Andy smiles like no one else. Seriously. Some people say that this person or that person's smile is contagious, but Andy's smile reaches from ear to ear. And if he is smiling, the Grinch is surely smiling too. When he laughs, his whole upper body moves- almost like a very cool happy dance. I have known Andy for four or five months. We met at a juice bar that I worked at, and he has a Bachelors in Philosophy and Psychology. We were both pretty happy to find mutual nerds in one another. This is Andy's Interview.
Astrid: Do you have a title of the metaphysical kind?
Andy: To most people I say I am a Metaphysical Naturalist or Humanist. Most people associate Atheist with bad things and I don't want that reputation.
Astrid: What does your system of beliefs entail?
Andy: I don't believe in anything supernatural. Theoretically everything can be explained through natural law. If we don't have the answer now, we will have the scientific answer some day.
Astrid: Some people think Atheism or Humanism is very different from other system of beliefs. How would you describe it?
Andy: I believe my system, like others, runs on emotions like love and fear. I believe these emotions are primal and crucial to happiness. And many people think Atheism is Nihilism and that's just not the case. Spirituality is the acknowledgement of something bigger than the self. That greater thing for me is Nature. I love to back pack and be in the presence of 200 year old trees. The vastness of the Universe and it's existence is inspiring. The fact that the conditions on earth were such that humans came to be sentient and conscious is astonishing and it definitely puts me into a state of aw. Natural selection is an amazing thing.
Astrid: What is your background and how has that affected who you are or what you believe now?
Andy: I was raised Catholic. I was confirmed and Baptized. During middle school I experienced the hypocrisy and the immoral actions of people who called themselves Christians. It really discouraged those beliefs. The problems that I found later became debilitating. The teaching that I should pray instead of act in a problematic situation and the fact that my beliefs about abortion and homosexuality were not parallel to the church were irreconcilable. I then became a Philosophy major and I did not have a reason to keep a label that I did not identify with.
Astrid:What are some influential people in your life or education/.belief system?
Andy: I really respect Daniel Dennett and his work in Consciousness and Religion.
http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/incbios/dennettd/dennettd.htm.
I also really admire Richard Dawkins, he is a Zoologist, but reading his material was helpful in finding what I believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
Astrid: So you don't believe in Heaven or Hell? What would you say to people who have had really awful lives? Say there is a person who had the life of a slave or just a disease that causes them to be in pain all the time?
Andy: I do believe in the 2nd theory of thermodynamics: matter is never created nor destroyed. When someone dies they leave their conscious, sentient self and are never that person again. The up side is if they were in pain they are not in pain anymore. If someone has a really hard life, they have a choice to see the good in it. Life is life and we should be thankful. Whether people decide to believe in God or in Natural selection- I don't know why random selection has less meaning or is less precious. I think science makes it more precious.
Astrid: What do you like most about your set of beliefs?
Andy: I have personal or existential freedom. I can create the situation I need and I am not dependent on an external source. Regardless of my situation, I can make the most out of my life with my own positive actions.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Jeff- not your typical Christian
Jeff and I have been good friends for a year now. For as long as I have
known him, he has had a faith I think is beautiful and at the same time I
just don't have the consistency or the peace of mind to say I can
believe what he believes. This is his interview.
I sat across from Jeff after he meticulously tasted his Americano. His eyes are always sweet. He tells the starbucks barista that his coffee is burnt. She apologizes and tells him the machine is pulling at six seconds and makes him a new one. He says his new beverage is perfect multiple times. I love the way we love coffee together.
Astrid: If you had to label yourself what label would you hold?
Without hesitation Jeff said his title is Christian, but with that he put his arms up and declared he did not hate gay people. In fact he is called to help the gay community in relation to Christian God.
To Jeff this means that his relationship with God is based on the understanding that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He said with grace alone we are saved by Christ, and we can do no action or number of actions that could make us worthy.
Jeff believes that the defining feature of Christianity is that the greatest commandment is love. We must love like Christ, deny our selves, our desires, we should practice forgiveness toward ourselves and for each other. These actions can only be done through Christ. When we find ourselves striving to do these things without Christ we fail- we are tired. It is when we lean on God that we become Christians.
A: What is your back ground and how do you feel it has affected the way you feel about your beliefs and your God now?
J: In my 20's and 30's I explored Buddhism, Taoism, and New Ageism- all of these Philosophies declared that all things are one- we are part of God and the earth and universe all connected as one great being.
I know that if I had not explored Buddhism and practiced the act of being grateful- I would have never would have been grateful enough to be the Christian I am now.
