Find Religion

According to studies, this is the most depressing week of the year, with Monday having been the most depressing day. Why? It’s far from the holidays, New Years resolutions have failed. holiday bills are coming in, the weather, sucks, it gets dark fairly early…

If you’re feeling depressed, you aren’t alone. God can help you through these rough times. Prayer and reading the Bible can be quite comforting, but I’ve found that when depressed the best way God can help is through friends. A friend to talk with may not “cure” you of your depression, but it can help.

And if you have no friends to talk to, you can talk to me.

Love and peace, dear readers.

depression

I was talking to a group of women in my community and the topic was brought up about how, “God never gives you more than you can handle.” I got to thinking what on earth does that mean? I don’t believe that for one bit! It struck me as very naive` and a great way to keep yourself from active action to change or serve those in need in our community. What about the people who find themselves on the other end of a gun in their own hands-is that considered more than one can handle? What about children who are so tormented in public school that they snap and go off and shoot & kill people. Is that being given more than can be handled? What about the people who can’t fit in with the guidelines of societal standards and find themselves in jail , insane, profiting from illicit means or worse? It is this Pollyannaic thinking that ‘oh, everything happens for a reason and hopefully we learn from our mistakes’, that discounts the human frailty. What about the person who gets their life snuffed out by a reckless drunk driver? We already know that one puts life at risk when drinking & driving. Why does it take that person killing someone to make them stop doing destructive behaviors and have the reverence for life that was intended before they take an innocent life?

Life is. Life is impersonal. Life is chaos. We all know about being at the right place at the right time (or the wrong!). It is that which makes us essentially human that makes us contrive something from nothing (or everything) or make sense from the chaos. That which we would like to think is divine intervention, fate or destiny is merely a sort of crippled coping mechanism to the forces that we have no control over. Taking the responsibility for our free will also has an accountability factor that is often overlooked. If everything happens for a reason then we can quell our impulse to help hungry people in our community because well, by golly, God won’t give them anymore than they can handle, right? If everything happens for a reason we can rationalize away the needs, the cries, the sorrow and the lack all around us. I think the true context of “God never gives you more than you can handle,’ is that we are to find our niche` in society, our place to serve, in whatever way is our unique gift, and give it all we got with all the heart and love and sweat and determination you would give anything you want to thrive. I’m reminded of the woman who wanted to help the hungry children in her community. Everyday children came to her door begging for food because they were so impoverished they went hungry. She wasn’t a woman of means by any means, but she could afford a couple extra loaves bread a week and some jelly & peanut butter. She began making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the kids. Soon the word spread that this woman was giving out PB & J sandwiches and dozens of kids were coming to her door, the numbers growing each day. She made more and more sandwiches and fed the kids that were hungry in her community. I can tell you, those kids were changed by her thoughtfulness, kindness and compassion. It’s the little things like that, that transforms neighborhoods into communities. A gift so simple, so meaningful and so basic. She is an inspiration to me.

Be inspired, take something on. Get out of your comfort zone. Help someone in need. Let your freewill be someone else’s lifeline. You never know when your unique kindness will help someone bend a little further and keep from breaking. We can do no great things. Only little things with great love.

As a Christian, one of the things I think about most is the Bible and its meaning. Can we take the Bible literally?

Here’s my look on it: The Bible was written by man. Whether you believe it is the word of God or not, a human being sat down and wrote it (well, a number of human beings did, as there are different authors for different pieces of the Bible).

I’m not saying the Bible is unreliable…Ok, yeah, that IS what I’m saying!

I don’t NOT trust the word of God, I’m just not ready to jump on board with everything about the Bible because I don’t trust people. Mistakes have surely happened since multiple translations exist and certain books have been left out while others were included.

Simply put, I believe that the Bible is a tool we can use to come closer to God–or at least to understand how other people view God. My faith lies in God, not the Bible.

Christian, the Bible, God, Bible, faith

Today, my roommates and I were talking about different Bibles we had as children. Me and my one roommie both had Precious Moments Bibles, another had a ten guide Bible, and the last had a simple Bible with her name engraved on it.

I feel as though many children never receive Bibles these days, which is a little sad. My hope for you, dear readers, is that even if you are not religious yourself, you encourage your children to explore faith, both Christain and otherwise.

Bibles, children, Bible, religious, faith, Christain

On here, I try to encourage people to read some of the new and thought provoking books on religion out there, but let’s not forget some of the most important books of all–scripture.

Read the Bible. Read the Koran. Read the Vedas. Read, read, read, etc.

I urge you to read not only from your own faith but from others as well. I’m not saying to convert or anything, but if your are witnessing, shouldn’t you understand those to whom you are speaking? And if you are questioning, shouldn’t you understand the other views abot the Divine out there?

Read. I challenge you all to sit down with you Bible (or whatever) and read a bit of it every night. Hopefully, it will bring you closer to the Divine

Isn’t it funny how one writer can change the way you think about life? That’s how I’ve always felt, and growing up, I’ve bee influenced and motivated by a number of inspiring writers, to whom I now feel indebted. Dear reader, thank you for being here, because I hope I can become such a writer to you. This is the first of many posts in which I’d like to hold a little conversation about religion, and I hope that you’ll continue with me every step of the way.

Speaking of influences, I have to admit that the Bible was one of the most motivating pieces of literature I’ve ever read. Now, I’m speaking clearly from a writer’s standpoint. Even if you don’t believe in Jesus and Moses and Noah and all those other dead guys, it’s one hell of a story, don’t you think? The Bible is kind of like a big soap opera. I mean, think about it. Abandoned babies. Miraculous healings. Questionable parentages. It’s all on Days of Our Lives. And it’s all in the Bible as well.

Which I suppose, brings me to a more important question. What in the Bible is fact and what is fiction? This question can be asked of any of the Holy Scriptures from any of the major world religions. Point in case—the Bible speaks of a great flood and a man who protects God’s creatures by building a ship and saving two of every species. At the end of this fantastic tale, God gives us the rainbow as a promise that such an event will never occur again. Is this what actually happened, or is this a bedtime story that the Jews used to explain the appearance of rainbows after a storm? Is this the news or a short story?

Truth be told, I don’t think we’ll ever know. Scientists can prove that at one time much more of this planet was covered with water than is now. Literature scholars can prove that a great flood story was told in many different religions. The actual event? Well, that’s a matter of faith.

And faith is a whole other subject, my friends, and one that I’ll be sure to talk about next time.

Until then, I urge you to think about the Bible and about other religious texts not only as spiritual guidelines, but also as literature. Even if you are not religious, these books have real value in out society, and are worth reading, as they are a reflection of our past. Religion is largely about a search for the truth in ourselves, and knowing where we come from is the first step to achieving that goal.

Happy Reading,

Alli