Came up with that title then remembered I had put a picture of a lake. Strange coincidence and I am keeping the title.
I do not like to talk about religion, but every now and then the insanity of this planet drives you into the deep end.
First of all there are three general religions with offshoots that all believe in the same God. So basically you would think we would be pretty close to being on the same side. We aren't. Then there are people who don't believe in any God, it amazes me to think that people don't believe in some form of creation, do they think we just appeared out of a puff of smoke. Some people don't seem to realize, even agnostic scientists that science is proof that God exists. You can argue all you want about creation vs evolution, but rational thought says there is something all together true about us being created. People don't get there is more to God than meets the eye. Even though Eastern religions don't make the creation theme as much as the monotheists they still hold out ways to achieve a better life or better existence beyond our physical realm. Which is the concept of heaven for the three major religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Anyway back to an attempt at a point. Almost all religions strive to make us better as humans and in some strange way if we followed through we might just be better. The real goal though we miss completely. If you believe in God, you pretty much have been given a very straight forward set of rules, more commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments. And then you can break it down into three basic ideas, put God first, respect who your neighbor is ( don't kill, don't steal, don't covet or desire what your neighbor has) and once you make a commitment stay with it, (no adultery) then basically you can take these three themes to all aspects of life.
If you put God first then everything else should fall behind in your priorities, in other words you follow his guidance in your decision making. His guidance being treat others with respect and stick to your commitments. Now this is simplistic as heck, but it works. Yet we don't come close. Millions to billions of us believe in our God, but we don't even begin to follow the precepts. And the great thing about it, especially if you are Christian, God doesn't expect us to be perfect, just try. God gives us forgiveness, not so we can sin, but so we can try to be Man. God wants us to make our way in this world which means we are going to do things, like have businesses, build cities, interact with each other even with others who are different. Follow the rules and everything works out.
So why on this planet do we have the enormous amount of problems that we do. People will blame religion, some will blame other religions, people will be apathetic, or think there is no solution, but it has nothing to do with what we think or say, it always boils down to what we do. Even if you don't believe in God, the concept of basic respect for your fellow mankind should be apparent as a better way to survive. Yet we put everything else first. And I know I am not any different so why do I bother to bring all this up.
It even bothers me to think about it, why should I care more than anyone else? Because at the same time it is glaringly obvious that just an effort by everyone would essentially change much of our problems.
Yes I can list a multitude of problems; poverty, slavery, drugs, greed, power mongering, egos, pornography, violence, and many others, and no they won't be solved overnight if we just started acting better. I am also a realist. Our world came to be because of what we have done over centuries. The goal if any is to start where we can. And no you don't have to go out and become a born again Christian or have some immediate religious epiphany. Be yourself, but follow the basic rules. Am I trying to change anyone's life today, no, but if I sit here day after day reading all the crap that goes on and accept it I have failed. I haven't failed because I am not rich, or won the most championships, or top of my field, honestly I would love to be the best at something, but that success won't make my life a success.
Success is when you walk across the water or move the mountain, not in the miracle sense, but in your life, not accepting what is going on, but making one step towards finding what is right in your world and making that happen. Will it change our world, who knows, will anyone know, probably not, does it matter, well ask yourself that and if you really think about it you will know the answer.
I am not a big fan for coming out about my beliefs, they are very personal to me and I keep them to myself most of the time, but today and just some days a person cannot stand by and watch the insanity of this planet without trying to put some perspective into what could be.
So here is a strange thought to try and get your brain going, the next time someone comes up to you and asks you for something, whether someone on a street corner begging for money, or a friend needing something, or someone at work struggling with a task if you cannot say yes with love in your heart don't do it. And if you don't then go home and look at yourself in the mirror, really look deep into your eyes and ask why.
And here is your kicker, no matter what you do, God still loves you.
So about those basic rules???????
And on a side note, I have always hated the phrase better to ask forgiveness later than permission first, ,,,,,,, just tells me you know you are going to do something wrong and don't care. You don't have to ask permission, just do what is right in the first place.
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