It Depends

I took my daughter to church today. I think it's important that she have some kind of spiritual compass as she grows up. The most natural compass for me to lead her with, is the church. The odd thing about all that is, I no longer find the church/Christianity has a direction for me. But that's for her to question and figure out on her own later. Stick with me here.

See, I've been going through some stuff lately. It doesn't really matter what it is. I'm grateful for what I have and realize many have it way worse than I could ever imagine. Still, it's the kind of stuff that, five years ago, I'd have taken to God....to Jesus, if you will. Today I don't do that. I don't because for me it's no longer true. Before you crucify me, I said it's no longer true FOR ME. That doesn't mean it isn't true for you. The question I have is, "Is it Absolute Truth?"

Christians believe their's is the only true religion. However, so do Muslims, Buddhists, Islamics, Hindus and all of the other nearly 10,000 religious sects world-wide. I guess you'd say I'm Agnostic. That is not to be confused with Atheist, but I'll leave it to you to look that up. For me, life has been this eternal and internal struggle for the truth. It's why I've always had a hard time with True/False tests. It's never just as simple as those two answers. So I'm proposing the following:

All true/false tests should be altered to multiple choice with the following four options: A) Sometimes. B) Maybe C) It Depends D) Usually. Notice I put It Depends as option C. That's because everyone knows, if you don't know the answer, pick C. For me, many of lifes questions about true or false, right or wrong fall under C.....it depends.

Abortion is wrong. Maybe. Or even, It Depends. Killing is bad. Usually. Or perhaps, It Depends. Marijuana is bad for you. Usually, but what if you're using it to control pain and it's medically prescribed? Democrats are liberal. Usually. Republicans are conservative. Usually. The first of the month falls on Monday. Sometimes. I think you get the picture.

It seems to me that what is true or not is largely a matter of faith. Perhaps even opinion. If you believe Jesus to be your savior, that's something you believe to be true based on faith. In the movie Second Hand Lions there is a GREAT line. It goes like this. "Some things are worth believing in whether they're true or not." That's where I am with my daughter. It doesn't have to be "true" to me to believe that it might be important to her. See, there's true.....and then there's absolute truth. I'm not so sure the latter exists.

Even mathematics, which is the universal language, the universal truth, has flaws. I had a college Calculus professor that could prove mathematically that 0=1. Now we all know that isn't true, right? Or is it? A guy much smarter than I'll ever be proved, through "proofs", that one is equal to zero. Makes it hard to believe in anything anymore doesn't it?

Am I ever going to find the truth? Will I ever get the answers I'm looking for? Is there life after death? Is there a God and what is he? I'm not sure about the answer to those questions so the answer must be C...................

It depends!