Our Religion Does Not Define Us Theology Religion Essay
Our religion does not define who we are regardless to popular belief. Our religion is only a part of who we are if we let it. Not everyone that practices a religion knows everything about it or even accepts it. Some people have a religion just because everyone else has one, and most people have a religion because they were brought up in it.
The human mind is easily convinced to do and believe things when it is young and fragile. As a child, you listen to your parents, obey them and learn from most things they do “we stand on the shoulders of others to get to the next level” (Fraklin). Most people choose their religion based on the religion their parents practiced. Our religion could affects many aspects of our lives depending on how deeply we believe in it; this includes the way we see others, the way we act, and the way we influence those around us. Our faith in our religion can always be seen in the way we live our lives, nevertheless it does not define who we are. As humans, we learn everyday of our lives, introducing us to new things which indirectly change our point of view on certain things in our lives; we begin to see things in different ways and accept something’s we thought was wrong but some people still somehow let their religion come in the way of how they see these things, even though they have a different opinion on some matters they feel like they are obligated to believe whatever their religion asks of them. For those who accept this changes, it could bring about a big difference in their life. I believe no one can tell what religion is right or wrong because no one knows everything. Most people like to be right in most situations, so whenever they are asked what religion is right, it is quite normal for them to say theirs’ is right. Not everyone tries to realize that the same way they think their religion is right could be the way another person sees his as the right one “The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also” (Mark Twain). With what we know, religion might not even exist, which is why I believe that everyone should respect each other’s point of view on any situation “God has no religion” (Mahatma Gandhi), personally I think all that matters to God, if there is one, is the good and bad that people do. It is easy to think someone is wrong, when you think you are right even though you might be wrong. An example is the apology of Socrates. Socrates was a simple minded person who never thought himself to be more than he was. The fact that he acknowledge his ignorance makes him a wise person (Plato), most believers are ignorant of other religions, yet they believe their religion is the right one while others are not even though they do not know much of the one they criticize.
Children learn most things from their parents and those around them. Growing up, children are taught what is right and wrong by their parent or guardian, and that helps them in deciding for themselves when they are adults. It is very common for a parent to take their children to where they worship, and as they grows they learn from their parent’s faith, making them believe in their religion. The reason why people rarely change their religion is because they grow in it and that makes it more of a lifestyle to them rather than something they learned. Most religions like Christianity has been made in a way that you are not allowed to question some of the things you might not agree with. Some of the stories and rules we learn from our religious books sometimes seem wrong and sometimes we might find some not quite sensible, but we have also learned that we have no right to question the things that happened in them, we just have accept it. The story of Job is one that should bring every Christian to question their God as to why he made a man go through so much, just to test his fate. Job was a faithful
Christian, but he was tested by Satan with the permission of God; he lost everything he had and was terribly ill, with no help from anyone (The story of Job). Everything that happened to him is something no Christian would accept from any other person, it would not matter what reason they might have to do that, it will be considered bad, but when it is God that did this to a man just to test his faith, they are not allowed to question him. Even though Job went through a lot of things, he never questioned God. When believers feel angry towards God, most of them think it is a wrong feeling and they are not able to express themselves to other believers because they feel judged, guilty, and ashamed (julie and joshua).
Every religious belief has its good and bad parts, some that we agree on and others that we don’t, but the fear that has been put into us from when we were young is what makes us accept it even though we have other opinions. The fear of a god could make anyone do anything. The story of how Abraham is a great example. Abraham was willing to kill his only child because God asked him to do so, even though that was his only child and he knew he will never have any other child, he was still willing to kill his child “And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham. And He said to him, Abraham! and he said, here I am. And he said, take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall say to you” (Abraham and Isaac). Despite how deep our faith might be and how well we understand a religion, we still put in our own interpretation to it just to make it suit us. Lailak asked “are we supposed to interpret the Bible in our own way?. Lone77star answered that we all have our own path to choose, he explained by saying he had his own interpretation and would not want anyone to follow it blindly” (hubpages). Not every Christian that reads the Bible understands it, and not every Muslim that reads the Quran understands it. This is the reason there are pastors and Islamic leaders teaching their religion. Even though this people are seen as ‘the holy ones’, they also interpret the religion in a way they see fit. Religion is not just one thing, it is a way of life in which people design for themselves; everyone has their own unique religion because we all see and interpret things in different ways. Some people believe they are Christians because they go to the church. This is simply their interpretation of being a Christian “Anyone who thinks sitting in a church can make you a Christian must also think sitting in a garage can make you a car (Garrison. goodread)”, it does not matter how much a person attends a church or pray, it is their heart towards things that defines them. The actions they take and how they deal with things. The most annoying people are those who try to get people into their religion; this is basically asking others to think like they do and see things from their own perspective.
Christians believe that God created humans ” And God created the human in his image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis). Christians accept and believe this theory. In some way this affects their way of living because they think they owe their existence to someone. They live most of their life trying to please someone they have never seen “Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money” (George Carlin).
The misinterpretation of religion could lead to disagreement, conflicts and even death. When people have different interpretation of what their religion says, it is very easy for them to disagree on most things. Some Muslims have been killing for years, and they believe what they are doing is right. They believe they can do anything as long as they ask for forgiveness. Religion has caused most of the wars the world has ever known. God says we should love our neighbors has we love ourselves. Anyone could interpret this the way they want, some would say it means to love your family, and others might think it means to love everyone “love your fellow as yourself” (livneh). Some people believe in God just so they have someone to blame when they are in trouble “When people experience traumatic or highly stressful events, a common response is to blame God” (Julie and Joshua), to these people God is just a figure they run to whenever they are in trouble or need someone to blame for their own faults and weaknesses. They do not fully understand the concept of God, but they feel that they need him.
Our religion does not define who we are, what makes us who we are is what we accept our religion to be, our interpretation of it, and the choices we make through them. The Bible teaches about loving one another “love your fellow as yourself” (livneh), this is hard sometimes because some people are just hard to love. No matter how you try to get close to them, they still somehow do not accept you. Some Christians are this way, even though the bible says they should love one another. The bible also mentions not having hate towards a fellow human “you shall not hate your kinsman in your heart” (livneh), yet there are several Christians who have hate in their heart towards someone in their family, and people in the church. Even though the law of the bible ask them to love and never hate, this does not define them.
