If these things constitute the extent of one’s view of religion as a human practice, it might help to dig deeper and into sources other than mainstream, anti-religious sources.

Here’s the thing though…I know I’m a sorry excuse for what other people might look for in a believer. I suck. I suck bad. BUT, in the end…what other people think of me isn’t what I concern myself with. And I wish more Christians could embrace the idea that they don’t actually have to live up to any standards in order to to be “right with God”. I’m pretty sure He knows we are never going to live up to His standards…that’s the crux of Christianty…knowing (having faith) that we can still be loved regardless. There is nothing that we can do to be like Him…so there is no point trying.

NOW, if a believer chooses to do good and right because they are inspired to do those things out of love, that is a different story altogether. Trying to be good and right in order to achieve some sort of favor…that’s cheap and false and smacks of vanity.

And prayer isn’t about asking for presents and favors and help…or it shouldn’t be. It’s a way to communicate with the one we believe in. People that think of God as a giant Santa in the sky are in for a lot of disappointment.

I don’t think I’m worthless without God…I struggle with worthlessness all on my own. I was taught by HUMANS to believe that I am useless and hopeless…and I’m paying a therapist a lot of $$ to help me sort that shit out.

Many people think they have no worth. Believers and non-believers alike. And then…there are others that think they are worth much more than they are (Hello? Cast of The Hills). I don’t know a lot of people that have the balance just right. Do you?

If you think about it, most everyone looks for validation of their worth. Whether it be money, status, intelligence, talent, beauty, athleticism, health, material goods, number of myspace friends…whatever it is…we are humans and we need to be loved (just like everybody else does…thank you Depeche Mode).

I question my faith constantly. It does all seem ludicrous if you take away the experiential parts. I am sometimes hit very hard with the fact that I could be totally misled into believing something false. But, since I’m not crusading against the heathens…or burning people alive at the stake for practicing witchcraft…or even harshly judging non-believers….then I figure that’s my own damn problem if I don’t end up face to face with Jesus himself after I die. If I’m wrong, then I won’t know the difference. But if I’m right…then…woo-hoo! Yay me!

That was a lot of words…and very little sense. Sorry. I’m just musing along with the rest of the world…

I certainly hope I haven’t lost any respect you might have had for me as a fellow blogger. I search for signs of my worth in your validation!

Time for the gym.

4:22 and I can’t sleep, so I’m catching up on blogging. I think it’s awesome that there are people who have faith and believe. I do. I’m not one of those people.

My diificulties with religion are the hypocrisies here and there – people with not much money to spare still feel obligated to tithe x% of their already paltry earnings to church – or churches who have parishioners in need spending money to builter bigger, better, whatever “Super churches”. I guess I would rather see churches put their money where their mouths are – sure, I suppose they need a roof underwhich people can congregate – but surely they can have a less extravagant roof and maybe DO more rather than BE more. Or the people who claim to hold such strong faith and then their actions completely contradict the words they claim to believe so fervently.

I’m never going to be one of those people who blindly accepts, and it’s because I’m a cynic in most areas of my life. That’s fine. (OH MY HELL I WISH I COULD SLEEP I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M RAMBLING ABOUT RELIGION AT 4 A.M.). But I get annoyed too to see people say they would be nothing without their god or such. Really? That people don’t think they have worth on their own is what gets me.

(And fwiw, I don’t mind your potty mouth – but i hear there’s a 12 step program for that )

Michael – Thanks for stopping by and the input. And yes, I’m a hopeless pottymouth. *shrug*

I apologize if this doesn’t make sense, I was up late studying. I should have went to sleep hours ago.

Many people have lost the reason of religion and belief. They do believe as you state:

“As long as we pray X amount of times a day, maybe in X direction, maybe give X amount of money to a church/synagogue/temple, maybe expel X amount of infidels from our country and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get what we pray for.”

It is the commercial institution of religion at fault. Where would any church be with a product that is available without the church?

Anyway, one thing I would challenge your post about is this notion of a progressive species. Progression implies improvement over time, and I don’t think that history will bear this out as true of humans. We’ve been fucked up for a long time and aren’t getting any “better.” We might be more savvy about technology, but humans are just broken – look at the ways we treat our environments, our neighbors, ourselves, our society. I would NOT call this progress. Progressivism is an illusion.

Now, if we’re not progressive, what hope do we have apart from ourselves? I leave that as an open question.