Faith/ Religion

I was born in a Daoism family, so I have to follow a lot of rules and customs when I was young. And all these customs really drives me crazy. That is the reason why there is a pried of time I do not believe in God. But when I got to college, things changed, I found out God started talking to me, or, I started to pay attention to what God has whispered to me.

I asked for help to my teacher, asking him what God is, and why all of a sudden God started talking to me. So we have a long conversation about God, faith, religion and this sort of things. This is why I get to know the differences between faith and religion.

Lets talk about religion first. Take Daoism people for example. They have to prepare a lot of things and do a lot of ceremonies to show Gods how devout they are. But as time goes by, people do this things not because they believe in this sort of things or they are devout, but because they have to do this. Lets take Christianity for another example. I have been to church once, and in the end the priest said that the church needs money to build a bigger church to have capacity for more people. (Because they are more than five hundred people in that church, and on Sunday, they have to meet at the basement of a school) At first, I think this is quit reasonable; but than my teacher told me this is totally wrong, because God said, “A church is a group of people gets together.” We don’t have to really build a building and call that certain place “church.” Than why should they build another big house? The basement is already big enough for all the Christians. My point is, religion is the thing “people” made other to believe in, it is not God himself.

Than, lets talk about faith. When I was in my teacher’s court, he taught us about the idea of faith. It is a belief in our heart; a voice that tells us everything will be all right, a power that comforts us, and a bone between God and us. For instance, I had been through a low tide due to what happened to my friends and me. At that time, I was so frustrated and depressed; so I started to pray to God, and miracle happened, God responded through my heart. At that time, I cried. After that, I feel much better. Because I know that no matter what happens to me, there will always be a power stand after me to protect me. I think this is what faith is.

I am not saying Daoism and Christianity is bad; in fact, I see a lot of good people there and I know churches and temples has done a lot of good thing to us. But we should always remember what God had told us and check ourselves all the time to make sure we are not going to the wrong side. We should trust our heart, not just rules!

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