Religion Is Flawed But... (A Perspective on the Christian Religion)

Perfection is overrated, stupidity is underrated, wisdom is ignored, knowledge is misrepresented and the human is left confused in their midst trying to seek perfection with knowledge guided by wisdom and avoiding stupidity.

Man is born into this world without a map or guide on how to navigate life's numerous paths. He enters this world blind without knowing what to expect. The only guide that he has is the view point of his 'now-enlightened' fellow man who was once in this blank state. His view point of life is gradually built and guided by what he can glean from his fellow man. But as man goes through this, his mind is not oblivious to his environment and he tries to justify what he learns from his fellow man with what his mind can make him understand from his environment. So man gets a sort of working compass from his mind and fellow man, to navigate through life.

In man's search, he comes to realize the existence of something or someone, a higher power, greater than himself, his fellow man and even his environment. The working of this power he cannot fathom and thus finds relief in acknowledging this power and attributing what his mind cannot understand to the ways of this mighty power. Christians and most of us call this mighty power GOD. Others do not assign a name to this power but will not deny its existence.

But the resilient nature of man, in searching for understanding, will not allow the unknown to remain unknown. In trying to understand this mighty power, GOD, man has tried several means with the most successful being religion. Religion is a construct of man in trying to understand the ways of God. Religion fills in the blanks in man's understanding. What man cannot find a suitable answer to, religion comes to the rescue to keep man at ease with his understanding. But the ways of God have eluded man since the beginning of time. Man has not been able to understand the ways of this mighty power, God. This makes the tenets of the concept of religion shaky. Thus one may say religion is flawed because of man's inadequacies in his thinking.

Christianity, as a religion, is no exception. The basis of Christianity lies in the fact of the existence of God who sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die to save all mankind from the power of sin. Sin being the only reason why man is separated from God. Thus Christianity seeks to reunite man with God by eliminating sin. By reuniting man with God, the search of man for ultimate understanding comes to an end. That is the aim of Christianity.

In trying to understand the ways of God, man has done many despicable things. Some of which have involved the loss of life and destruction of property. Christianity has not been spared. Many people who claim to know the correct christian way have led many others down paths which have destroyed them all in the name of seeking this ultimate understanding. Even though the tenets of Christianity have remained unchanged, the varied ways of man have made the christian path seem numerous. A lot of these ways have led their followers to lives of vices. These vices have rather reinforced the power of sin and moved the followers further away from God. So many are these false paths that it makes the genuine path to God seem almost hidden to man. Many a man will do all they can to be at ease with their understanding even if it involves twisting known beliefs and clear truths.

However, man has not been left unaided in his search. Time is that abstract entity which comes to his rescue. Time acts as some sort of refinery by which concepts, ideas, beliefs and almost anything passes through to produce a near perfect refined version of itself. The sub-standard ones are lost in time but the ones which have enough credibility survive through time. Time plays a very important role in aiding our understanding by eliminating anything not worth its salt. Time, therefore, exists for the benefit of man. So the man who embraces the refinery of time sheds off alot of waste in thought.

Then the question arises, "So which path is right in understanding the ways of God?". Is there only one genuine way, maybe two or even more? In answering this, one would have to look inward by searching outward. Search the refined known ways and judge them by what you know to be true. Peace, tranquility, love and happiness, should be high in your scheme for judgement because they are what man seeks in all his endeavors. And if your search is fruitful, it always is, be confident enough to pursue its cause but not to the extent of depriving others the opportunity and comfort of finding their own. Every man has his own eyes, ears and mouth to make his own decisions and if someone thinks some specific way to be genuine, he can only appeal to his fellow man to see what he sees. God cares for us all.

Even though religion cannot be perfect before God, it is still the best way to approach what we cannot know. Eliminating religion would be like leaving a man in the middle of nowhere with no sense of direction. It offers us the best approach to navigate the unknowns of life. Christianity does it for me, for you maybe not, but all in all, our paths should be traveled in confidence with peace and love as our guide. Finally, remember that a perfect religion is overrated, and in seeking it many have relied on their knowledge, and ignored wisdom and have ended by doing quite silly things.