RIDING THE WAVE

Moncton Times &Transcript Faith Today, Sat Nov 23rd 2015

I watched a movie last night in which the main character did not believe in God. That actually had very little to do with the plot, it was simply part of who he was – and it played off the fact that his best friend was religious.

So when one said, you gotta thank God because we are so blessed – the other says – you gotta do what now? I worked hard for this!

It is one of the questions I have heard played out the most between people who are religious and people who are not. Whether what we have is a gift from God or the result of our hard work. And it plays out in many, many ways.

Did you meet the love of your life by random happenstance, or were you destined to be together? Did your praying for success help you to get to the top of the business ladder or was it the devotion to your job? Did you get sick because God is punishing you or because you smoke a pack a day?

One of the things I find interesting about all of this is that the people involved in these type of discussions, or arguments, are often talking past each other. They are assuming that one person is saying something so different, so black and white, that they cannot agree.

For example – do you think God is a puppet master and you have no free will, no choice, God controls you through telepathy? Not many people in the world really believe that I bet. But all of a sudden when someone says that God has blessed them with a new job that is what I start thinking in my head. I instantly jump to the conclusion that they believe something that is so far opposite of me that there is no way we can come to a common ground.

I have said before that I think language and communication are a big problem in religion. Now I am taking it a step further and saying that preconceptions are a big problem. We think we know what someone is saying or thinking or believing when we hear the way they speak. That happens because WE have a preconceived notion of what the words mean that the other person probably does not share.

What is heaven? Do you know how many answers there are to that question? What is an Angel? What does it mean to have faith? How does God act in the world? What is God? If we really took the time to stop and think we would realize that there are as many different definitions of simple terms as there are people with a mind to think them up.

For some people heaven is a place in the clouds with white buildings and golden streets, for others they are picturing open fields and sunny skies, some people are simply picturing a roof over their heads and food to eat. And heaven is populated with everything in between. So when someone says the word – what do they mean?

Back to our guy in the movie. He was fighting against his friend's belief that everything happens for a reason. And he was right to do so. Some things just happen. But neither position is right in its extreme – all of life is not random luck – some of it seems to follow some purpose or higher power. There are times I do things without knowing why and it turns out it was very important, like phone someone randomly only to find out they are going through a hard time.

All of this is just to again say don't think you have all the answers – and certainly stop thinking you know what the people you argue with mean. Truth is we are all on a journey of discovery and the world has no easy answers, we ride the wave the best we can.

Heaven and the Banquet

I knew a guy who once told me that if he could ask someone one question, he could get a handle on their religion. That one question was, what do you think happens after you die?

It is a pretty good question to be sure; sort of like an ultimate what do you think religion is about question. There are those who think that we get some sort of ultimate reward in the afterlife for our good deeds in this life. There are those that think we just get another different type of life, hopefully reunited with family and friends. There are those that think we are reincarnated and come back to try to get it right in this life. There are those who think nothing happens, we go into the ground and rot. And there is everything in between.

You see, it is a good question because it affects everything about how we live. Why are we doing things in this life? Is it so as to earn a reward? Is it because we realize life is short and we want to make it the best we can? Is it so that we do not come back as a slug?

You get the idea. It is a simple question in a sense and it affects our entire belief structure. Now, before we go further you should know that whether you are United, Catholic, Baptist, Muslim or a Secular Humanist the person who you find sitting next to you does not believe the same thing as you.

We are all different when it comes to life after death and that is because there is absolutely nothing that can be known 100 percent about what happens. Each generation has come up with ideas that reflect what they think perfection looks like… so the Vikings thought heaven would be endless glorious battle in which no one dies and everyone parties during the night. Poor peasants who had nothing imagined a world with streets paved with gold. Lonely people want to be reunited with all their loved ones…

But all of these ideas are simply that, ideas we have about what perfection would be like

I just got back from a monumental road trip with three young children to Walt Disney World. I have been to Disney more times than a lot of people, it was a family favourite and my father owns a house in Florida. For me, Disney World is the ultimate vacation. I love the fantasy of it all, I love the architecture and the way it is laid out… I go there again and again. But I know lots of people who do not like it at all, they think it is crowded and fake seeming, overwhelming and childish.

The exact same place could be described a thousand ways by a thousand guests. And the description, as well as our relation to it, changes depending on whether or not we like it. So too our conception of the afterlife is just that, our conception, what brings us joy, what we aim at.

Jesus once told a parable about banquets, and about how we should be humble and think very hard about who we invite and why. I think that he was making exactly this point about how different people have different things going on their lives, different beliefs and different needs… but we cannot think that we are better than them, and we cannot think that we are right.

As I get older and wiser I have come to realize that at one time or another I have been wrong about just about everything. Luckily I have been right a bit too… but mostly wrong. We need to be open to that, we need to realize that we cannot judge people on their beliefs, and we need to start accepting that the reasons behind what we do and think are important. But more importantly, they tell us more about who we are than about God or faith.