Opinions…….
I don’t have a lot of time now, so I may add to or edit this entry at a later date, but I have come across two posts that have me thinking about my opinions. The first was done by Allison. She was expressing how much the public schooling system in the US excludes anything religious and went further to mention that Christmas plays and such were not allowed at some schools. Also she said that some schools would allow students to exchange ‘generic’ Valentine’s Day cards…no writing, no names written!
That led me to think about my feelings about religion and how much of a role it plays in my life. I suppose being raised a Christian, I’m biassed. I grew up in a home where I was taught from an early age that there is a Supreme Being, namely God. My parents were not frequent churchgoers….particularly my Father. But, I don’t think that there is any question in my mind that he is a believer.
As an adult now, I would say that I attend church infrequently…weddings, funerals and the like is what gets me to go. However, I don’t think that makes me any less of a Christian than those who go weekly….as I feel that our way of life and actions with others is what makes the difference…but I could be wrong. I have moments when I’m alone and talk to God…sometimes while walking, occasionally even on the throne! (I don’t think He minds.) But He plays a part in my life and gives me guidance. I used to have a routine bedtime prayer when I was younger where I’d pray for the whole world before retiring. However, as an adult that has waned.
Even if I were not a believer, I don’t think I would have a problem exposing any offspring of mine to religion. Give them the right to make their own conclusions and decide for themselves.
I may appear to be straying from the point, but a few weeks back I was speaking to a patient who we had diagnosed with a lymphoma (a type of cancer) and he asked me how long he had to live. I told him that I don’t make those decisions, I leave them to God. He retorted, “God?! What evidence do you have to feel that God exists?” I told him that despite the fact that I work in Medicine which is heavily based on science, I don’t feel that we have all the answers and control over what happens to patients. There must be some Divine Master who has the final word and we (doctors and nurses) are simply his elves (as a pateint once told me that.) I don’t think I managed to convince him, but do you feel that all that takes place in the world just ‘happens’ by chance? I don’t think so. Feel free to share your thoughts on this one.
The other post is by my bredren Mad Bull, and it is about his opinions regarding some resorts in the Caribbean excluding gay couples. My views were similar to his, so I didn’t have much to add. Go give it a read and have a good day. Comments as usual are welcome.
January 29th, 2004 at 10:08 am I believe that everything that happens is as a result of our choices. We are fully responsible for the good and bad aspects of our lives. We all have a desire to love and be loved unconditionally. We are driven by two forces, the soul and the ego. I think the ten commandments are a “guide” to overcoming that ego. Deep down inside we all want peace, harmony and love, and that is what our soul wants too. Our ego, prevents us from doing these things through anger, jealousy, greed and fear. My journey is to tune in to my emotions and know what my motivations are, what drives my decisions and hence make informed choices. I was raised catholic and still am, but I find that it is somewhat lacking in practicality. This is longer than I had intended, hope you don’t mind.
January 29th, 2004 at 11:00 am I too grew up Catholic and find that most of the doctrine that were pounded into my brain do not have much practicality in today’s world. It is sad that we as human like to take extremes in all that we do, like either making everything religious or making everything bland and without religion. In our quest for answers we often lack the noble insight that not all things are black and white and that there are many shades of grey. I too have strayed from weekly church going but feel that I am more intune with my spirituality now that I ever was. Sorry for the long winded answer…
January 29th, 2004 at 2:36 pm …I think all children should be introduced into religion…to me religion holds the key to society…without the basic religious beliefs society would crumble…children need that background..the key to all religions is love, love of a god, love of your neighbour, love for yourself…that grounding gives people the ability to live in society…I look around me now and I see a dismissal of religion and with it a dismissal of love for your fellow citizen, people seem to becoming more and more selfish, less caring…oh, and before we go too much further - I don’t believe in a god, I don’t believe in an afterlife, I don’t believe much - but I believe in love…so my wife explains to people - this is my husband he’s a christian with a small c because he believes in the most important commandment - love thy neighbour… …and no dr.d - that does not mean I’m next door having a shag :^)… …for the record ex-catholic…
January 29th, 2004 at 3:20 pm Nadine and Trish, no need to feel that you were long winded. A response to this is difficult in just a sentence or two. I too am Catholic, and indeed I agree that there are some issues that I have with the practicality of some of the teachings of Catholicism. billy, as usual, some of your comment made me laugh. I agree that love is the basis of religion…without love of others and ourselves there can be little harmony in the world. I stand behind you 100% when you say that generally people have become less caring…I think that is even more prevalent in urbanised society, which many of us live in today. Man has indeed become more advanced technologically, but I do ask frequently if we really are any better off overall than when life was more simple. More food for thought and perhaps another post in the not too distant future eh? Thanks to those who have commented so far…. (me hoping more will join een de chat!)
