Monday, October 24, 2005
So it was established in the last post that any culture is limited to its respective geographic location and most probably would not serve its adherents very well outside of those boundaries. Why? Becuase people established certain customs that suited a particular location and logical sense dictates, these customs would not work in other places (or atleast not be followed very strictly).
re·li·gion: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices (where the world religious is defined as "relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity")
I assume that most of the people (if not all) who visit this blog believe in some sort of higher power that created us and knows much more than we do (if you don't believe in that, then you must find my ramblings rather ridiculous!). So logically it would make sense that since that higher being created us, He must know what will bring people benefit and harm.
Now we have many religions and of course they all claim to be the right one. So for arguement's sake, we assume that religion 'x' is the correct one and was actually revealed by God. Since this is God's religion, its rules and regulations must be of the kind that are not prisoners of time.
What do I mean by that? It means that no matter what century or millennia, the rules should be such that they are applicable and logical enough to be followed by anyone regardless if they drive porsches or ride on donkeys (ie. 21st century or 1st century). After all, God should be smart enough to take into account all the people that will ever live and not just the peoples that lived during the time when the correct religion was revealed.
Extrapolating it further, we can say religion 'x' must be able to stand trials of not just time but also of geographic locations. Be it Canada or Japan or Iraq, religion 'x' should appeal to everyone and be able to integrate itself into their lives.
So for those whose light bulb hasn't come on yet, I've just proved that its not culture but rather religion that should be held on to and emphasized from generation to generation irregardless of the country, continent, year, or century.
To me, other than the fact that a religion has to be logical, one of the most important tests is the effect passage of time leaves on it. Because anyone can come up with laws and regulations that suit the time and place they live in. Thomas Jefferson came up with the American constitution, a document that was unrivalled at the time but now several changes have been made into it because times have changed and the document could not keep up.
Why? Because it was the work of a human mind and the mind doesn't know what the world will be like centuries down the road. Hence all the changes which is a direct product of the times. A religion should not have to be changed just because its the 21st century or because we are in Canada UNLESS its not the right one.
So what have I proved?
In short: culture made by man so changes all the time...religion (the right one) made by God and should be applicable anytime, anyplace.....thus it is religion that parents should ask their kids to hold on to and not culture (and if the religion is actually the correct one, the kids or people in general will be more inclined to follow it).
NOTE: In this discussion, I have tried to make arguements in a very objective and truthful manner. Its hard for me to see that if a person believes in God, how can they disagree with my arguements.
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The other day I was standing at the train station and happen to eavesdrop on a bunch of people talking about Islam. One of them mentions on how its Ramadan right now and the Muslims are fasting, which means they don't eat from sunset to sunrise. The second one asks, "Why follow the sun?"
So the third one answers back, "I think its because they worship the sun."
If not for the approaching train, I was compelled to step in and mention that we DON'T worship the sun. Infact if they would have stopped to think about the reason for following the sun, the answer would have been very simple.
Whats one entity that can be counted on to stay constant from the dawn of humans till the end in terms of measuring time?? The sun!!
(someone might argue that we can follow the present day clock but did you know that every year the earth's roatational path decreases which causes it to lose a few milliseconds. In other words, hundreds of years down the road, the day will not be made of 24 hrs but less. Now if the Islamic fasting was based on the 24 hr clock, it would make no sense to its followers hundreds of years later because its not a 24 hr day anymore. Therefore, its the sun that we follow and NOT worship)
re·li·gion: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices (where the world religious is defined as "relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity")
I assume that most of the people (if not all) who visit this blog believe in some sort of higher power that created us and knows much more than we do (if you don't believe in that, then you must find my ramblings rather ridiculous!). So logically it would make sense that since that higher being created us, He must know what will bring people benefit and harm.
Now we have many religions and of course they all claim to be the right one. So for arguement's sake, we assume that religion 'x' is the correct one and was actually revealed by God. Since this is God's religion, its rules and regulations must be of the kind that are not prisoners of time.
What do I mean by that? It means that no matter what century or millennia, the rules should be such that they are applicable and logical enough to be followed by anyone regardless if they drive porsches or ride on donkeys (ie. 21st century or 1st century). After all, God should be smart enough to take into account all the people that will ever live and not just the peoples that lived during the time when the correct religion was revealed.
Extrapolating it further, we can say religion 'x' must be able to stand trials of not just time but also of geographic locations. Be it Canada or Japan or Iraq, religion 'x' should appeal to everyone and be able to integrate itself into their lives.
So for those whose light bulb hasn't come on yet, I've just proved that its not culture but rather religion that should be held on to and emphasized from generation to generation irregardless of the country, continent, year, or century.
To me, other than the fact that a religion has to be logical, one of the most important tests is the effect passage of time leaves on it. Because anyone can come up with laws and regulations that suit the time and place they live in. Thomas Jefferson came up with the American constitution, a document that was unrivalled at the time but now several changes have been made into it because times have changed and the document could not keep up.
Why? Because it was the work of a human mind and the mind doesn't know what the world will be like centuries down the road. Hence all the changes which is a direct product of the times. A religion should not have to be changed just because its the 21st century or because we are in Canada UNLESS its not the right one.
So what have I proved?
In short: culture made by man so changes all the time...religion (the right one) made by God and should be applicable anytime, anyplace.....thus it is religion that parents should ask their kids to hold on to and not culture (and if the religion is actually the correct one, the kids or people in general will be more inclined to follow it).
NOTE: In this discussion, I have tried to make arguements in a very objective and truthful manner. Its hard for me to see that if a person believes in God, how can they disagree with my arguements.
-----------------------------------------
The other day I was standing at the train station and happen to eavesdrop on a bunch of people talking about Islam. One of them mentions on how its Ramadan right now and the Muslims are fasting, which means they don't eat from sunset to sunrise. The second one asks, "Why follow the sun?"
So the third one answers back, "I think its because they worship the sun."
If not for the approaching train, I was compelled to step in and mention that we DON'T worship the sun. Infact if they would have stopped to think about the reason for following the sun, the answer would have been very simple.
Whats one entity that can be counted on to stay constant from the dawn of humans till the end in terms of measuring time?? The sun!!
(someone might argue that we can follow the present day clock but did you know that every year the earth's roatational path decreases which causes it to lose a few milliseconds. In other words, hundreds of years down the road, the day will not be made of 24 hrs but less. Now if the Islamic fasting was based on the 24 hr clock, it would make no sense to its followers hundreds of years later because its not a 24 hr day anymore. Therefore, its the sun that we follow and NOT worship)
Faraz Ahmed 7:49 p.m.
1 Comments:
I think you are talking about that wrist watch advertisment in National Geographic which loses like 1 second in 20,000 years and has the ability to adjust itself depending on earth's rotation.
