"Living Without Religion", a ramblers humble opinion.

I take the title from a series of short articles that I read today during my procrastination break (that is, a short break from work during which I procrastinated, not, a break from procrastination !) and which got me thinking: "The late Nicolas Walter gave five radio talks in the "Words of Faith" series on the BBC World Service in 1996. Each programme took up one theme, relating humanism to: Living, Thinking, Feeling, Science, Weeping and Laughter
The transcripts are reproduced here."

It's worth a read, as it's definitely thought provoking. I don't know if I'm going to be able to explain this really well, but basically what comes across to me most, is that this guy appears not to quite grasp what Christianity is all about. In the transcripts he talks about "living well", about love, and emotions, and thinking, and about the complexity and potential of human beings. All good things really by my book. In fact, I would probably go so far to say that I agree with most of the things that he says ! Using Christianity as an example of a 'religion' where one has faith in a 'supernatural being', I would say that a lot of people have this image of Christianity being outdated (now that we can explain everything using science of course - which as a scientist I beg to differ with anyway), about following a set of moral rules and guidelines, having an irrational belief in a supernatural God who one leans on as a crutch when one can't cope with life, and as a way out of thinking rationally about the world. This is so far from the truth !!! I would call myself a Christian, although very very far from being a perfect one, but I would say that to me my faith is: very relevant, about far more than just moral guidelines, about having a very rational belief in a God who loves me with an everlasting love that is deep and outworked and a God who promises He will walk beside me through all of life's difficult circumstances, and allows me to think about things in this world very deeply. This contradiction between widely held perception and what I have experienced to be true in my life shouldn't surprise me really, considering what it says in Corinthians (Message version): "The Message that points to Christ on the cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It's written, I'll turn conventional wisdom on it's head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots." 1 Cor 18-19

The things he says, to me mix up things that I believe to be true about the world, while missing out some of the crucial bits (all the bits where God's involved) at the same time - a most dangerous combination.

A good example of this can be found in the following: I looked up humanist on Wikipedia, to get a better understanding of what they actually believe, and this quote particularly struck me: "The focus is on doing good and living well in the here and now, and leaving the world a better place for those who come after." Do they therefore think that Christians don't also want to do this ? Ultimately, we all live out our lives on the same earth, and don't most of us want to have a good influence on the world around us ? I suppose the crucial difference is whether we rely on ourselves, and striving to fulfil our innate potential in our own strength to carry out this goal, or whether we look to God, discovering the talents and potential He has given each of us, whilst also looking to His strength and seeking to play out our part in His good plan.

Going back to the humanist transcripts I quoted at the beginning of this, two other quotes in particular struck me, which I shall leave you with...

1) "But science is always on the move. We have tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge, our eyes are opened, and there is no going back."

- for someone seeking to live life without religion, he sure quotes from the Bible a lot !


2) "Favourite children's stories end happily ever after, but great adult novels hardly ever end happily. Just as our rational minds tell us that the world is not a perfect place, so our emotional minds want the imperfect world to be reflected in our art."

- I disagree with this statement entirely. Just because our experience on earth tells us that things do not always have "happy endings" should we therefore bring our art, and the things we meditate on and fill our minds with down to the level of our experience ? This relates somewhat to a recent post on the Woodies Worship Leaders blog . At those times where I see, hear of or experience those things which bring pain, hardship, confusion, my heart cries out within me that there must be more than this. That there is surely hope to be found despite the pain; there is joy despite the sorrow and mourning, there can be clarity in the midst of confusion...and that this doesn't just refer to the new heaven and new earth of which the book of Revelation speaks, where "He will wipe every tear from their eyes" and "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Revelation 21:4) but can also be partially true in the here and now, as, because of Jesus, we seek to more and more live out our lives now as God intended.

This has been a slightly more weighty post that any I have written recently. Apologies for any incoherent ramblings - it's late and I'm getting more and more tired, but I just wanted to try to pen some of this down before the busyness of tomorrow makes me forget it all ! A true rambling from one who is good at rambling :-)