Ivy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ivybgreenflower) wrote2004-01-23 10:41 pm
ivybgreenflower) wrote2004-01-23 10:41 pm
Blah blah blah.
More for myself than anything, an outline of my personal religion.
Now, for as long as I can remember, I told anyone who asked, (because, frankly, whenever I get really close with someone, I ask them what their religion is. I'm just curious) that I am Roman Catholic. Well, the reason is simple: that's what my parents are, and that's what they told me I was, and I believed them. Besides- the Pope has a cool name. John Paul. It just doesn't get any cooler. (Oh, and the pope/Vatican approves of Harry Potter. Catholics who think HP is the spawn of the devil need to get over it if they're serious about their religion.) I'm also Italian, and you don't find many Italians who are anything else... not that they don't exist, but the country is the base for probably the largest Judeo-Chirstian religion in the world. (I may be wrong. I don't really care.) But I'm not a real Catholic... I don't, for example, think homosexuals are going to hell. Well, I don't believe in hell, but we'll get to that in a minute.
Quite simply, Christianity, and all other religions I've ever read about in the geography, social studies, and history books didn't satisfy every question I had. So what did I do? Turn a blind eye to my question? Be ashamed for questioning religion? No. I did the best thing I could:
I made up my own religion. It's been seriously refined since I started it, but it's mine and I like it. It satisfies what I want to know, it works, it lets me pray the way I want to, it's a nice little religion. It works for me. Probably only for me, but I don't care. Just so you know: I believe in God.
But not the angry God the Christians go on and on about.
Which brings us to probably the most debated point of any religion:
What happens when we die? I mean, when our brains send the signals to our organs to stop functioning. You know what death (scientifically) means.
I figured, in recent years, that if my God truly loves me like the bible/etc says he does, if I am his treasured child, then he would never send me to be punished eternally for something I did that would be the blink of an eye in the context of eternity (given "eternity" is as long as they say it is.) So, I don't believe in hell in the traditional sense. Of course, I'm not saying that Mother Theresa and Hitler are hitting it off in heaven. Of course not. I think God gives us choices, and while Mother Theresa chose to love and help, Hitler chose to destroy and kill. I also think that whatever we did that was SOOOOOOOOOOO BAD as to classify going to "hell" probably does need punishment. So, I think Hitler is doing something- I have no idea what- to make up for what he did in life. Like community service. I don't think that if God loves Hitler, still his child, God would turn on him and make him live forever in unspeakable agony- even if that's what he did in his life. Of course he's getting punished. Of course he's suffering. But not forever. I don't know how old Hitler was when he died (let's say 60) but 60 years in the context of millenia upon millenia of the Rest of Forever deserves eternal punishment. Let's take every single person he hurt (physically or emotionally) and every person that was hurt as an indirect result, and multiply that by ten. We have a number in the billions, I'm guessing. Let's translate that into punishment. We'll take this exponential, astronomical number, and use it to define the torture for Hitler. He'll get starved, gassed, etc. But not forever. Let's say for a 1000 years. And then he gets a chance to start over on earth- he'll get to come back as a regular person and this time, he'll have to try to benefit humanity. And if he still didn't learn the lesson, we'll keep punishing him. Of course, "we" means us playing God, which we can't do, but it's hypothetical.
What else about death... let me see. First of all, I'm a fan of science. Specifically, Biology. I think we all evolved from monkeys or whatever we came from. And blah blah blah. But I also believe in a spiritual afterlife.
So we come to where science clashes with religion (well, one of the places anyway.) Science tells us that, as a fact, energy (for instance, the spirit) can never be created nor destroyed. Science (phyiscs) tells us that there is a strong possibility that other dimensions exsist (look up String Theory, a theory I am very fond of and believe in, which is strictly scientific). They also say that it is very possible that energy can move through dimensions. So here we go.
When we die, we lose the energy we had as living human beings. The energy, strictly scientifically, would drift about aimlessly before something happened to it and it became part of something else. But, let's say that "our" personal energy stays all together in a neat little package with a cute little label that says our name on it. Let's say that our packages travel all together nice and neat once we die and go to another dimension very close to ours and once they are there, they get to retake a "form" and "live" in "heaven". This theory has a flaw- it seems to have the possibility of energy getting lost and our spirit/soul/whatever drifting about forever trying to find its way to "heaven". This is where God comes in. I think God follows and pushes our little energy package in the right direction after we die. Hence the "tunnel" that people who "die" and end up living always see. Again, a nice theory for my personal belief.
Do animals have souls? They use energy, don't they? They have primitive emotions, don't they? Of course they have souls, and God loves them like he loves humans.
John Lennon, a source of religious inspiration to me, said that "God is neither good nor bad. He just is." Which makes sense, because "good" and "evil" are very human things. Of course, good and evil still exsists, but for God to exsist above any type of living being, God must be above such simple human names and labels. So this God who loves us and has no moral classification... well, it gets confusing, doesn't it?
