How do I understand Christianity
Shen Lamb Today’s Christian
What is faith? Some people explain faith by saying that faith is a set of ideas that one can live for and die for.
This is really a very sad statement. If this statement comes from a Christian, it will be even more sad, because they think they have found faith, but they do not understand the meaning of the faith brought by Jesus Christ! No matter how perfect a set of ideas is, we will not die for it, because ideas serve mankind. Ideas are beneath people and are for people to use. Human beings will use various reasonable "ideas" to benefit themselves. How can people die for a set of ideas because of their beliefs? People use their minds to create various ideas, how can they die for them again!
What exactly is faith?
A few days ago, a friend who just graduated from college and works as a kindergarten teacher in a school posted a message on Moments. She said: "I have been thinking about a question that has no answer. That is the meaning of life. . I have asked many people around me, and they usually say that I am too full and think too much. "
Kindergarten teacher is her favorite profession. She likes children, so she is very satisfied with her profession. But people are like this. Even if they find something they like, or even find someone they like, they will still feel empty and confused occasionally, because people's inner needs are not just a good career and a happy family. It’s not just a person you can like and love for a lifetime that can satisfy you. (Would saying this break the dreams of many people who want to use love to make their lives complete?)
Is there any meaning in life? What is the meaning of life? I was attracted by this topic and answered her, if you want to find the meaning of life, you must first find what it is to be a human being. Otherwise, how can you find the meaning of being a human being?
Everyone has different ideas. Some people think that living a life of eating and drinking and not caring about anything else is a good life. In fact, only they themselves know whether it is good or bad. There is also a friend who likes to visit prostitutes, and his wife has divorced him countless times. In the end, he divorced because he couldn't change and didn't want to change. He said: "Prostitution is just a hobby and has nothing to do with morality." This is his philosophy.
There is also my friend who is a kindergarten teacher. Her philosophy is that there is no meaning in life at all, so she said this is a question with no answer. But I still can't help but look for the meaning of life. How can a life without meaning not feel empty! I dare not say how deeply I understand this issue, but I have indeed thought about this issue before.
This problem cannot be solved by one idea. Human beings evolved from monkeys, so they can survive according to the law of "natural selection, survival of the fittest"; human beings are a pile of carbohydrates. compounds, then people can live according to the way carbohydrates exist. Can people find the meaning of existence just by relying on these two statements? Isn’t this how people live in reality, but they still can’t find the meaning!
In Buddhism’s view of the cycle of life and death, people are reincarnated again and again, life after life to repay the debts they owed in previous lives. There is no end, because it is impossible for people to cultivate themselves and become Buddhas without making mistakes throughout their lives! Who can live his whole life without making a mistake, saying a wrong word, or having a sinful behavior or thought? It is simply unrealistic to pay off the debts of previous lives and become a Buddha in this life!
There are many different ideas about the meaning of life. This friend who is a kindergarten teacher said that she read "Walking on the Edge of Life" by Mr. Yang Jiang and carefully read the centenarian's thoughts on this issue. She read one of the articles, "Life Is Really Hard", over and over again, and was filled with emotion and deep recognition. "We come to the human world by chance, and we taste all the joys and sorrows in this world. It is experience, experience, and enlightenment. Like an illusion, like a dream, no one alive can transcend it. . Your view of everything in this world is the life you choose. You must be able to enjoy the joys of life with peace of mind, and at the same time be able to accept the bitterness and joy of life, so that you can have peace of mind. ”
It seems to be a beautiful and profound interpretation of life, but the answer to the question of the meaning of life is still vague and hazy, more like a predicament on this question. If life is just an experience, then after experiencing the pain and joy of a hundred years of life, people will eventually die and turn into dust. Those insights and experiences, no matter how profound and real they are, what is the meaning? No matter what you experience in a hundred years of life, you will eventually turn into a handful of dust. What use can those experiences have if everything is gone? You and I are gone, and those experiences will disappear with the passing of you and me. No one will experience it anymore, just like the dissipating clouds in the morning. If you write it down, future generations may not be willing to read it. Everyone has their own experience, and it is enough for them to experience their own life. If the insights you and I have can't be preserved, what's the use? Even if it is preserved for people to read, and others read a dead person's feelings during his lifetime, what meaning does it have to the dead person? Even if it is meaningful, he cannot feel it, because he is dead, no longer exists, and no longer has any perception. . Some people say that life is a practice. If so, it is also a meaningless practice! Because people will eventually pass away, born from the dust and return to the dust. In a hundred years of life, all those loves and hates will all come to nothing, no one will care about them, no one will remember them! No matter how you practice.
Vanity, oh vanity, everything in life is vanity!
All achievements and great achievements in a person's life, no matter how great they are and how much they contribute to the people of future generations, will become meaningless as the person leaves this world. It may be meaningful to people who are alive in future generations, but it has no meaning to the person who died, because when a person dies, he ceases to exist. For a person who does not exist, no matter how great the meaning is, it has no meaning to him. !
