Who Am I?

Who am I? To me this is the most fundamental question in trying to figure out what my philosophy is. Am I a special being created out of love by some master creator, or am I just a little part of an accident on the grandest of scales? I personally believe I am created out of love by a master creator, who I like to call God. This may offend some people but I am not ashamed of my beliefs. I am a Christian, but I will get to that later. First I would like to cover a basic belief of mine: that it is the duty of all men to do whatever they can to help those less fortunate than them, and thus change the world.

A few years ago my youth leader gave me a book entitled The Mark of a World Changer by Ron Luce. I have since lost the book, but parts of it have stuck with me. A major theme of the book is that anyone, no matter how large or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, can make a difference in the worldÐ'--either for better or for worse. Granted the biggest/richest/smartest people in the world have the most influence, but everyone has the opportunity to do something. We all live here, so it is everyone's duty to do what they can to make the world a better place. No excuses. I wish to be one of those "World Changers" who make a difference, no matter how big or small. I know I am not going to be remembered after my death; to think otherwise would be sheer narcissism, but I refuse to live my life in vain. A favorite verse of mine from the Bible is James 1:27, which says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I am a Christian. I am a Christian not because I grew up in Church (which I did) but because I personally have faith in Jesus ChristÐ'--in his teachings, that he is the Son of God, that he died for my sins (which he did out of love for me, for he did not have to do it), and that he rose from the dead on the third day. I am a Christian because I looked through all the religions, all the teachings of all the wise men, and anything else I could get my hands on; I concluded that Jesus Christ was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. All other religions I studied seemed very egocentric. Nothing more than rules, regulations, and rituals (I am conceding that to some this is what Christianity has become). But Christ's simple message is about grace, mercy, love, and giving to other people. The core of Christianity is so altruistic, so giving, so not human (for every fiber of every human is selfish) that I could not help but find hope. Hope that there is something beyond me, something bigger than myself, something after death, something more than life itself. My faith is not the blind faith of someone who believes simply because he/she/it was told to. I feel that a faith without reason is nothing more than a wish or a dream, because if I do not know why I believe something, or even what I believe, then I become nothing more than a robot. Thomas Aquinas had a thought very much along the same lines: "there need be no conflict between what philosophy or reason teaches us and what the Christian Revelation or faith teaches us." Knowledge does not have to contradict faith; in fact, they often times go hand in hand. I am not asking that anyone swallow every pill that I or any other person or faith prescribes, but that they seek. Everywhere, anywhere, but seek. "Seek and you shall find." (Luke 11:9)

I personally do not believe in organized religion. I do not need a man-made set of rules to govern and dictate every move of my life. What I need is God. Baruch Spinoza agreed here. What Jesus advocated was a "religion of reason" which valued love higher than all else, not the rigid dogmas and rituals of organized religion. My point here is that true religion should be a love of God and a love of humanity. Another problem of mine with organized religion is the lack of commitment. People go to church on Sunday, then do not think about God until the next Sunday. Religion is not something a person can go halfway on. It is impossible to be "to some extent" or "rather" religious. It is an all-or-nothing deal, because either Jesus rose on Easter DayÐ'--or he did not. If he really did rise from the dead, if he really died for our sakeÐ'--then this is so overwhelming