January 29th, 2004 at 8:49 pm “Even if I were not a believer, I don’t think I would have a problem exposing any offspring of mine to religion.” I wonder, following that statement that you made, Dr. D, if you would (given that you are a religious person) have a problem with exposing your offspring to the possibility of evolution? You are well aware that I am not a believer (not a dis-believer either… I consider myself “Agnostic” …. believing that there is no absolute proof of the existence of God or not.) I guess I lean toward the ‘not’. Now, to answer your question I do believe as Nadine does that what happens to ourselves and others is a result of choices. We choose one way or another ongoing, every day. How long that patient has to live (in my way of looking at this) does not have to do with God, but to do with how well his body can fight (which resulted from how he was treated medically up to that point, how he cared for himself through his life in exercise, diet, and how vicious a Cancer that he has had the misfortune of developing.)
January 29th, 2004 at 11:44 pm Desiree, I fully agree that much of what takes place in life has to do with our ability to make choices and our conscience. Regarding illness, it is quite true that the diagnosis, the level of fitness of a person’s body and mind and the quality of medical care given, all impinge on the final outcome. However, there are times that I have seen patients who appear to have optimium levels regarding all points mentioned above, and to us as medical caregivers, one who we feel should live for a long time, does not and vice versa. It is in cases like those, that I feel we are not the ones with the power to make the final decision as to outcome. A higher power is at work. Do not feel either, that I am trying to convince you to change your viewpoint. Even as a believer, there are times in my own life that based on events that have taken place that I have questioned God as to why. However, I am still waiting on answers in some cases and perhaps I will not get the answer in this life (and maybe not the next either). So in such cases I submit that some things are just bigger than we are. Regarding evolution, I don’t feel that as a believer it excludes me. I do feel that man has evolved over time. We as human beings are evolving, but in our short lifetime we are not likely to see the results of evloution as it is a slow process. What I find rather difficult to chew on is the “Big Bang” theory that hypthesizes that the universe and all in it was the result of some huge explosion. Ultimately, I do agree with billy’s view that love is necessary for all mankind and that it is lacking in many of us…probably even myself. Thank you for sharing your views.
January 30th, 2004 at 12:12 pm I don’t think that Christianity and evolution theory are really conflicting. I think evolution was a big part of God’s plan. He set up a system that for the most part manages itself, so as to give Him time for more interesting, challenging tasks, such as trying to help West Indies to kick some South African butt in the third One Day Int’l match going on as I type this…
Part of the system’s self-management is evolution! The big bang theory is a joke, IMHO. What are the odds of such a well ordered system resulting out of chaos? I have a much better chance of winning the Lotto 10 times in my lifetime!
January 31st, 2004 at 2:19 am Hmmm… (for me)it is much easier to believe in the Big Bang theory than in a spiritual being called God… and the other, Jesus. Take a read here: http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm Well ordered system Mad Bull? Look out there, there are asteroids and scattered galaxies… that have been proven to be moving, expanding… and then the radiation from the far reaches of the universe. The world (planet Earth) is a very chaotic and disorganized place — nature can be wonderful and even then have major upsets — Deep freezing temperatures as we have had up North here, Tsunamis,Hurricanes, Earthquakes etc. The big bang and evolution would seem to work well together — first the universe comes to be (from whatever there was before… and as space is limitless you have to look at our galaxy and universe as we know it as small parts of something bigger… beyond imagination.) … anyway.. our earth and all the surroundings come to be and somehow living creatures come to be and evolve. It is all rather mind-boggling, but still very very possible to have happened. This is a very good site that explores Evolution. (from a television series on the subject). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/index.html There is no definite answer — all have to explore the information they have available and make up their own mind as to what they wish to believe.
