Salve Salvation
So. Salvation.
Ugh. Before I go further, I feel like I need to make a disclaimer here as I discuss the foundation of what I actually find myself believing in the moment and the answers for which I'm searching. I respect people who have religious convictions. It's a lovely idea that people can accept their faith as response or justification for the way things are and ought to be. That's the beautiful thing about faith. Many have the fortitude to do this; their faith sustains them, even giving them the grace to espouse scripture when it falls alongside logic, science, or "proof" of the divine.
But when people say they "practice" a religion, it's probably because religion, like medicine or law, needs constant rehearsal to maintain focus, integrity, and facility. Finding God and keeping him close is no easy thing, not when facets of the mainstream society, some parts of the scientific community, and alleged "free thinkers" are vocal and public in their perspectives.
With that being said... there's a gulf between what I really and truly believe and what I'd like to be able to believe. That's where these essays are coming from. So... again... salvation. Do I believe in Heaven? If not, then what? As far as Heaven goes, I don't believe in it, not exactly. The bible discusses Heaven and assures the faithful that their faith will bring eternal salvation, but I can undersatnd that idea as a metaphor. The question begs, then, a metaphor for what?
I don't know.
Transformation is perhaps the miracle after death that nobody understands. Science can explain what happens to our bodies after we die, but our "fingerprint of God," that unique part that is God in each of us, that's not body-dependent. I know what the bible says about death and resurrection, but I don't believe in literal interpretations of them. The bible does assure the faithful that something does occur with our souls. That's a consideration. But I don't think "eternal life" is anything akin to our mortal lives now. Just as we were unaware of this reality before birth, so I think we are unaware of it after death. Just what happens? I think... nothing, at least nothing that we recognize or can possibly understand. The divine part of us is not attached to this temporal part of us, not even in a way cognizant of it. In death, it becomes an entity wholly separated, wholly apart. But what happens to it is anybody's guess. What the bible means by it is anybody's guess, too. I admire the religious in their face-value acceptance of scripture, but I think there's more to it than the face. The words are ideas; the words are not literal.
What about those death dreams of bright lights and seeing loved ones that the near-death see? Dreams... vivid, real, potent dreams borne of fear and with the convictions that those who dream with lively reality seem to forget are not real for moments upon awakening. I suppose that dreams could conduct the divine, but I'm not one who's learned to believe such things.
Ugh. Before I go further, I feel like I need to make a disclaimer here as I discuss the foundation of what I actually find myself believing in the moment and the answers for which I'm searching. I respect people who have religious convictions. It's a lovely idea that people can accept their faith as response or justification for the way things are and ought to be. That's the beautiful thing about faith. Many have the fortitude to do this; their faith sustains them, even giving them the grace to espouse scripture when it falls alongside logic, science, or "proof" of the divine.
But when people say they "practice" a religion, it's probably because religion, like medicine or law, needs constant rehearsal to maintain focus, integrity, and facility. Finding God and keeping him close is no easy thing, not when facets of the mainstream society, some parts of the scientific community, and alleged "free thinkers" are vocal and public in their perspectives.
With that being said... there's a gulf between what I really and truly believe and what I'd like to be able to believe. That's where these essays are coming from. So... again... salvation. Do I believe in Heaven? If not, then what? As far as Heaven goes, I don't believe in it, not exactly. The bible discusses Heaven and assures the faithful that their faith will bring eternal salvation, but I can undersatnd that idea as a metaphor. The question begs, then, a metaphor for what?
I don't know.
Transformation is perhaps the miracle after death that nobody understands. Science can explain what happens to our bodies after we die, but our "fingerprint of God," that unique part that is God in each of us, that's not body-dependent. I know what the bible says about death and resurrection, but I don't believe in literal interpretations of them. The bible does assure the faithful that something does occur with our souls. That's a consideration. But I don't think "eternal life" is anything akin to our mortal lives now. Just as we were unaware of this reality before birth, so I think we are unaware of it after death. Just what happens? I think... nothing, at least nothing that we recognize or can possibly understand. The divine part of us is not attached to this temporal part of us, not even in a way cognizant of it. In death, it becomes an entity wholly separated, wholly apart. But what happens to it is anybody's guess. What the bible means by it is anybody's guess, too. I admire the religious in their face-value acceptance of scripture, but I think there's more to it than the face. The words are ideas; the words are not literal.
What about those death dreams of bright lights and seeing loved ones that the near-death see? Dreams... vivid, real, potent dreams borne of fear and with the convictions that those who dream with lively reality seem to forget are not real for moments upon awakening. I suppose that dreams could conduct the divine, but I'm not one who's learned to believe such things.
posted by bluedana @ 4:43 PM
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