IT’S A CURIOUS THING TO ME how intricate our mental machinations are when it comes to making everything fit into our particular belief system. It seems we just love believing we are right! But doesn’t it all come down to what we decide to accept as truth?
Somebody says to us… “Jesus is the way! The Bible says so.” Perhaps this message comes to us at a pivotal time in life when we have a definite sense of our neediness. Maybe we say to ourselves that this message about Jesus may actually be true. And if it is true and I ignore or run from it, I could actually be turning my back on God himself.
We may also hear of the devastating consequences of rejecting the message of Christ. Fear and uncertainty become our tormentors, driving us to make a decision.
Somehow we manage to gather our courage to step into “the light of the gospel message”. We make a personal decision to “make Jesus the Lord of our life”. Suddenly, we begin to experience the relief of having ceased to struggle against “the truth”. Chances are that we may immediately feel a definite “newness” in our being. We are reminded that this is “being born again!” We realize that we are now saved!
We also now embark on our journey to know and understand our new belief system. Everything now becomes interpreted in light of our new faith. And, of course, the “book” supposedly becomes the end of all controversy as we defer all personal judgments to the authority of “the Word of God” which is, we are reminded over and over, the Holy Bible.
Now, your particular story will be unique to you, but the same basic elements will be at work. Perhaps you have converted to Islam or Judaism, or some other religious viewpoint. Whichever belief system you embrace, a very similar dilemma arises. You are faced with the challenge and pressure to conform your viewpoint to that particular orthodoxy. The belief you have chosen is, of course, the truth and therefore, all of life must now be interpreted from that vantage point. You can no longer be objectively open to other viewpoints because those differing viewpoints are inherently inferior to yours.
Unwittingly you have taken on the mindset of duality. People who share your faith (believe what you believe) are “IN”, while those who do not are “OUT”! That is duality. And depending on your specific dogma or doctrine, the consequences of being “OUT” can range from being labeled an “infidel” to a full fledged eternal prisoner in God’s special dungeon of torture… HELL ITSELF!
Your particular doctrinal posture will also dictate what your responsibilities are toward both the INNIES and the OUTIES (apologies to all good belly buttons here…! And, btw… where did Adam get his… or did he have one? Well, I guess we won’t go there)!
You may become so passionate about the superiority of your viewpoint that you take on the mission of persuading all people to believe as you do. In fact, you may even develop the sense that the Almighty Himself is guiding you, inspiring you, and even empowering you with special gifts and illuminations. Your very identity is now defined by the belief system to which you have become committed.
What I have just written is my own story. It may be yours as well, but it was definitely mine for over thirty years. It has taken about four more years of step by step deconstruction to divest myself of Christianity. And, I must say, it was worth it! The liberty and personal sense of peace, the very things that were so highly touted to be the very heart and soul of that religion, are now mine.
Now… before you read this and count me an adversary to your faith, please understand something very important. I do not know if Christianity is right and therefore the absolute truth, or if it is just humans attempting to construct the very best God they could think of. I really don’t know. So, I cannot be against Christianity. I simply do not define myself by that belief system any longer. On the other hand, I really like being able to give thought to other viewpoints as well as Christian.
One last thought for now. Recently a young man that I have known for some time wrote something on his Facebook page that was less than enthusiastic about church and the basic Christian worldview. One of his friends he had known many years from church read his statement and commented that he obviously had “God problems.” As my young friend began to write back asking his friend to further explain his position, the friend deleted him from his Facebook friend list. Zap… gone!
Now I believe that exchange will actually work something good in this young man’s life. But the attitude of the friend to simply cut off someone who had in the past been his good friend is rather intriguing to me. I find it is all too common a characteristic of someone defending their belief system to use “shunning” or “rejection” to communicate their distaste of other viewpoints.
I like this perspective better…
Friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is not worth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of honest differences, however sharp they be. – Mahatma Gandhi
Here is an idea… one that I recommend if people really want to have an amazing experience in coming to know the truth for themselves, rather than the parroting of what others have determined.
“A true spiritual teacher does not have anything to teach in the conventional sense of the word, does not have anything to give or add to you, such as new information, beliefs, or rules of conduct. The only function of such a teacher is to help you remove that which separates you from the truth of who you already are and what you already know in the depth of your being. The spiritual teacher is there to uncover and reveal to you that dimension of inner depth that is also peace.”