My religion...
Ok since the quiz I took a bit ago didn't work- I started this shortly after the quiz but forgot to finish, which is silly as I did most of it right after. I consider myself an agnostic polytheist Jew. I'm not sure if there ARE gods, but I pray to the god of Abraham.
There are many reasons for my beliefs. I'll start with the polytheist part. The Ten Commandments say " I am the lord, thy god. Thou shalt have no other god before me." To *ME* this means that there could be other gods, BUT that they are not equal to OUR god. So the god who wrote the 10 Commandments gets to sit at the head of the 'god table'.
This gets tied into the agnostic part. I would like to believe in a kind, benevolent god. I want a god who's BETTER then me. So like millions of others, I have a hard time reconciling a kind god with the Holocaust. How can a being of infinite power ALLOW such a thing to happen? I mean it angers me when I read about the American appeasers who felt that Hitler wasn't THEIR problem, so how much worse would it be for God to say it wasn't his problem.
Now my father is a Deist, like some of the founding fathers. He believes God= Clockmaker. That God created the universe and then has left the universe to it's own accord. Just watching to see what happens.
This doesn't work for me. As clockmakers still watch the clocks they make... And if the gears start stripping other gears( i.e. genocide) you'd think that the clock maker would stop the clock and try to fix it.
I then revisit the polytheist argument. Well, what if there is more then one god? Maybe then they fight... and bad crap happens because either a bad god(small g) makes it happen or a couple of good gods are fighting and they 'accidently' cause bad stuff. Sorta like in superhero comics where the good guys sometimes fight each other because they don't know better or their beliefs are different.
I think this works. Maybe MY God wouldn't allow it to happen but maybe he couldn't stop it because there were a bunch of other gods against him. He might be the strongest SINGLE god- but combined the others could give him a run for his money.
So I sorta like this idea.
However, again with the agnostic, I'd LIKE to believe that there's a HIGHER power but certain things make me doubt it... and wonder. It's hard to be sure of something that nobody can prove. And if there were many gods, wouldn't ONE of them have left 'real' proof by now?
And which god would be stupid enough to create George W. Bush ;-)
I know I believe in free will. I refuse to say that what I do, I do because GOD WISHES... though I do think there is something to be said for Nature and Nurture. While I can make my own decisions, some of my decision making processes might come from my upbringing and low blood sugar levels...
I AM sure that I'm a Jew. This I am sure of. My mother is Jewish, as was her mother, as was her mother as was her mother as was her mother... for a few thousand of years of mothers.
When I think of Jewish holidays- I think of family. I recently compared notes with my mother, as when Passover comes around I think of her father- my grandfather. You see for Passover, each family performs their own religious service. My grandfather was 'in charge' of the service and conducted it. Even when his memory started failing, he was still good at Passover because it was route and he'd done it for quite awhile. She however, thought of her mother... who slaved away in the kitchen and loved it. I pointed out that I thought of her more for Hannuka, as I remember her making latkas. As my grandmother was old school, she would stay in the kitchen and keep making potato pancakes as we ate them, so they were all fresh, whereas my mother being new school would put the pancakes in the stove and keep them warm that way. The Jewish holidays make me remember my grandmother and my grandfather- and I think that's a good thing for a religion to give you a sense of connection.
I think many of the Jewish laws make sense. Yeah in these days, I think pork can be prepared in such as a manner as to decrease the chances of contamination- but back then eating such an unclean animal sorta of make sense. Likewise I'm happy that it's considered bad form to name a person after a living person, I just feel it's the HEIGHT of egotism to name your kid after you.
I'm also proud that Reformed Jews are one of the two religions that embraced gay marriages. I'm a reformed Jew because a) I'm liberal and b) I think it's more important to BE GOOD, then to follow rules.
So in conclusion- I'm not sure if there's one god or many gods, but I'm sure I'm a Jew. I celebrate the big holidays, even if I don't get down to NYC to celebrate them with my mother. For by celebrating them, I am reminded of my heritage. I think of my Jewishness as my racial heritage... more then the fact that all of my great grandparents ALL come from Russia. I mean I don't think of myself as a Russo-American but I am a Jewish American ;-)
I hope this makes sense as I started the first part days before the second part- and I wrote the second part while sorta tired- because I wanted to finish it.
