My Sunday Thought for September 13, 2015: How Good Is It to Have Faith?

"It’s sad that so many radicals destroy the intended purpose of so many religions originally practiced for personal enlightenment. Remember when the Catholics invaded the new world and slaughtered masses of the inhabitants in the name of god, even had biological warfare back then, crazy. It is hard to explain how good it is to have faith in your life, when our world focuses on those who are not truly acting on its teachings."

-- Anonymous comment on, My Sunday Thought for August 23, 2015: Radical "Islam"

Many of my posts are the result of reader's comments or questions; the result of friends seeking guidance, or not.  I was happy to see this reader, when commenting, left Islam as a given in their statement I used as the opening for this post.  Catholics, though guiltier than most Christian sects, should have simply been grouped with other Christians for crimes against humanity.  As stated, "radicals" are to blame, in any religion.  Radicals are to blame in most any group, seemingly representing "good," where evil inevitably rears its ugly head.  It would seem all of the Abrahamic religions have had their fair share of evil doers.  Perhaps it is God's curse for reading more into what was said, and adding more rules to those which were given.  There were only two, after all:

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

-- Mark 12:29-31

And yet, counsels decided we needed a bible full of scripture, heaped upon Hebrew scripture, in order to surmount mankind's combined stupidity that he might understand the two rules.  Instead of "interpreting" two simple commands, Christianity handed mankind of the 4th century A.D. a laptop without a user's manual.  As my uncle might be quick to point out, it would have been like a pig staring at a wristwatch.  But, without 1500 odd pages of contradicting philosophy, confusion and obfuscation, controlling the minds of the masses for unquestioning obedience and monetary gain would have been nigh impossible.  How could the Church control minds of the asses with only 'love God and love your neighbor as yourself?'  This is fine to control the hearts of the people, but to control the mind you need reams of hellfire and brimstone; an unforgiving, punishing, and vengeful God.  Was the Bible required by the church in order to excuse the atrocities it would visit upon mankind in the name of God?  One has to wonder.

And now we have "radical Islam" to deal with.  As if the Christians totally mucking up God's word wasn't enough for the Abrahamic religions, The Ayatollah Khomeini and other radical "Islamic" clerics with personal agendas for world domination, in lieu of the greater glory of Allah, have chosen to ignore lessons learned from Christian atrocities and visit upon mankind all new horrors in the name of God.  Lucky us.  It is no mystery when my readers make comments like, "It is hard to explain how good it is to have faith in your life, when our world focuses on those who are not truly acting on its teachings."  

How good is it to have faith in your life?  Have you even considered the question in your own life?  I would love to hear answers from all of my readers.  These are the answers we all need to hear and consider.  Your task for this coming Sunday is to answer the question and send it to me.  I will try to post as many as possible.  Your task for after Sunday is to continue to ask yourself the question daily, and share your answer with those around you who wish to listen.  It is about building our faith, our love, and our understanding of the only two rules God ever gave us. 

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

-- Mark 12:29-31

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."