Is the meaning of human beings just to stay in this world for a while and exist for once? Then everything loses all meaning as people disappear and die? ! Those loves and hates, no matter how much you have cared about them; those great achievements, no matter how much effort you have put into them - everything will be meaningless with your passing. Since this meaning will eventually disappear, what's the point of existing once?
If life is just like this, I'm afraid everyone's heart will be full of helplessness and unwillingness. Since people can live for a short time, why can't people live forever?
This is not a dream talk, this is a deep desire deep in the heart! Humans cannot live like animals. Life or death has no meaning. Animals do not look for the meaning of life. The reason why people look for the meaning of life is because their lives need meaning! But if life is only a short hundred years and disappears in a blink of an eye, what is the essential difference between living once and never living at all? Because you and I will disappear in this world because of death!
While people are pursuing the meaning of life, they always create many ideas - at least "I have lived", "I have loved" and "I have hated", but if these are not eternal, they are all Meaningless. For those who are not yet dead, it is just an experience that a person who has disappeared and died has had, and it will not have any meaning to them; for us who have disappeared and died, it has no meaning. It will no longer have meaning, because we who created that meaning are no longer there, gone. The meanings we create will disappear when we disappear. Those who love, hate, or anything else, the dead no longer exist, and no one cares about the living anymore.
Just like the Great Wall, we will talk about it and visit it, but who will really care about it, and who will care about Qin Shihuang who built it. What meaning did our talk have to the First Emperor? He was no longer here and could not hear us. Whatever we leave behind in the world will have no meaning to us after we die and disappear.
Life is so empty and desolate, but we are living so hard right now!
Maybe you will say that my children are the meaning of my life. I love my children very much. Yes, your children will love your children’s children in the future, just as you love their own children. But have you ever thought that your children, and your children’s children, face the same problem, what is the meaning of life? They are just like you and me, and their existence is only a brief moment in time, just like you and me. As they die, disappear, and no longer exist, then their existence, like yours and mine, has no meaning.
People cannot find the meaning of life or the meaning of their own existence under the sun. I can only say things like "life is a practice" and "life is an experience" to fill up my empty heart, numb my life, and play word games.
What are these thoughts of people? It is the search for truth, truth, meaning. It is looking for true faith, because people have a real need for faith deep in their hearts.
So, what is faith? Faith is a person's pursuit of the emptiness and doubts deep in his heart. It is not a set of ideas that makes you feel that your life is good and valuable, or that allows you to live according to a set of ideas.
Faith is not a kind of spiritual sustenance, nor is it like religion. It is just a set of theories, a set of thoughts thought up by the human mind, a set of closed values ????and a world view. Only the cowardly and stupid people need it. False spiritual comfort, deceiving oneself and others to comfort oneself.
Only the truth can satisfy the true needs deep in the human heart. This truth is where do I come from and where do I go? who I am? What is the meaning of my existence? How can I be happy? The meaning and value of everything we have and hope to have. Love, marriage, family, and all that we hold dear, the meaning and truth of it all, this is the truth!
So, all the specious ideas cannot satisfy us at all. Various religions, closed values ??and world views can only paralyze us and give us an illusion of security.
Faith is to let you know, - ugh! This is the real truth. It is the secret of happiness, in which all the value and meaning of life lies. The meaning of love, the meaning of my existence, and the question of who I am, everything we seek lies within.
Only when you find these can you find your faith.
It’s just that people don’t know the truth, so how can they find it? Even if they find it, how can they recognize it?
Like the dialogue between two philosophers, philosopher means "one who loves wisdom."
“What are you looking for?”
“I am looking for truth.
”
“Do you know the truth? ”
“I don’t know him, so I’m looking for him. "
"Since you don't know him, how can you recognize him even if you find him? ”
Human beings’ search for truth seems to only lead to a dead end.
Why do people pursue, why do they explore, why do they have such deep confusion. Because our inner needs are almost It is an instinctive need. People have many instinctive needs. For example, they need to eat to fill their stomachs, otherwise they will be hungry; they need to establish relationships with others, fill their own psychological needs of love and being loved, etc. It's a natural thing. The same goes for faith. Everyone needs to know the meaning of our life, who I am, and the meaning of my existence, so philosophers are searching for and questioning. Faith. , is the answer to all the pursuits of people. Faith is not a religion, nor is it superstition. It is the truth brought by God to mankind, allowing people to truly understand themselves, find the meaning of life, and realize the value of life.
< p>Jesus Christ said: I am the way, the truth, and the life. He gives life to mankind, and he also provides life for people to know themselves and the way to know the truth.Whether you believe it or not, there is no way in the world. Either Jesus was a madman or he really was, because at first glance, it seems crazy to say something like this, because no one dares to claim it, not even philosophers. Human beings can only pursue and ask questions about the truth. , but Jesus unabashedly declared that he had given the answer to human pursuits
About the author: Shen Gao, a post-90s Christian, grew up in rural Henan and now lives in Xinjiang. He likes writing and reading. think.
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