There are many reasons for my beliefs. I'll start with the polytheist part. The Ten Commandments say " I am the lord, thy god. Thou shalt have no other god before me." To *ME* this means that there could be other gods, BUT that they are not equal to OUR god. So the god who wrote the 10 Commandments gets to sit at the head of the 'god table'.
This gets tied into the agnostic part. I would like to believe in a kind, benevolent god. I want a god who's BETTER then me. So like millions of others, I have a hard time reconciling a kind god with the Holocaust. How can a being of infinite power ALLOW such a thing to happen? I mean it angers me when I read about the American appeasers who felt that Hitler wasn't THEIR problem, so how much worse would it be for God to say it wasn't his problem.
Now my father is a Deist, like some of the founding fathers. He believes God= Clockmaker. That God created the universe and then has left the universe to it's own accord. Just watching to see what happens.
This doesn't work for me. As clockmakers still watch the clocks they make... And if the gears start stripping other gears( i.e. genocide) you'd think that the clock maker would stop the clock and try to fix it.
I then revisit the polytheist argument. Well, what if there is more then one god? Maybe then they fight... and bad crap happens because either a bad god(small g) makes it happen or a couple of good gods are fighting and they 'accidently' cause bad stuff. Sorta like in superhero comics where the good guys sometimes fight each other because they don't know better or their beliefs are different.
I think this works. Maybe MY God wouldn't allow it to happen but maybe he couldn't stop it because there were a bunch of other gods against him. He might be the strongest SINGLE god- but combined the others could give him a run for his money.
So I sorta like this idea.
However, again with the agnostic, I'd LIKE to believe that there's a HIGHER power but certain things make me doubt it... and wonder. It's hard to be sure of something that nobody can prove. And if there were many gods, wouldn't ONE of them have left 'real' proof by now?
And which god would be stupid enough to create George W. Bush ;-)
I know I believe in free will. I refuse to say that what I do, I do because GOD WISHES... though I do think there is something to be said for Nature and Nurture. While I can make my own decisions, some of my decision making processes might come from my upbringing and low blood sugar levels...
I AM sure that I'm a Jew. This I am sure of. My mother is Jewish, as was her mother, as was her mother as was her mother as was her mother... for a few thousand of years of mothers.
When I think of Jewish holidays- I think of family. I recently compared notes with my mother, as when Passover comes around I think of her father- my grandfather. You see for Passover, each family performs their own religious service. My grandfather was 'in charge' of the service and conducted it. Even when his memory started failing, he was still good at Passover because it was route and he'd done it for quite awhile. She however, thought of her mother... who slaved away in the kitchen and loved it. I pointed out that I thought of her more for Hannuka, as I remember her making latkas. As my grandmother was old school, she would stay in the kitchen and keep making potato pancakes as we ate them, so they were all fresh, whereas my mother being new school would put the pancakes in the stove and keep them warm that way. The Jewish holidays make me remember my grandmother and my grandfather- and I think that's a good thing for a religion to give you a sense of connection.
I think many of the Jewish laws make sense. Yeah in these days, I think pork can be prepared in such as a manner as to decrease the chances of contamination- but back then eating such an unclean animal sorta of make sense. Likewise I'm happy that it's considered bad form to name a person after a living person, I just feel it's the HEIGHT of egotism to name your kid after you.
I'm also proud that Reformed Jews are one of the two religions that embraced gay marriages. I'm a reformed Jew because a) I'm liberal and b) I think it's more important to BE GOOD, then to follow rules.
So in conclusion- I'm not sure if there's one god or many gods, but I'm sure I'm a Jew. I celebrate the big holidays, even if I don't get down to NYC to celebrate them with my mother. For by celebrating them, I am reminded of my heritage. I think of my Jewishness as my racial heritage... more then the fact that all of my great grandparents ALL come from Russia. I mean I don't think of myself as a Russo-American but I am a Jewish American ;-)
I hope this makes sense as I started the first part days before the second part- and I wrote the second part while sorta tired- because I wanted to finish it.
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