The "conversation" continues

Remember the email "conversation" that I previously had with my co-worker? Well, he sent me a follow-up email. The things touched on in his reply were:

• Follow-up to bad things happening to good people
• Christian faith that is rooted in the fear of Hell
• Christian leaders that don't welcome tough questions
• The many differences among Christian denominations

Below is the main portion of my reply. Some stuff has been edited out for privacy.


I know what you mean about coming up with a loss about some of the painful life experiences that we go through. There is one main experience that I’m at a bit of a loss about . . . The main thing I really took away from it was an opportunity to show love . . . I also wonder if maybe it’s not about what I need to learn (it's not all about me), but maybe there are lessons for others involved as well, or maybe someone else will be benefit from watching how I handled the difficult situations in my life. Maybe I can give hope to someone without spirituality or faith that we can make it through the rough times and come out OK in the end. I don't know. I just can't believe all of these things that happen in our lives, and the lives of people around us are completely pointless. I hope you understand, that I’m not trying to provide you with a specific answer as to why XXXXX's mom’s situation played out like it did, I’m just telling you about different thoughts that have run through my head and have given me the tiny bit of sanity and peace that I needed to carry on.

I think some churches do have that don’t ask mentality, and to just have faith, and that if you somehow question God, you are hell bound. I think part of that is due to the fact that clergymen/women of churches don't have the all the answers, and for so long it seems like Christianity has always been about knowing all the answers. I feel like we should be encouraged to ask the hard questions, listen to everyones perspective, and acknowledge that we just don't know it all. I’m trying to learn that I don’t need to have the answers to everything, but that I can sit back and go through the journey of life and just absorb and even enjoy the questions. It’s kind of how I view driving a car. I don’t understand the inner workings of a car. I’ve had people explain spark plugs, radiators, engines, distributer caps, and what not, but I don’t get it. I’ve just decided to focus on the stuff I do understand about cars (oil changes, air filters, tire pressure, alignments) and to enjoy the benefits of the car such as road trips, the music from the radio, air conditioning, and the basic getting from point A to point B.

I also am not a fan of what I’ve heard referred to as fire insurance salesman. These are the people that continually preach a "gospel" of hellfire and damnation. There is no doubt that fear can be a big motivator, but it seems at some point we should attempt overcome fear with love. I like the quote from the bible that says something to the effect of perfect love drives out fear, because fear is based on punishment. I think we've focused on punishment so much that we've forgotten what it means to love.

I once read somewhere that human beings are genetically 99% similar to one another (or some high percentage like that). That was amazing to me, because we (the general public) seem to focus on the 1% where we are different-Hair color, skin color, height, weight, etc. Then when you throw in societal factors like wealth and status, we end up dividing ourselves even more. It seems like this is what is going on in the current state of Christianity and religion as a whole. We are all so busy trying to identify how we are not like one another instead of celebrating the ways in which we are so very similar. I’m really guilty of this. I remember there was a time when I was trying to figure what phrase I should use for my religious identity because I didn’t want to use the word Christianity. I didn’t want people to confuse me with those ‘other’ type of Christians (other = Christians that I disagreed with on some points). I had to realize that all of these labels that we have constructed for ourselves can’t completely encompass all of a person’s individual beliefs. It may get you in the general neighborhood, but if someone wants to know what I’m about, or if I want to know what someone else is about, we just have to take the time to talk and get to know one another.

I have to say, these faith based conversations with my co-worker was most unexpected, but it's been very enlightening.