The Hyper-Spiritual Joy Luck Club

What I’m about to lash out about is something I used to regularly engage in, so please understand that most of the time, my criticisms are aimed squarely at me and me first.

It occurred to me that as a part of understanding more about my faith, there are several different paths that can be taken. One could engage in in-depth Bible studies to dissect different verses and trim them down to their root words and put them in proper context and perspective. I used to relish this idea. However, as life has progressed, I’ve found that time passes far quicker than I ever thought it would. Time means far more than it used to, and though I want a faith that is real and genuine, I’m not sure that analyzing all 99 gazillion words in the Bible is the best way to get there.

I used to believe Sunday school was absolutely imperative for spiritual growth. In fact, to not be in some kind of Bible study was to let your mind rot.

I’m not so sure anymore.

The thing that keeps striking me is the fact that we have to live. We have to earn our keep, raise our kids, provide for our future and hopefully, use whatever time is left to engage ourselves with others. There are, after all, only 24 hours in a day. And at this point in my life, I’m not sure that memorizing the entire New Testament is the best use of my time nor do I believe it is what a relational God wants from me. You see, that kind of devotion - that kind of stringent rule-following strikes me as religion, and I’m NOT about religion. I want to know who God is. I want to understand Him a little more.

Let me put it this way. If I want to truly get to know a friend better, I’m going to spend time with him. I COULD read a write-up about him and study what grades he made through school and try to determine the kind of person he is from that. But I could learn so much more by simply spending time with him. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know exactly how spending time with God is manifested, but for me, burying my nose in a bunch of words endlessly gets monotonous and boring. I’m sorry if that offends someone’s sense of Godliness, but it’s the truth.

Studying the Bible is often boring. So sue me.

If I’m going to be a genuine person and completely and 100% sincere, then statements like those have to come out - mainly because it is how I feel. And I’m truly past the point of trying to impress anyone with how spiritual I am. I guess I’ll have to revoke my membership in the hyper-spiritual joy luck club.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2007 at 12:47 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.