At 38 I was drawn to a relationship to Christ. My step mother was the first person I met who was a devoted Christian woman. She was in the world, but not of the world. I had a conflicted idea about who I would become if I was Christian. I read a great book that helped me with this conflict. The title of the book is called "Blue Like Jazz". It is a boy/man’s journey from being a strict Baptist, to then going to college and renouncing his beliefs so that he would fit in to the kind looking aspect of humanity. He than met a girl who changed his idea of what being a Christian meant.
A: What is being different in Christ mean to you?
J: There is more background to that answer. I feel I had been running from God for as long as I experienced Him. An example was at Church camp when I was 13, It was evening Mass. The Cardinal said that if anyone wanted to come forward and have their faith strengthened they should come to the front. I came forward and the Cardinal placed his hands on my shoulder and said: "You will open your heart to the Lord." The feeling I had in that moment is indescribable. I felt the presence of God. But, even as I experienced Rock solid truth, I didn't let that experience change me. I still hid things from God, like that was an option.
Another experience I had was later when I was 38, I with a friend to his Cowboy Church. I went to this Church and I saw all of these rugged men show me how kind they were. It was really disarming. I walked into the Church with something to prove. I told myself that I was open minded, but in reality I was open to anything that was not Jesus. I could not contemplate it, I was unwilling to see Jesus as God. I only wanted to love God on my terms, and it was then that I realized I had to love him on his terms or it was never going to work.
One translation of of Psalms 23 is: Surely goodness and Mercy will pursue me all the days of my life. That is when I realized God had been chasing me. And I ran away from him even as he showed me who he was and loved me.
A: What do you think people need to know about God that you love?
J: People often think there is a difference between God of the New testament and God of the old Testament, and there is no difference. The Plagues and the terrible things that God did in the first testament seem hard for many to reconcile with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but that is because people are blinded by a sense of entitlement. To be human is a gift itself, but with that gift comes with responsibility and consequences. We want to have our cake and eat it too. We only want to love God when good things happen and freak out when bad things happen. But God is the Creator and as creator He gives and takes as he sees fit. We want all the good and never any bad, but that is unrealistic. Anytime we judge God we are being arrogant and presumptuous.
If you look at the Gospel, scripture says that we must accept Jesus as savior. Others see this as narrow and vengeful, but I see it as mercy. Since creation we have turned our backs on God, and all we have to do is say Thank you, Sorry, and Please Jesus save me and we are saved. This is infinite mercy, but a lot of people don't see it that way.
A: Do you think hell exists?
J: If all people believe in Jesus as Lord, then Hell wouldn't have to exist. I hope that if the reason Christ hasn't come back yet it’s because he is waiting for everyone to get it. I also believe that the biggest obstacles for people coming to Christ are all of the false and inhumane "Christians" who represent Christ in the wrong ways.
A: Do you believe babies go to Hell? Do you have a definition of Hell?
J: No. Babies don't go to hell, and dinosaurs did exist. 8 days doesn't mean literally 8 days. I don't always believe in the literal translation of the Bible. One part of the bible that I believe is literal is " Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess." This is part of the reason I have hope that God in his mercy has a plan for everyone to get in? I try not to focus on a definition of Heaven and Hell. Heaven is a bonus after we learn the code of ethics here on earth.
A: Do you believe a person can be ethical without being Christian? and how can the Grace of God save us if we must first have a code of Ethics?
J: I have met many people who are ethical without being Christians, and one of my close friends is a very ethical person, of high integrity who happens to be atheist. I believe a person can have a code of ethics, but in my experience, it is impossible to always stay on path because it is in Christ that we are able to hold to that code of ethics. The code of ethics is a claim to God's Grace. Faith without works is dead. Through grace we are saved and forgiven. Our acts are our declaration to God that we need his help and his love. It is by living ethically, that we make Christ visible to the world, which is where most Christians fall short.
A: Do you have any closing statements?
J: John 14.6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me
John 3.16:For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
2 Cor. 4.16-5.4:Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
I believe people are fundamentally broken and are in need of Christ.
I sat across from Jeff after he meticulously tasted his Americano. His eyes are always sweet. He tells the starbucks barista that his coffee is burnt. She apologizes and tells him the machine is pulling at six seconds and makes him a new one. He says his new beverage is perfect multiple times. I love the way we love coffee together.
Astrid: If you had to label yourself what label would you hold?
Without hesitation Jeff said his title is Christian, but with that he put his arms up and declared he did not hate gay people. In fact he is called to help the gay community in relation to Christian God.
To Jeff this means that his relationship with God is based on the understanding that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He said with grace alone we are saved by Christ, and we can do no action or number of actions that could make us worthy.
