I was in a Facebook discussion recently where a believing gentleman said the above quote. It kind of shocked me, because I had never heard a believer really articulate that to a non-believer.
As a believer, I had heard similar things said within our own circles. Whether spoken aloud or not, we all believed that those of outside faiths, or no faith, really - deep down - knew they were wrong. They just clung to their ideas out of arrogance or rebellion. In their pride, they would never admit that we were right. I think that was why the notion of Hell didn't bother us too much. They really were choosing Hell, and in the end we would finally be proven right!
Those thoughts fell apart for me as I began to get to know my Mormon neighbors after moving out to Salt Lake City. Listening to their stories and hearing their hearts, I could not deny that they believed their stories as sincerely as we did ours.
So... if I believe my stories to be true... and they believe their stories to be true... and we both have stories of transformation and redemption occurring in the lives of people... maybe... maybe transformation is not a holy thing... but a human thing...
and... here I am.
This was brought to mind this morning as I watched the comedian Bill Burr, talk about his exit from faith. In his case, he realized thinking the stories of other religions absurd, might apply to his stories as well. I particularly relate to his analogy of how he "let go" of religion.... spot on!
As a fellow apostate myself, I went through a phase where I might have been shocked by a statement like that. But, what the religious gentleman who said that doesn't understand yet is that religion is kind of like those optical illusions with the duck and the rabbit. Once you see the alternative, it's impossible to unsee it. I mean, the whole story breaks down right in the beginning, Genesis 3. You start to think things like, how can that god be mad at Adam and Eve for eating the fruit when they didn't know good from evil and presumably would have no idea what consequences like death were? It's really absurd. The strong that broke the camel's back for me was realizing I was more moral than the Christian god.
ReplyDeleteMe too Anon... at one point I realized I was a much better father than the one described in the Bible.
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