I have just brought shame to my own self: I'm a Catholic, yet I don't know the rules of Lent. My roommate who doesn't go to church knows better than me.
Well, the truth is, I really don't know. All I know is that I have to give up something that I like, and I have to fast on every Friday.
Actually, I find it really weird. I do believe in the existence of God, and whenever possible, I want to do more of good deeds than bad deeds. I agree with most of the teachings - to love one another, even your enemies - even though I'm unable to carry out the teachings in real life. Mentally, I understand what I should do and what I should not do, but putting it into action is too difficult for me.
Which is why I'm not a saint nor a holy person.And I'm not entirely ashamed of it, because it just proves that I'm a human.
In any case, I'm giving up reading manga for 40 days. It tortures me more than not eating meat, since I generally don't like how my dorm caterer prepares the meats.
This makes me ponder again. Sometimes when I read the Bible, I can't help but to get angry. Yes, angry at the wordings and the ideas written in the Bible which is supposed to have no flaws. I find too many contradictory passages. Like God destroying other nations instead of forgiving them, or slaying the Greeks during Moses' period. At the same time, there is also a "thou shall not kill" saying going on.
I guess it's pretty logical why people do jihad. Even in the Bible, it is said that God destroys those who are disobedient. Doesn't it make a good sense when the followers of God "help carry out His mission"?
As controversial as it can get, I think now religion is a good brainwashing tool to be used. The problem with religion is that THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Passages are written by humans, and as perfect as any humans can ever be, emotions often take over the truth. All the religious teachings so far are made based on inferences.
And again, it's not that I don't believe in the existence of God. I very believe in his existence. But I don't really believe in rituals.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Lent
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allow nit.. ;)
ReplyDeletemaybe it will help if u have spare time, read some apologetic books, such as "the case of faith" by lee stroebel.
as for rituals.. i believe it is not equal to belief abt God
but through rituals, u could "understand" some things better..
all the best in manga fasting! ;)
i guess it's true
ReplyDeletewell, i get the meaning of lent, fasting and abstinence thing. it's just that sometimes i find some stuffs rather weird. lol :)
thx for the info soal bukunya ditz.. will try to find it in the library hehe... ;)