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| At prayer :) |
My
religion is one of the accidents that happened to me when I was an infant. I
was just a few days old when my parents took me to the church for christening.
Thus I became a Christian without my knowledge or consent.
For
most people religion is a similar accident; it is given to them at birth. You
are a Hindu or Muslim or whatever merely because you were born in a family whose
members also had their religions foisted on them by others. That given religion
becomes a part of our personality. Christianity played a major role in shaping
my personality. It gave me a lot of guilt feelings because almost everything
good is a sin in that religion.
I
outgrew my religion when I became an adult. I could not accept most of what it
taught me. So I gave up the religion and sought truth in my own personal way.
Life becomes magical when you begin to discover your own truths though the
process is not easy.
Religion
can help in the discovery of your personal truths, no doubt. It can offer
guidelines, inspiration, solace and much else. The problem is when we accept
religious truths blindly. Scriptures written centuries ago need not be relevant
today. There are no eternal truths except values such as love and compassion.
Every religion was an effort to foster those eternal values. But most religions
have ended up as tools for acquiring power in its various protean shapes.
If
Jesus were to return today, he would be shocked by what people are doing in his
name. There is very little that is common between Jesus and the hundreds of churches
that function in his name. Similar is the case with Prophet Mohammed or Lord
Rama or whoever.
Religion
becomes meaningful only when it helps you become a better human being. What we
see in the world, more often than not, is hatred and violence perpetrated in
the name of religions and their gods. Such religion is absolutely useless. If
you want to bring about a magical transformation to your life, religion is a
good place to begin with. See whether and how it helps you to be a good human
being. If it doesn’t help, It’s better to chuck it and discover your personal
truths. If it does help, carry one, of course.
PS.
#BlogchatterA2Z
Tomorrow: Secret
PPS.
I received a WhatsApp message this morning from one of my most beloved
students. “Today when you write about religion, make it gentle,” said the
message. I hope I have not been harsh J
Agree with you completely. Religion should teach us to be the best version of ourselves, the values that help us and others too. But these days it is just used to spread hatred, differences and violence.
ReplyDeleteThat's a sad thing especially because what's happening is just the opposite of what's expected or what's possible.
DeleteAbsolute agree with your 'gentle' post on religion. I think religion or to more exact - the blind followers of religion - who are causing more grief than joy these days.
ReplyDeleteAll that hatred and violence show that religions are failures. Yet they attract more and more people. A paradox?
DeleteAgree with you. Religion should bring the better in us not the worse. These races on my religion is better than yours which is happening everyday now isn't doing anyone good.
ReplyDeleteReligion is being misused for political purposes. But that has been done all through history. I wonder whether gods were invented just for the sake of keeping people under subjugation.
DeleteHats off to you! Your post echoes my feelings about religion hundred percent accurately!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that. Thank you .
Delete"The problem is when we accept religious truths blindly."- So true!
ReplyDelete