A short true story.....
I had a friend whose loaf of bread had gotten moldy and the green growth on the slice of bread she took out of the bag looked like the face of Jesus, I mean it really really looked like the stereotypical Jesus...the face was like a painting all in green. When she pulled that piece of moldy bread out of the bag to make us some sandwiches she was dancing up and down like an idiot and crying tears of absolute joy and I sat there just wondering if she had gone insane....She said she had asked God for a sign because she was losing faith in God and Jesus and being raised as a Baptist she was really feeling guilty that she had lost faith, so she had been praying for days for a sign that God and Jesus existed and she believed that moldy bread was a sign from God himself. After seeing this jesus- faced piece of moldy bread it somehow changed her whole life for the better because she was positive that God was speaking to her and she was so much, much happier in life and she was filled with love and treated everyone so much better....it was amazing to me...I thought she was completely wonkers and told her so....She told me that it was HER miracle, that God had communicated to her that she had to have faith in Jesus... and who was I to tell her different. I got thinking about that today when replying to a post.
That really made me do some serious thinking about my own actions and about the needs of people to believe in something and how deep a faith can go and how it can impact a person's whole life, and I realized that believing in something is not a bad thing and it actually can change peoples lives for the better, even believing in things that make no sense to me or seem unreal to me like my best friend seeing a sign from God in a piece of moldy bread....If people read something and it fills them full of hope it is like a feel good drug, and makes them feel better, I cannot do anything about that even if I think their faith is unfounded or not realistic or just plain untrue, and actually it is not my job to be a miracle monitor, lol. People are entitled to what they see as miracles in their lives and I realize that it is not my place or duty to point out that I think they are wrong in their beliefs, it is an individual thing and none of my business. Took me a long time to realize this. I just remembered about my friend with the moldy Jesus bread and did some soul searching and this blog is the result of my reminiscing...I just felt the need to share this, even if it might make some people angry. Making people angry at me is nothing new to me, and I survive it somehow, lol.
I will continue to point out my viewpoint of what seems to be reality for me, because I feel the need to have people hearing the truth and not what I perceive as deception, but I should not criticize those that want to believe things that make them feel hopeful and uplifted because it is their choice what they believe and what those beliefs fulfills in their lives. I think that it is wrong to mislead people intentionally as many posts and channelings do but it is not my place to criticize people for believing things that to me seem like untruths. I agree that a lot of the postings on this and other sites are like dangling carrots just out of reach, which seems unfair and like manipulation and just plain falseness to me. But for those that believe and see things the same way as the posters of such writings, it is a food that seems to sustain them, so I cannot and should not make judgements. I have to fight the need to criticize because it does not help anything at all and changes nothing, people believe what they believe, a feeling in their heart or soul. I have to remind myself of the serenity prayer at all times. Some things I simply cannot change things, I have to realize this and go on my way to do what I can to make this a better world in whatever small way I can, and not try to fix people who I think need fixing who don't want to be fixed and are perfectly comfortable in their viewpoints and faiths. I should just concern myself with what I contribute to life myself.
It takes courage to commit to have faith in something without tangible proof of their belief. I actually wish I could have blind faith and truly believe in something that uplifts me and makes me feel warm inside, but blind faith can damage people sometimes too and make them vulnerable to being manipulated and used and lead astray like lambs to slaughter sometimes, which is why I worry so much for others who i think believe things that are untrue, but I cannot change anyone's faith in things, it has to come from their hearts alone. No one's words or criticisms or insults of other's beliefs is going change anything at all, only separates and draws people apart. I often wish that I had real heartfelt faith in something intangible but it is just not in my makeup I guess...Always been a realist, always will be.....but am I any better off than someone who has high and lofty hopes and unflapable faith in what they believe, I don't think so. I wish I had beliefs that bouy me up and make me feel optimistic for the future and feel good inside, I truly do, but alas I guess I just don't know how.
Thank you for listening to me....
Comments
Nice one! Good on you Marique. It is impossible for others to understand one's personal experiences. Sometimes people with faith also demand proof when feeling disheartened, and then they get it. Others who don't believe in things change their minds when they also get proof, eg. near death experiences. So it's pointless to debate others' feelings, their experiences, and their personal spiritual journeys.
I know of so many unlikely serendipitous situations which sceptical people have had, but they have managed to write them all off as 'coincidences'. Yet when we put them all together it tells another story. How do we explain telephone telepathy, or prophetic dreams, or songs coming on the radio that fit in with our thoughts... How do we explain the love that we get from dogs and puppies. How could anything be so happy, honest and wise, and love us so much. Where does this insane variety of creatures on earth come from. How do we explain the power of the mind to cure ourselves of cancer which is physically impossible. If someone is hypnotised and told that a finger touching them is a red hot poker, they grow a blister. How can we explain that the moon is exactly the same size as the sun from our perspective. The probability of this happening is pretty much nil. All astronauts have said that aliens exist. Ex presidents, their offspring, and numerous lay people have also experienced them, yet after 15 years I am still labelled as a nut job by my parents who have asked for proof, and when shown it, have simply discounted it, and still label me as nuts.
Scepticism is a lie fed to us by our brain. I've heard that men especially who are sceptical don't have time for these trivias because they are too busy working to keep their family alive. Others may just feel irrationally guilty and too scared to meet their maker. After having proof for so long it gets tiring trying to explain it to sceptics. They simply don't want to know. Scepticism is a belief system too.
Thanks for this great post Marique
I totally agree with you Malcolm. This is why I have such great concern about people not questioning beliefs before accepting those beliefs as their own....Just wish people would do their homework diligently and just not believe everything they read, wish they would really think about the source of the writings and channelings etc and take it a step farther in the investigating department and to use reasoning and intellect about things as well as just thinking oh this sounds nice or feels nice so it must be true....There certainly are those that feed off the blind faith, that is for sure, the new age movement is rife with them. I just realized that when you try to make people question their own faith, that it does not work, they have to come to realizations on their own...Just makes people angry at you for doing it...As my example story stated, my friend changed her whole life by believing that God almighty was communicating to her via a piece of moldy bread...but I can't criticize the positive impact that her belief had on her life, so I just did not say what was on my mind...thinking that it was crazy....because we would no longer be friends...People get really annoyed and angry when people try to point out what seems to be the folly of their thinking, so I am trying not to alienate people with my opinions, but gosh it is hard becasue I really care about people and don't want people to be damaged or hurt, or manipulated....
Blind faith will be remembered as the Achilles Heel of the Age of Pisces. Devotion to a higher purpose is a noble cause and spiritually pure thing to do. Unfortunately there are sociophobes, vampires, and monsters that feed off people with "blind faith." They remind me of the lions on the plains in Africa, scouting out the herd to look for a weakness and then BAM: "you're my supper, sucker."