Back to "deep" thinking

I do not have a lot of material to talk about initially. So this may be short, depending on where my thoughts go.

Rather than study for either my classical music or psychology midterms tomorrow, I found myself reading "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. After getting through a chapter, I sat at my computer to start on academic work. However, my computer would not turn on and after five or so attempts, I grabbed "God is not Great" by Christopher Hitchens off my shelf.

It's so intellectually and spiritually stimulating to read two works by two extremely well written men. C.S. Lewis writes as I wish to write someday and I would recommend his "Mere Christianity" to anyone on any day of the week. However, this post is more about Hitchens work because I find myself agreeing with a lot of things he says. That's right, I'm agreeing with the guy who wrote "God is not Great." However, it is not his views on a higher power that I agree with. The subtitle of his book is "How Religion Poisons Everything." And I couldn't agree more

To quote (with incorrect MLA format) Hitchens' writing. "...the mildest criticism of religion is also the most radical and the most devastating one. Religion is man made." (page 10 if you care)
Hitchens doesn't get to me with that statement because I agree wholeheartedly. Religion is a poison in our society. This view does not contradict my feelings of a deity, but it does seem to go against a lot of religious and spiritual people..

The backbone of Hitchens' arguments is two-fold. He believes religion/faith contradicts reason and that people with "religion" live no differently or better than those without it.
I agree that there are aspects of faith that go against reason, but only in the definition of the word. Faith is believing without seeing. By definition, that is not reason. If any of you know me, though, you would understand that reason is how my life is run. Spiritual views do not require you to cast aside your reason, rather it gives you a depiction of what you are trying to understand. The Bible is written by man's hand and is an attempt to express in human, natural, and reasonable (FINITE) terms how God (INFINITE) works. However, I am a firm believer that you cannot express the reality of the infinite through the finite. Yes, I am stating that full understanding of a God is incomprehensible. To many people, that is an extreme turn-off. Surely it is vanity to speculate (as many of my friends and myself have done many nights) anything above human interaction in the material world. And it is.
However, this post is not to discuss my feelings on the finite, but rather my displeasure with "religion." Hitchen's first argument cannot be argued. It is as if black were trying to convince white that it was a form of black and white attempting to use black's words to describe why it (black) is a form of white.
However, Hitchen's second argument can be brought up. Too many times I've seen people neglect the potential of something more simply because they've seen bad examples of people who live with faith. People who neglect science, people who hate on others.
Judging and wanting people to live righteously because you love them is a thin line. As a Christian (in the sense that I believe what Christ said about who he was/is), it is my goal to love all people. If you are gay, if you have had sex before marriage, if you have committed murder, theft, or rape, or even if you believe in Christ, I must love you. I use that last example because I'm trying to make it clear that I love human's souls for what they are. Yes I want you to find the Love that is provided for us, but I cannot convey that with a force that would make you hate the movement.

Don't you just love the people with megaphones yelling "You're going to hell because you're gay! You're going to hell because you listen to rap music! You're going to hell because you don't see the world exactly as I do!"

Yeah, I love them too.

But I am also disgusted how they depict God's authority. I'll let Him be the judge, I am called to love. If you have any religious aspects to your life, be very careful how you live. You are an example to the world. If you have life "figured out" (a truth that cannot be proven), I believe it is your duty to show us all that truth, not to fuel the fires of people like Hitchens who have very valid arguments when it comes to people with faith.

Ok, maybe not as short as I thought it would be, but I need to get to studying (because apparently I'm supposed to do school things in college). I would love to say more, but tangents would be inevitable. So I will end saying that I love you reader. I pray that you are seeking truth just as I am (and Christopher Hitchens is) everyday. Yes, we may not be able to get it all right, but truth is something I think is worth striving for.

- Ian M. Charbonnet