Faith

2. How does Faith relate to the world in which we live?

Faith is a subject I hate to talk about. There are points in my life where I feel like others don't have enough faith, and there are points where I hate my own lack of faith, and sometimes, I hate having faith.

Edit: Looking back at this post at the end, some parts make little to no sense. Ignore these anomalies and continue life at your own pace.

When my parents decided to move and give up their life to serve others, I had no doubts. I had complete faith in them, and had faith in their ideals. They lived such a great life, a great job, a house in a beautiful neighborhood, two cars, two kids. They were living the American Dream. When they gave it all up, I completely understood; they had faith in their religion, and their faith had brought them this far, what was to stop them from going further?

And still people question me why my parents would do such a thing.

To be honest, I believe the answer is simple. Faith, to them, was a complete and total trust in a higher power. They believed that their life as a Christian was in God’s control, that nothing happened outside of His will. And in realizing that, they understood that they should do whatever He asks of them. No questions asked.

Christians to this day still argue several things, some of which simply worthless to me. One of which is: “Why does God let bad things happen?” To me, the answer is apparent. While some people try to illogically argue that letting us human beings is both a part of God’s will as His will is to let us follow our own will, I find the answer is, simply put: Because He’s God. A being that can be defined as “God” is one of unlimited power, presence, and knowledge. If one believes that they are of His creation, how can they doubt that He does anything that is “wrong”. The Christian God defines what is right and wrong.; anything that goes against Him is wrong We see that a “God” sending people to Hell, causing natural disasters, letting good people die, etc. is a God who is somehow at fault. Yet how can He be at fault if his actions define what righteous, noble is, and right?

Things that question God’s power are questions best answered with faith. Simple faith is how I believe the questions that other Christians face. There is a power around, a quiet one, but one that speaks volumes when practically applied.

There are still those times, however, that I feel like my faith is sufficient. As hard as it was to come to my beliefs, and how strongly I argued until I had set my beliefs, I still feel like there could be something I missed, some little factor that I didn’t catch, that will make my whole life a waste. I wonder, sometimes, if God doesn’t exist, if morals, karma, rules didn’t mean anything, then is my life worthless? Does anything I do for other people simply waste time? Scientifically, a few close friends should be all that I worry about, the rest of the world is inconsequential to me. Legacies, children, anything to preserve myself matters. These are the weird things I think about, although I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in thinking them.

And finally, I hate talking about faith, because it makes me seem weak. My stance on explanations, on my beliefs themselves rely upon my ability to intellectually come to a conclusion. Yet faith changes everything. Once one has faith, one is expected to believe everything that God says completely. Although there are some things that I can still figure intellectually (such as not taking everything a preacher says at face value, but instead trusting the Bible) both my strong views about faith, yet my worries about my own faith come in the way. Faith is something that I desperately want to have completely, but also believe that I would regret at the end of my life. Faith is something that I can’t stand in others, yet I don’t know if it exists in me. I know this whole post makes me quite the hypocrite, but sometimes, I don’t even know if that matters.

Note: Picture digitally created by T Hahn

Reflections of time and space

What factors of your native culture have informed your religious world view? Explain the impact of these factors.

I have several different "native cultures". I was born and raised in the United States, in a heavily liberal suburban neighborhood, where religion was simply a hindrance. Ethnically, I'm Korean, and my parents were born in a very anti-religious community. I also lived for a period of time in China, which again rejects many religious aspects of life.

I don't think any of my experiences have completely changed my life. I have my own beliefs, which may be a benefit, as I discovered my own beliefs through logic and self exposure to the world.

One look at my bookshelf can tell you that my beliefs are quite strange indeed.

Next to Freud's Human Civilizations and its Discontents is a copy of the Message, and next to Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche lie several devotionals and another copy of the NIV. My whole life, I refused to stand out as a Christian who simply believes because he is told to believe a certain way. I get angry at the Christians who sit ignorantly, willing to perpetuate the stereotype of the "Dumb Southern Conservative Christian". For example: At Faith Academy in the Phillipines, they prepare their students for the real world ineptly. When debating liberals on evolution, their best refutation of scientific evolution and logical thinking is saying "evolution says we are direct descendents of monkeys" which is completely inaccurate, and the misguided three year olds view of evolution. To make things worse, they then started making monkey noises.

Yay.

I despise people who take their Christianity for granted. As one who grew up in society being told that religion was "bad" it took me a long time to gain my own views on my beliefs on this world and this reality

So, in conclusion, my native culture has left me little to ponder on. I outright refused to take such extreme views, regardless of which side of the spectrum that side represented. I have always made my own views from my own research and logic, not that of others.