Sunday 14 October 2007

A spiritual can of worms

A very good friend and one of the most intelligent people I know, who also happens to be a very devout christian sent me an e-mail today. When we spoke last at one of our Sunday Brunches, I mentioned if he or his lovely wife come across any tips, tricks or treatments that might be worth looking into that they should let me know.

So here he was offering me a tip that suggested that I might start talking to god and reading the bible as a way to relieve suffering and even possibly towards healing. Of course I wasn't suprised by this tip, it was only to be expected that a true christian friend would feel it their duty to try and help me with christian ideas, and I thank him for being a true friend. His suggestion, however, opened a spiritual can of worms that had already been pushing at the lid.

I am not an atheist and I have always called myself an agnostic but that is not exactly true except that I have not experienced anything that allows me to believe in the existence of a god (the usual sitting on the fence style arrogance that you would expect from an agnostic) .

But if I am really honest with myself I would be better described as Religious Apathist.

That is I rejected the church (Anglican) and the asscociated religion (Christianity) I was brought up with in a very early blank period of my life but then made no real attempt to look at what I really believed in for the next 37 years. I'm sure this isn't an uncommon state for many people modern western society, even more common is those that claim a religious belief without actually understanding it or practising it.

It is not uncommon for people faced with the prospect of an early death to turn back to their default religions by way of insurance and a longing to believe in something. I can understand this attraction for finding spiritual peace.

But what does someone do when he has cast off one set of beliefs, and hasn't really got time to learn another (or even relearn the old)?

At the moment I am not ready to return my friend's e-mail, but I will pick up the Bible again and read John as he suggested.

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