really believe that any real, caring God would not accept a baby's soul if they died due to "original sin". If that is true, than that God is terrible. This is just one of the ways the Church tricks people into becoming members and making sure they continue to have members in the future. I don't think I believe in ANY organized religion. They all have so many flaws. I believe in stewardship and in helping others. I believe we should treat each person as good or better than we treat ourselves. I believe that there might be a greater power out there. I don't believe that a book, written down by dudes with tons of editions and versions, should be taken word for word as gospel. Or that you can take such a book and use some of it or the parts you agree with, but ignore other parts. You think the Bible says gays are wrong? Did you read the part about not eating shellfish? Ever had shrimp?
How can we baptize out child if we don't agree with the teachings? Do we have to just do it, suck it up, and make the family happy? My wife and I have also talked about how many churches are great places to form a sense of community and have a support network. There is a Mormon church close to the high school I coach at. I have several of the kids on my team. These families are all friends and hang out and help each other. These are great people and they have great kids! If I didn't have to convert to a religion that makes no sense to me, I would totally join this church for the network of good people. I wish I could find the same type of network outside of religion. I don't really want to bring my kid up to believe something I don't agree with in the first place. I mean, I figured it out after some time for myself that organized religion rings false, but it took a good chunk of my life before I saw behind the veil.
Here's the thing I am really getting at... Religions come and go in different types and versions of themselves. Christianity has been around for a long time, yes. But, the current versions of Christianity are relatively new. Just look at how many different types there are now? A Baptist is very different from a Methodist in their interpretations of the same words and ideas. Look at Muslims and the middle east. There are plenty of non-violent, perfectly normal, kindhearted Muslims. Then there are crazy ones that give them rest of them a bad name. The Cathars mentioned earlier were essentially killed off by the Catholics, even though they stem from the same root idea. Evey religion, though, thinks that THEY are the ones to finally figure it out. They believe that those that came before them were just dumb and didn't quite understand, but NOW we know the truth. That's silly, though. We don't know. No one KNOWS. We can't possibly. Someone saying they saw God while on a mushroom trip is just as valid as a Christian saying they had a religious experience while walking their dog or at church. Both could be totally right or totally wrong. We don't know. I don't want to have to choose one thing. I don't want to proclaim, "This is the one! I choose ______!"
I need to explore some ideas to solve our conundrums. I'm not sure what we will do yet, but there must be options. We can't be the only people that feel this way.
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