Answer to Mary

We all define our gods through our own beliefs. Usually we inherit our spiritual identity by our parents and our culture. I was born in America and therefore exposed to Christianity every day of my life. I defined my god with these teachings. My view of life and the supernatural were shaped by my upbringing. Had I been born in Afghanistan I would have been exposed to the Muslim religion and would have adopted that. Had I been born in India I would have been exposed to Hinduism and would have adopted that. If I was born in ancient Roman times I would believe in a whole bunch of gods.

Christianity is what I know and what I have had to come to grips with. Christianity is what I was indoctrinated with and therefore is what I know. I feel the same about every religion and every god but I am not in contact with them on a daily basis. However, at times when it has come up in a book I have been reading or something I have heard on the news, I have commented about other religions.

You know how sometimes you have to talk things through to get a clear picture? Well, my blog is that for me. It is a way of defining who I am and what I believe. It’s like talking things over with my friends.

If you or any other Christian wants to believe, fine, I understand. I would appreciate it though if your religion, any religion, would be kept to yourself and out of politics. I don’t want religion (yours or anyone else’s) defining my world.

I didn’t just give up Christianity on a whim. I gave it up gradually as I began to realize how real life experiences don’t match up with what the Bible teaches or with what the Bible teachers teach. Once I began to look at my beliefs as an outsider might, I had to reconsider. Christians laugh at the story of Joseph Smith translating ancient plates with his magic glasses, but is that any more odd than what Christians believe? Christians laugh at the Greek and Roman gods of so long ago and yet are they any more odd than what Christians believe? As a matter of fact, the stories of Jesus are strikingly similar to other ancient heroes and pagan gods. Once I realized that it was hard to believe that Christianity was any more right than any other religion.

I am friends (or related to) with physicians, physicists, engineers and university professors who are devoted Christians, have read the Bible multiple times and spent most of their lives studying it and believe.

I choose not to believe in conflicting evidence any more. I choose not to shut my eyes to things that don’t make sense. I choose not to take things on “faith” any more. I choose not to try to make sense out of why the Bible says one thing but real life proves otherwise.



My theme for this year is to be integrated. That means walking my talk and being congruent inside and out. It means having the courage to act in accordance with my values and beliefs.It means being honest, telling the truth and leaving the right impression. It also means being open to the possibility of learning new truths that may cause me to rethink issues or even redefine my values.

I am not going to hide my beliefs, my questions, or my opinions. I am what I am and it is your choice to read my blog or not. I welcome your thoughts and opinions if you choose to read and I respect your right and choice to not read if it offends you.

We are family and we are stuck with each other and I mean that in a good way. I love our family and our connectedness. We don’t have to let our beliefs get in the way of that. We can still be ourselves and have fun together.

Speaking of fun…I have to go get ready to meet up with “The Girls” so we can go explore Seattle. We are supposed to have record breaking weather today. It is sunny out and it is supposed to get to the mid to high 50’s.


Love,

Your #1 Sister and Enemy,




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4 Responses to “Answer to Mary”

  1. HeIsSailing Says:
    February 17th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

    Funny, I just mentioned this as a comment on a Christian’s blog. (I would place a URL here, but I don’t know how to do that just yet.) As a person who takes matters strictly on faith, he should consider himself lucky that he lives in a country that promotes Christian belief. Otherwise, he would believe the Book of Mormon, the Upanishads, the Koran, or any other inerrant book that was being promoted by his culture. Yet Christians degrade those books and hold the Bible to a different standard. Why should that be? There needs to be a reasonable answer to that question before I can believe on faith again.
    By the way, I love the flow chart.

  2. Beth Says:
    February 17th, 2007 at 5:14 pm

    It was in the 80’s here today, Mom! I tried to convince Mark to ditch work so we could go to Huntington Beach but no such luck. LOL!

  3. Mary Says:
    February 17th, 2007 at 9:27 pm

    I cringed when I saw the flowchart, other than being offensive to someone (myself) who teaches science in college and has faith (the 2 can be compatible) I just spent 3 hours working on my homework for a class I am taking on database management. I have had to draw EER charts for most of that time and my eyes are crossed :) I certainly don’t consider you my enemy and you and Kelly will have to duke it out to who is my number 1 sister. I do love you and am not trying to change you. I think you are dead wrong in your beliefs, but again that is your choice. I can’t keep my beliefs to myself, they color every aspect of my life. Friends that I choose, past times I enjoy, jobs that I will work, my marriage, my volunteer work, my finances. My beliefs are what make me, well me! I chose my husband based on my beliefs and my beliefs give me comfort, joy and peace. I don’t laugh at any other religion or put down anyones beliefs. I do choose who I will vote for based on my beliefs, thoughts and experiences, that is one of the benefits of being an American! You should see the emails and letters I get from the NEA and WEA trying to tell me how to vote. It drives me nuts, I am only a member because I have to or else I can’t be a teacher. Trust me I don’t want my beliefs mixed up in politics, I want the government to stay out of my life as much as possible. I will just use regular email or the phone to communicate and I hope you and the “girls” have a great time. Carl, Kierra and I will be going to Vegas during spring break and Kayla will drive up to meet us. I think that is the weekend John and Amy will be there for the photography convention. It should be fun.

    lots of love

    Mary

  4. Anonymous Coward Says:
    March 3rd, 2007 at 2:47 pm

    Anyone who believes in your flowcharts obviously has not had any real contact with real science. You are regurgitating all of the things that you have been taught about “science”, just the you used to regurgitate what you had been taught about Christianity , without ever finding how science is performed in the real world. I think you would discover that your new “truth”, science, has as many warts and failures as you think your old “God” did.

    In reality, the scientist, being a human being with prejudices, pride, and irrational beliefs, comes up with a hypothesis, which is a simplification of reality, usually a mathematic model of some aspect of reality, and invents an experiment that he is using to try and prove his hypothesis true. If the data he or she takes does not match the hypothesis, the scientist will, if he is honest, reexamine the hypothesis, but as often as not will try and figure out what went wrong with the experiment. If two scientists have competing and contradictory theories, their arguments are every bit as hostile and nasty and arguments between two theologians.

    Try reading up on how long it took Plate Techtonics to be accepted in geology, and how many years its supporters were laughed at, and how long it took the guy who figured out that ulcers are usually caused by a bacterial infection to have his idea accepted, and how long it took for the “Big Bang” to be accepted.

    How many of the scientific ideas we now believe as “truth” will be considered silly and childish in 50 years, just as we consider many of the scientific theories that were considered to be “truth” 50 years ago as being silly and childish.

    Science is all about mathematical models of the physical world so that we can manipulate it in ways we consider useful, and has very little to do with “truth” in the way you are using the word.

    Anonymous Coward

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