Organized religion preaches to the masses indifferently, but philosophy requires the individual to confront it personally.
Organized religion expects unshakable and constant belief, while philosophy forces you to constantly re-examine and reconsider your stand.
Organized religion fences you within a safe but artificial and shallow microenviroment, while philosophy throws you out into the wild, but you grow from the experiences you got.
In light of such perceptions, I identify myself more as a seeker of philosophical truth rather than religious truth. God does not manifest itself in dogmas, but can only be understood if we act according to his revelations.
But neither am I abandoning my faith, for all the energy I focus towards my philosophical search, I channel towards Christ.
So am I still a Christian then?
2 comments:
Hey thom,
A couple of things. Philosophy can also fence people within a safe but articial and shallow envrionment. Finding truth abstractly and dispassionately using grand theories of ontology and metaphysics can only take you so far in understanding 'being' and the nature of our existence within the world.
Also, I wouldn't constrain religious truth to things like dogma. Kierkegaard called religious truth subjective; based on passional tendencies, conviction, and our experiences. There is nothing more anti-subjective than dogma, which posits a maxim that is supposed to be the everlasting truth. Any disagreeance with dogma is heresy.
At any rate, keep posting things, like me you have started to post alot less frequently =P
I have to confess, it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to post anything here. My life seems to be going thru an incredibly bleak turn lately. But I'll post something whenever something worthwhile crosses my mind.
Meanwhile, just wanna let you know that I'm a HUGE admirer of your entries. In fact, it feels a bit weird when you started posting comments here, as it was after reading your blog which inspires me to re-examine my faith and sparked my interest in Kierkegaard.
Having said that, I really appreciate all your comments thus far. Do keep up the posts on your side, and I'll do mine! ;)
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