Being born and raised as a Catholic, I've been widely exposed to the religious practices of the said religious sect. Baptism, Holy Communion, Sacrament of Marriage, Confirmation, Anointing of the sick.... name it, I probably have attended it.
I am a Christian, but I guess I'm not the "cultural Christian". I am not sheepishly obedient/observant of the culturally Christian practices, but I must say that I aim and try to be a "practical Christian." I do not want to moralise; I am here to let out my sentiments about the sometimes-tainted religion of people.
Hear me out:
Most wars have religious underpinnings in them. Most wars are rooted from the inability of people to be civil and accommodating of other people's beliefs. People want to insist that what they know is right and all else is evil and heretic.
Split-Christianity. I know a few people who are keen enough to enforce their religious system on others. Think about this:
If you were born as a muslim, say in another continent dominated by muslims and buddhists alone, and have never been told about the Holy Bible, or of Jesus Christ, would you "go to hell" or not meet salvation?
Yes, I understand that it is the goal of Christians/Catholics to evangelize, but my point is - what if hypothetically this really happened? Why should an individual suffer eternal damnation if a God beyond his knowing, exists?
Is it really about our creed, that we get to achieve salvation? Is it more about knowing by heart, "the Word of God" or through "the Acts of Man?"
Contrary to how the average mind might process this, I am not questioning the authenticity of the Bible. I am not attacking any religion. What I am saying is that there must be a greater measure for salvation, than how much we know about God.
Hence, the practical Christianity.
We are true Christians by action.
We cannot claim to be Christians, and yet be greedy. We cannot claim to know the Word of God, but be ignorant in our ways. We cannot say "God's will be done", while renouncing our responsibility over human actions.
We cannot be Christians, and yet accuse our neighbors of ill.
We cannot be Christians and have prejudices towards race and creed.
What was so great about Christianity is not that we have it set in the books. What makes Christ so great is not only because he is the Son of God, but because he wasn't discriminatory towards people, but He welcomed everyone - the whore, the sinner, the thief, the tax-collector, the crippled... How can we be Christians and not even share the same values?
Practical Christianity - that means I will stop talking. That means I will not say I am better than you are. That means I will not show people how good I am - I will just be.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
On Hawking: God Did Not Create the Universe
Last September 2, 2010, Yahoo News pressed a feature on Stephen Hawking's upcoming book, The Grand Design and quoted Hawking in saying "God Did Not Create the Universe." (Read it here.)
What caused the universe has been a classic philosophical conundrum in the same way as trying to prove whether God, or a God, exists or not. Many physicalists subscribe to the idea that God does not exist, for He does not manifest himself in the material universe. Isn't it funny how we try to prove the existence of God, when we can't even figure out absolutely why we exist? I hope Hawking delves on that too.
I'll let those people debate on God if they like. Anything to keep boredom at bay. Anything to talk about at all.
Here's my word on it though.
It does not mean that if we cannot reason out the existence of something, it no longer exists. It does not mean that if we cannot prove a thing as true, it is ultimately false.
We always envision God as perfect, but God may not turn out to be the perfect we define. As my professor, Arthus Muega asked, "How can we define something as perfect as God, with something as imperfect as human language?" This is to say therefore, that God may not be what or who we perceive Him to be.
Faith and reason - many think that they just mix like oil and water.
But here's what my Theology professor told us, if you are sure about something, you don't call it faith; you call it common sense. God, for now, is not realizable through common sense, God is revealed through faith. Faith complements reason.
If all facets of life relied on logic, we have reduced our lives to something mechanical. We become no different from the computers which rely on algorithms.
Animals are proven to have intelligence too. I'm not sure if they have faith if to begin with, they are not conscious of their own existence. Faith therefore, is what sets us apart and above animals.
I did not create the universe, I only form conceptions of it - and I wont blame Stephen Hawking if he makes his own. If it were indeed gravity that caused the universe to exist, it is still of question what caused gravity.
I believe God created the universe. If not the universe itself, then he designed a system capable to evoke itself into existence.
What intrigues me most is if God indeed created the universe, why did He design the human mind to be capable of doubting His existence?
What caused the universe has been a classic philosophical conundrum in the same way as trying to prove whether God, or a God, exists or not. Many physicalists subscribe to the idea that God does not exist, for He does not manifest himself in the material universe. Isn't it funny how we try to prove the existence of God, when we can't even figure out absolutely why we exist? I hope Hawking delves on that too.
I'll let those people debate on God if they like. Anything to keep boredom at bay. Anything to talk about at all.
Here's my word on it though.
It does not mean that if we cannot reason out the existence of something, it no longer exists. It does not mean that if we cannot prove a thing as true, it is ultimately false.
We always envision God as perfect, but God may not turn out to be the perfect we define. As my professor, Arthus Muega asked, "How can we define something as perfect as God, with something as imperfect as human language?" This is to say therefore, that God may not be what or who we perceive Him to be.
Faith and reason - many think that they just mix like oil and water.
But here's what my Theology professor told us, if you are sure about something, you don't call it faith; you call it common sense. God, for now, is not realizable through common sense, God is revealed through faith. Faith complements reason.
If all facets of life relied on logic, we have reduced our lives to something mechanical. We become no different from the computers which rely on algorithms.
Animals are proven to have intelligence too. I'm not sure if they have faith if to begin with, they are not conscious of their own existence. Faith therefore, is what sets us apart and above animals.
I did not create the universe, I only form conceptions of it - and I wont blame Stephen Hawking if he makes his own. If it were indeed gravity that caused the universe to exist, it is still of question what caused gravity.
I believe God created the universe. If not the universe itself, then he designed a system capable to evoke itself into existence.
What intrigues me most is if God indeed created the universe, why did He design the human mind to be capable of doubting His existence?
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