I also think that God is very busy. Of course, "busy" is a human thing, and God can listen to everyone at once and such, but I, humble little thing that I am, believe that God shouldn't be "bothered" with my selfish personal problems.
Which brings us back to "the other side", or "heaven" or whatever you call it. I think that the people who truly loved us and whom we loved never leave us. I think they are watching us and helping us and comforting us. I also think we can "pray" or talk to them. I, for instance, developed a personal attatchment to John Lennon and George Harrison. I adored them in life, and in death, I still adore them. I ask them for help, I talk to them about my problems (like a deadjournal, only...not.) I consider them to be something like saints- they were very well known, very intelligent, very gifted, and very, very influential. So these such wonderful beings must have some knowledge, given their present state, and they must be able to help me. I have spoken to them- of course they've never spoken back, that would be weird- but I do think they've influenced things that have happened. I prayed to George and John out of sheer desperation- I've never done it before this and I probably won't ever- but I was so desperate I prayed for good exam grades. I worked harder than ever, I studied, I was prepared, and I think I got the extra energy from their help.
This does not mean, however, that ANYTHING I ask for I'll get. What's the point of living and learning if anything we want, we get? That's what makes Paris and Nicole such sad beings. They get whatever they want and have probably no understanding of anything. I just was very desperate, and my personal favorite spirits helped me. I'm guessing they're either very kind or they've taken a personal interest in me- I don't know.
So there's my personal religion. It doesn't have a name, I by no means want followers, and it's very flawed and somewhat contradictory I'm sure. But it serves the purpose of religion: comfort. It makes sense. The human's greatest fear is the unknown, and that's why we fear death- we don't know what's gonna happen when we die. But I think I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to believe.
Disclaimer- I'm not saying this is fact, or truth, or even that it makes sense. Please don't flame me and hate me. Well, if you do, your pointless comments, emails, ims, etc, will be deleted and ignored, because I really don't care. Real discussions are another story. Feel free to comment or e-mail me. That is all.
Of course, I haven't even gone into the finer details, but here's the basic package. The end.
Ivyette @ 11:31 PM
Now, for as long as I can remember, I told anyone who asked, (because, frankly, whenever I get really close with someone, I ask them what their religion is. I'm just curious) that I am Roman Catholic. Well, the reason is simple: that's what my parents are, and that's what they told me I was, and I believed them. Besides- the Pope has a cool name. John Paul. It just doesn't get any cooler. (Oh, and the pope/Vatican approves of Harry Potter. Catholics who think HP is the spawn of the devil need to get over it if they're serious about their religion.) I'm also Italian, and you don't find many Italians who are anything else... not that they don't exist, but the country is the base for probably the largest Judeo-Chirstian religion in the world. (I may be wrong. I don't really care.) But I'm not a real Catholic... I don't, for example, think homosexuals are going to hell. Well, I don't believe in hell, but we'll get to that in a minute.
Quite simply, Christianity, and all other religions I've ever read about in the geography, social studies, and history books didn't satisfy every question I had. So what did I do? Turn a blind eye to my question? Be ashamed for questioning religion? No. I did the best thing I could:
I made up my own religion. It's been seriously refined since I started it, but it's mine and I like it. It satisfies what I want to know, it works, it lets me pray the way I want to, it's a nice little religion. It works for me. Probably only for me, but I don't care. Just so you know: I believe in God.
But not the angry God the Christians go on and on about.
Which brings us to probably the most debated point of any religion:
What happens when we die? I mean, when our brains send the signals to our organs to stop functioning. You know what death (scientifically) means.
I figured, in recent years, that if my God truly loves me like the bible/etc says he does, if I am his treasured child, then he would never send me to be punished eternally for something I did that would be the blink of an eye in the context of eternity (given "eternity" is as long as they say it is.) So, I don't believe in hell in the traditional sense. Of course, I'm not saying that Mother Theresa and Hitler are hitting it off in heaven. Of course not. I think God gives us choices, and while Mother Theresa chose to love and help, Hitler chose to destroy and kill. I also think that whatever we did that was SOOOOOOOOOOO BAD as to classify going to "hell" probably does need punishment. So, I think Hitler is doing something- I have no idea what- to make up for what he did in life. Like community service. I don't think that if God loves Hitler, still his child, God would turn on him and make him live forever in unspeakable agony- even if that's what he did in his life. Of course he's getting punished. Of course he's suffering. But not forever. I don't know how old Hitler was when he died (let's say 60) but 60 years in the context of millenia upon millenia of the Rest of Forever deserves eternal punishment. Let's take every single person he hurt (physically or emotionally) and every person that was hurt as an indirect result, and multiply that by ten. We have a number in the billions, I'm guessing. Let's translate that into punishment. We'll take this exponential, astronomical number, and use it to define the torture for Hitler. He'll get starved, gassed, etc. But not forever. Let's say for a 1000 years. And then he gets a chance to start over on earth- he'll get to come back as a regular person and this time, he'll have to try to benefit humanity. And if he still didn't learn the lesson, we'll keep punishing him. Of course, "we" means us playing God, which we can't do, but it's hypothetical.