January 31st, 2004 at 8:59 am Interesting post Dr D. Me and my siblings grew up going to sunday school at a Brethren church most sundays, then my sister and I went on to attend Young People’s fellowship on a Saturday and sometimes morning church on a Sunday. So at one point, we used to go to church 3 times on the weekend. Sometimes 3 times on a Sunday if we went to Morning Church, Sunday School and Night Church. Having said that, I never reached to the point where I said “Lord I give myself to you” with any great conviction. So I never had communion cause I felt it would be cheating (even though the hard dough bread did smell damn good pon a Sunday morning!) I think though that my behaviour as I have grown into an adult reflects some Christian elements, though I haven’t been to church (and don’t have the urge to) in a long time. I don’t think you could find an unkind bone in my body and I tend to think good things about people etc etc yadda yadda yadda. When I watched John Edwards’ show “Crossing Over”, I started to think that there is something on “the other side” but I don’t know if the vehicle to take us there is necessarily being a practising Christian. I sometimes wonder “what if Hindu is the right religious principle and not Christianity”. Then again, I could go back to what Commander John McFarlane told me back in 1986 when I was quizzing him about him being a Christian. He said he decided to give himself to the Lord because he didn’t see anything else to follow, and so far it hasn’t killed him (or something to that effect). One of the posts said something about making children have religion in their life. I strongly agree. I see my niece and nephew fighting like we never did. They don’t make the trek to church on a Sunday as regularly as we did. Church does help, especially in times of despair like I found out in 2002 when a relative was murdered. Ok, I’ll zip it up now. “Enough already!” as the Americans say
January 31st, 2004 at 7:11 pm Good to hear you Yamfoot. I don’t want you to feel that I can hands down say that Christianity is the only way to go. Frankly, I don’t know that I (or anybody else) can tell someone that their religion or belief is the right or correct one. What I feel is important though, is that we all ought to adopt some form of spirituality in our lives at some point. I can’t tell a Bhuddist that his religion is wrong….I don’t know. I may not subscribe to their beliefs, but who am I to tell someone that they must switch from their religion to Christianity? What I think is common to most religions is that they recognize a Supreme Being….what that being is called varies, but this is the being in whom we trust, ask for help in times of need and worship in some way. By so doing we realize that we are under the guidance of this being. I hope I’m not sounding too religiose here. BTW Yamfoot, That show ‘Crossing Over’ I find excellent. It made me weep once watching about a year after my Mother’s passing. I haven’t seen it in a while. Must do some catching up. Desiree, I must say that I agree with Mad Bull. The universe (what little we know about it), though it may seem chaotic, I feel there is quite a bit of order to it. There are numerous celestial bodies in orbit, planets, stars, galaxies etc. what keeps them from constantly crashing into each other?? (P.S. I’m fully aware that matter from space, comets etc can enter our atmosphere…thankfully most burn up on entry and so don’t cause any damage). Is that not some sort of order too? The seasons…winter, spring, summer and fall occur in a particular order. Yes, there may be adverse weather conditions associated with them, but somehow, nature has a way of correcting itself when disasters occur. I don’t think this just ‘happens’. A larger force is at work IMHO. Anyhow, I’m getting a bit long winded here also. Again, thanks all for chatting. Happy to hear from others who may wish to join in as well.
January 31st, 2004 at 9:25 pm I often said if I lived in the states, I would love to go on Crossing Over. See if any of my deceased relatives come visit me through John. I definitely believe in a supreme being and that he/she/it is guiding my life, because I’ve had an incredible life and I’m not talking materially cause money don’t matter to me (I could be a Junior Doctor then