denyingphoenix: Brian Faust - The Greatest Cosmic Gamble

Originally posted on January 02, 2004

OK. After a prolonged absence, I figured that I’d get the New Year rolling with a touchy topic: religion.

Last night I was reading a series of transcribed interviews with Malachi Martin, a secularized priest/ex-Jesuit/well publicized author. Now, what I read was not exactly new to me, since I’ve read plenty of Martin’s works in the past. But what I did pull away from this reading last night was this insurmountable sense of incredible importance of choice. Let me explain a bit more.

I personally believe (read: no need to flame me) that the Roman Catholic Church, of which I am a member, is in a time of extreme duress. Scandals and headlines aside, the interior makeup, the *man-made* portion of the Church (not the spiritual portion) is crumbling. Without recapping the entire 63 pages of notes by Martin, suffice it to say that I personally agree that my Church is facing tough times. And for one of the first times in my life, I’ve really come to see just how much of a gamble religion is. Bear with me here.

Now, everyone knows the basic setup of “belief,” which is “believe in God and hope for justification when you die or don’t believe and assume you’re missing nothing in the process of living.” But last night it hit me just how big of a choice my religion is. Sure I’ve personally stripped away all taught beliefs only to reaffirm them myself in my search for religion…but I guess I typically overlook the “view from 10,000 feet,” if you will. I have a tendency to forget that I will spend my entire life worshiping my God and abiding by what modern culture sees as relatively strict moral codes because of something that I believe in my heart. Wow. This is a serious gamble. Now that’s not to say that the gravity of this realization somehow makes me doubt my choice, for it doesn’t. But nonetheless, I’ve caught a glimpse of the incredible weight that my decision has rendered.

Is it this weight that scares off people? Could that be one reason why some people refuse to believe in a God? I wonder. I’m still in amazement of just how awesome of a choice religion is.

It’s a funny thing too, because I couldn’t be further from the “gambler” type, and am quite the piece of poultry when it comes to making decisions. But somehow, everyday, I choose to make the greatest cosmic gamble possible.

Here’s to betting all my chips.

Comments

First off, I agree with your definition of belief, and I suppose I fall into the "believe in God and hope for justification when you die" camp.

That said, you've known me for a long time now and would probably agree that I'm not the most religious person. The reason I may not seem outwardly religous is because I never go to church, I swear a lot, and I may even take cheap shots at people (although they're usually people I know pretty well).

...

Ah hell, I've been having "attack of the delete" for the last 15 minutes trying to get down what I want to say. So I guess I'll be blunt and make necessary clarifications later.

I don't see it as a super-life-shattering decision to believe in God and act accordingly (by which I mean "be a man for others"). I do, however, think that placing your trust in the physical religious presence that is today's Church is a much bigger weight. Sure, it provides a community to worship in and helps provide guidelines for living, but there's a lot of negative thinking that goes on that I don't agree with - stances on homosexuality, other religions, and restrictions on the sex of it's leaders. How can an establishment be for the betterment of all if "all" doesn't include gays and female priests?

I believe that if truly try to live my life as a man for others, things will come out well in the end - and for now, I won't be bowing to the church's establishment.

said lord livingston

You're right. The issues that you raise are also issues that I struggle with...and that touches on exactly what i was hitting in the post.

People are always asking me/questioning me/trying to verbally corner me with those topics (homosexuality, women, etc.) so this comes up a lot with me. I guess my explaination (to my self, only) is that if I place my trust, my heart and my belief in God, and the God that I beleive in is manifest in the form of the Catholic Church, I will believe what that Church mandates. Of course, the Church is run by men, but to me I have to remind myself that it was founded by Jesus, so the foundation is in the Spirit and not the flesh.

I want to believe so passionately that women should be priests, but for me, and the God that I believe in, He did not explicitly allow for this. To me, I believe that if Jesus wanted women priests he would have ordained them when he was alive (hell, it's not like he was trying to *not* step on toes while he was living...that was his job). I assume that as the Son of God, he would know what place he wants women to serve and what place men were to serve in the Church that he would set up. I may not understand it, but I guess it's belief. I believe that if God wanted women priests, it would have been expressed.

I won't go on, because 99.9% of the world will probably think that I'm ass backward and a horrible person for my belief (yes, that many...there are almost no Catholics left that think this way). But nonetheless, this is what I believe, and it is the gravity of these beliefs that sometimes catch me off guard.

said b

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The Greatest Cosmic Gamble

Originally posted on January 02, 2004

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