What else about death... let me see. First of all, I'm a fan of science. Specifically, Biology. I think we all evolved from monkeys or whatever we came from. And blah blah blah. But I also believe in a spiritual afterlife.
So we come to where science clashes with religion (well, one of the places anyway.) Science tells us that, as a fact, energy (for instance, the spirit) can never be created nor destroyed. Science (phyiscs) tells us that there is a strong possibility that other dimensions exsist (look up String Theory, a theory I am very fond of and believe in, which is strictly scientific). They also say that it is very possible that energy can move through dimensions. So here we go.
When we die, we lose the energy we had as living human beings. The energy, strictly scientifically, would drift about aimlessly before something happened to it and it became part of something else. But, let's say that "our" personal energy stays all together in a neat little package with a cute little label that says our name on it. Let's say that our packages travel all together nice and neat once we die and go to another dimension very close to ours and once they are there, they get to retake a "form" and "live" in "heaven". This theory has a flaw- it seems to have the possibility of energy getting lost and our spirit/soul/whatever drifting about forever trying to find its way to "heaven". This is where God comes in. I think God follows and pushes our little energy package in the right direction after we die. Hence the "tunnel" that people who "die" and end up living always see. Again, a nice theory for my personal belief.
Do animals have souls? They use energy, don't they? They have primitive emotions, don't they? Of course they have souls, and God loves them like he loves humans.
John Lennon, a source of religious inspiration to me, said that "God is neither good nor bad. He just is." Which makes sense, because "good" and "evil" are very human things. Of course, good and evil still exsists, but for God to exsist above any type of living being, God must be above such simple human names and labels. So this God who loves us and has no moral classification... well, it gets confusing, doesn't it?
I also think that God is very busy. Of course, "busy" is a human thing, and God can listen to everyone at once and such, but I, humble little thing that I am, believe that God shouldn't be "bothered" with my selfish personal problems.
Which brings us back to "the other side", or "heaven" or whatever you call it. I think that the people who truly loved us and whom we loved never leave us. I think they are watching us and helping us and comforting us. I also think we can "pray" or talk to them. I, for instance, developed a personal attatchment to John Lennon and George Harrison. I adored them in life, and in death, I still adore them. I ask them for help, I talk to them about my problems (like a deadjournal, only...not.) I consider them to be something like saints- they were very well known, very intelligent, very gifted, and very, very influential. So these such wonderful beings must have some knowledge, given their present state, and they must be able to help me. I have spoken to them- of course they've never spoken back, that would be weird- but I do think they've influenced things that have happened. I prayed to George and John out of sheer desperation- I've never done it before this and I probably won't ever- but I was so desperate I prayed for good exam grades. I worked harder than ever, I studied, I was prepared, and I think I got the extra energy from their help.
This does not mean, however, that ANYTHING I ask for I'll get. What's the point of living and learning if anything we want, we get? That's what makes Paris and Nicole such sad beings. They get whatever they want and have probably no understanding of anything. I just was very desperate, and my personal favorite spirits helped me. I'm guessing they're either very kind or they've taken a personal interest in me- I don't know.
So there's my personal religion. It doesn't have a name, I by no means want followers, and it's very flawed and somewhat contradictory I'm sure. But it serves the purpose of religion: comfort. It makes sense. The human's greatest fear is the unknown, and that's why we fear death- we don't know what's gonna happen when we die. But I think I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to believe.
Disclaimer- I'm not saying this is fact, or truth, or even that it makes sense. Please don't flame me and hate me. Well, if you do, your pointless comments, emails, ims, etc, will be deleted and ignored, because I really don't care. Real discussions are another story. Feel free to comment or e-mail me. That is all.
Of course, I haven't even gone into the finer details, but here's the basic package. The end.
Ivyette @ 11:31 PM
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Good luck ressurecting your brain. lol.
And I think that spelling of immensely is right.
Ivyette
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- Liz
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Thanks.
I think it could give anyone a headache... hahaha.
This is one of the things I think/thought about during the "lonely period" of my life a few years ago. Making up my "religion" is/was fun and I like it. I'm still refining it whenever I get new scientific information... I dunno... I just like information, lol.
Ivyette
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Christians are so... yeah, pompous is the best word I can think of for it. hee. :)
Ivyette
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Ivyette
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Ivyette
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She used to talk about converting someone, and at the end she'd go 'and guess what happened.' and I'd go...'uh...they got converted?'. Basically, what most conversations are like with her.
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lol.
Ivyette
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I wonder about the times she's not successful... maybe if you ask her about those, she'll shut up, lol. Although, if she gets offended easily and your family will be mad at you, maybe you'd better not...
Hahahaha.
Ivyette
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Same time, same place.
Liz
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Ok see you next week... aka now! hahahha!
Ivyette
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Ivyette
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Ivyette