Jeff believes that the defining feature of Christianity is that the greatest commandment is love. We must love like Christ, deny our selves, our desires, we should practice forgiveness toward ourselves and for each other. These actions can only be done through Christ. When we find ourselves striving to do these things without Christ we fail- we are tired. It is when we lean on God that we become Christians.
A: What is your back ground and how do you feel it has affected the way you feel about your beliefs and your God now?
J: In my 20's and 30's I explored Buddhism, Taoism, and New Ageism- all of these Philosophies declared that all things are one- we are part of God and the earth and universe all connected as one great being.
I know that if I had not explored Buddhism and practiced the act of being grateful- I would have never would have been grateful enough to be the Christian I am now.
At 38 I was drawn to a relationship to Christ. My step mother was the first person I met who was a devoted Christian woman. She was in the world, but not of the world. I had a conflicted idea about who I would become if I was Christian. I read a great book that helped me with this conflict. The title of the book is called "Blue Like Jazz". It is a boy/man’s journey from being a strict Baptist, to then going to college and renouncing his beliefs so that he would fit in to the kind looking aspect of humanity. He than met a girl who changed his idea of what being a Christian meant.
A: What is being different in Christ mean to you?
J: There is more background to that answer. I feel I had been running from God for as long as I experienced Him. An example was at Church camp when I was 13, It was evening Mass. The Cardinal said that if anyone wanted to come forward and have their faith strengthened they should come to the front. I came forward and the Cardinal placed his hands on my shoulder and said: "You will open your heart to the Lord." The feeling I had in that moment is indescribable. I felt the presence of God. But, even as I experienced Rock solid truth, I didn't let that experience change me. I still hid things from God, like that was an option.
Another experience I had was later when I was 38, I with a friend to his Cowboy Church. I went to this Church and I saw all of these rugged men show me how kind they were. It was really disarming. I walked into the Church with something to prove. I told myself that I was open minded, but in reality I was open to anything that was not Jesus. I could not contemplate it, I was unwilling to see Jesus as God. I only wanted to love God on my terms, and it was then that I realized I had to love him on his terms or it was never going to work.
One translation of of Psalms 23 is: Surely goodness and Mercy will pursue me all the days of my life. That is when I realized God had been chasing me. And I ran away from him even as he showed me who he was and loved me.
A: What do you think people need to know about God that you love?
J: People often think there is a difference between God of the New testament and God of the old Testament, and there is no difference. The Plagues and the terrible things that God did in the first testament seem hard for many to reconcile with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but that is because people are blinded by a sense of entitlement. To be human is a gift itself, but with that gift comes with responsibility and consequences. We want to have our cake and eat it too. We only want to love God when good things happen and freak out when bad things happen. But God is the Creator and as creator He gives and takes as he sees fit. We want all the good and never any bad, but that is unrealistic. Anytime we judge God we are being arrogant and presumptuous.
If you look at the Gospel, scripture says that we must accept Jesus as savior. Others see this as narrow and vengeful, but I see it as mercy. Since creation we have turned our backs on God, and all we have to do is say Thank you, Sorry, and Please Jesus save me and we are saved. This is infinite mercy, but a lot of people don't see it that way.
A: Do you think hell exists?
J: If all people believe in Jesus as Lord, then Hell wouldn't have to exist. I hope that if the reason Christ hasn't come back yet it’s because he is waiting for everyone to get it. I also believe that the biggest obstacles for people coming to Christ are all of the false and inhumane "Christians" who represent Christ in the wrong ways.
A: Do you believe babies go to Hell? Do you have a definition of Hell?
J: No. Babies don't go to hell, and dinosaurs did exist. 8 days doesn't mean literally 8 days. I don't always believe in the literal translation of the Bible. One part of the bible that I believe is literal is " Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess." This is part of the reason I have hope that God in his mercy has a plan for everyone to get in? I try not to focus on a definition of Heaven and Hell. Heaven is a bonus after we learn the code of ethics here on earth.
A: Do you believe a person can be ethical without being Christian? and how can the Grace of God save us if we must first have a code of Ethics?
J: I have met many people who are ethical without being Christians, and one of my close friends is a very ethical person, of high integrity who happens to be atheist. I believe a person can have a code of ethics, but in my experience, it is impossible to always stay on path because it is in Christ that we are able to hold to that code of ethics. The code of ethics is a claim to God's Grace. Faith without works is dead. Through grace we are saved and forgiven. Our acts are our declaration to God that we need his help and his love. It is by living ethically, that we make Christ visible to the world, which is where most Christians fall short.
A: Do you have any closing statements?
J: John 14.6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me
John 3.16:For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
2 Cor. 4.16-5.4:Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
I believe people are fundamentally broken and are in need of Christ.
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