June 30 : Christianity

Lately I’ve been going to the church a lot and I’ve been trying to be inline with Christian traditions. I fasted for lent and I try not to sin especially this past year I’ve been more in line with Christian virtues than ever before, but right now during my internship I have time to consider my faith and think about Christianity.

So far I’ve only seen Christianity as a framework of living a virtuous life and in that same token many other religions and philosophies can provide you a framework for life specially the older Greek philosophy and Eastern philosophy, of which I am only familiar in Judo and the Hindu traditions.

I still rely on my rationality to make the final decision. I believe in the Bible mainly in a metaphorical sense and I believed that sufficed to be Christian, for if you follow the Christian guidelines your life becomes heaven like, you still have struggles and tribulations but there is an inner strength that people of virtue possesses that the vicious tend to mock or play down or take advantage through their vices.

To further illustrate this point, I take most things taken as a figurative message like how the boy who cried wolf paints one side of the story of why you shouldn’t lie. But it seems after speaking with many Christians they seem to take it literally, but one big confusion point I had was about Jesus Christ why is he so important? I understand that he is one the greatest role models of all time and that aspiring towards him is great and I totally agree. A person to die for the sins of others is truly noble and the mark of someone with highest virtue, but there are countless individuals who have lead virtuous lives.

Why is Jesus Christ whom we worship?

Clearly there is something more than just the virtue at play and that’s something I haven’t wrapped my head around. A big reason I decided to take in Christianity was because of a life changing book Crime and punishment by Dostoevsky and he said If he could choose between truth and Christ he would choose Christ and I just don’t get why ? Why does Fyodor Dostoevsky being as intelligent as he is, turn down the opportunity to know truth itself for Christ?

I’m beginning to understand faith as well it seems like instead of it being a jump towards a pit of unknowingness. It it is more akin to you spending time with someone. The more time you spend, the more you trust them with things of higher importance, not thinking of the repercussions of what will happen if they betray your trust. To have faith you must ultimately try to have faith, it’s less a rational puzzle and more of a consistent gradual vulnerability to the ideas presented by Christianity starting with the ones you accept and pondering the rest.