thoughts about faith, religion, spirituality

The other night I went to see the movie The Book of Eli. It was pretty good and of course thought-provoking. Without giving anything away, the movie is set sometime in the future (something like 30 or so yrs from now I guess) after maybe a nuclear war or something (the audience was left to fill in a lot of the details lol)...anyway, the planet (or is it just the US?) is basically destroyed and the population that is alive is largely composed of (what we would consider) uncivilized illiterates. There is no law, order, government...essentially no society of which to speak.

Ok it's hard not to give too much away if I want to discuss it meaningfully...so if you haven't seen it and you plan to, just read this after you watch it ;-)

The movie follows Denzel Washington as he travels West on his mission to keep The Book (which we discover is The Bible) protected and deliver it to where it will be safe/appreciated. It's the last Bible left on the planet! The evil dude in the movie wants to use it in an "opiate of the masses" type way, while Denzel simply wants to keep it safe and let it's teachings live on...but by the end of the movie he realizes that by trying so hard to protect it, he hasn't actually been sharing the word with anyone....etc. etc. ...you get the point. There are some interesting parallels with the state of religion today. In particular, at one point a character asks Denzel why all the other Bibles were destroyed, and he responds that some people thought the Bible was the reason for the war in the first place....interesante no?


Another interesting point that my friend brought up is that when Denzel finally reaches his destination, The Bible (which actually ended up being transcribed based on Denzel's memorization of it, since the evil dude gets the real copy of the Bible) is added to a bookshelf along with other works of literature...and placed alongside The Qur'an, The Torah, and the other books of religious teachings. A strong point in such a seemingly insignificant few seconds of the movie.


After the movie, we ended up on the subject of our own faith...mine in particular, b/c I already knew where he stands on the subject. To sum up, I'm at a place right now where I simply don't know what i believe. That may sound crazy, but if you recall I'm a very grey-area kinda gal. It's honestly not a part of my life that I've given much thought recently. I grew up in a Christian household...going to church and Sunday School most weeks. I have a good knowledge of the Bible. In college, I was in the Gospel Choir and went to church almost weekly (by choice obviously). I stopped going to church right around the time I graduated from GTown and haven't gotten back into the practice since.

At this point in my life, I don't consider myself to be religious. Actually, to be honest, I am wary of people who are "religious." I've been so turned of my organized religion that I just don't know what to make of it all. Hypocritical Christians - those who don't quite seem to live up to the lives they "should" (based on teachings) - have sort of ruined Christianity for me. Now, I realize that we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," so I'm not talking about those Christians who are striving for a good life and realize their failings...I'm talking more about those judgmental, holier-than-thou Christians who believe they are better than the next person, simply because they believe in God and attend church service on a regular basis.

I think what it boils down to is that I don't feel sufficiently convinced that Christianity is the "right" or "only" way to incorporate faith and spirituality into one's life. I also think spirituality is something deeply personal that should be the result of reflection and education, rather than one's upbringing. In other words, I don't want to be a Christian simply because my parents are. When I feel ready/inspired, I want to familiarize myself with the different faiths/religious teachings of the world. Should I be a Christian simply because I am and English-speaking American? I say no. I should be "fill-in-the-blank" because of a conscious decision on my part, not by default.

Having said all this, I don't yet feel that inspiration to figure all this out. It's interesting that I saw this movie recently and am writing this post because a friend of my sister just wrote a post on her site related to the subject. After reading The Happiness Project (due to Nix's recommendation), she is left wondering whether Gretchen Rubin is missing something --> a spiritual component to her quest. (Aside - It's funny how people can read the same thing and have different take-aways...I think this is why joining a book-club would be super interesting! Maybe I'll work on that...) Anywho, this got me thinking even more. Plus, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine saw a similar gap in the discussion of happiness, and suggested I read the book Have a Little Faith, by Mitch Albom. I read his book The Five People You Meet in Heaven and really liked it, so I definitely will check it out. Maybe even this weekend...seems like there are a lot of "signs" nudging me to explore the issue. (Btw, I'm always looking for book recommendations, so let me know if you have any - on this or any subject.) Thoughts??

On a random not-exactly--related note, check out this blog post on Freakonomics about parents who "fake" Christianity for the sake of their kids.

For today's *big chune* I'm going with the theme again. Up until I lost my ipod I still had some Gospel songs on it, because I think the music is beautiful and I appreciate the message. There are some amazing gospel songs that do give me a goose-bump feeling. (btw, it's really hard for me to pick these, because it's like I'm picking a favorite song, which I am terrible at.) Today's song is from the Kurt Carr Singers, called For Every Mountain...I wish I knew the woman's name cuz she kills this song!!


:-)