I am bothered when people present, "questioning faith" as a negative.
Questioning
and curiosity are part of human nature. Without questions, we would
never learn. Without questions, man never would have explored space,
never would have adventured into the unknown parts of the world, never
would have invented the iPhone.
Another
oft-used term is, "rejection." I do not see how any existence of
belief in God or a higher power is a rejection of faith. Perhaps your
particular path to commune with God has changed, or your belief in the
expectations He has for you in this life, but does that really call for
the label that you have "rejected" faith?
Why does a
realization that your path may be different than you once thought have
to have so much negativity attached? As a child, I told everyone I
encountered that I was going to be a "Vegetarian" when I grew up so I
could take care of animals every day. Once I Iearned the accurate term of
"Veterinarian," and that I'd also be responsible for putting animals
down, I changed my mind. No one criticized me for abandoning my future
career path and I received much encouragement to continue searching.
Most often, the members of the sect of faith that is being questioned are the ones who object. Last year, an article was published about how some Malawi girls are
forced to have sex with a man, known as a "hyena," after their first
period. This act is believed, in their faith, to be a sexual cleansing
and to keep the family safe from diseases and disaster. If a girl
refuses this, she does not know what calamities will befall her family.
In their culture, rejecting that faith is a terrible thing. But to
those of us on the outside, we see rejection of those beliefs as
life-saving and liberating.
If a person changes from
Catholic to Protestant to LDS to Non-Denominational, that person is not
a rejector of faith 4 times over. That person is human and curious and
constantly searching for their individual path to a higher power.
We are all simply
trying to find our personal way to most connect with the divine. I
truly believe that path is different for each one of us. I truly believe
that our higher power knows we are human and prone to err. I truly
believe that we are all on earth to love and be loved.
* http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi
* http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi
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