Faith vs. Religion

Wow!  What a debate Miss Ginger sparked up on facebook when she reposted David's cute little joke about religion!

Right off the bat, my best childhood friend's older sister, an evangelical christian (my description, not hers) chastised me and unfriended me!

Evangelical Sister: Really? That's crude and rude. Not going to have to worry about any of this any more. It's all pretty bad, but the last line is pretty disgusting. I guess that's your point. I'm signing off and you will not have to see my post, which are a love for God and Jesus and a conservative person. All the best.

Next, my dear, dear Nutwood Beth came to my protection (as she is wont to do!) with an extremely supportive, heartfelt, and appreciated comment:

Nutwood Beth: I posted this a while back here on FB, and I stand by my posting of it, and I stand by David's posting of it, and I stand by YOUR posting of it. When the Catholic church continues to cover up the abuse of children, all bets are off. They apparently have no mercy for the children who are abused at the hands of some of their priests; why in holy hell should I show any mercy to the abusive priests or the church that allows them to get away with it?

Now, an old friend from high school chimes in, and kind of skirts around my whole appreciation of the issue,  meanwhile stepping in a big pile of dog doo:

Kitten: Sounds like maybe you've had some run-ins with "religious" folks, George. There's a BiG difference between religion and FAITH--I suggest, for your eternal soul's sake, that you investigate the difference! To borrow a phrase from the Bible "we are but a vapor", here today and gone tomorrow--eternity is FOREVER!! Try to look at it this way: sometimes those who talk "religion" to you do it because they love you--and I do love you, George--always have and always will. I will continue to pray for you, too! And to your friend who posted the above response--a lot of people in this country feel the exact same way about the gay lifestyle---don't force it on our kids or down our throats!!!

Kitten's always had my back, God wise, and I've always loved her for it.  The gay thing kinda stung, though, but I'm gonna just say she was jabbing back.

Then, another high school friend, who happens to be lesbian, came in with her strong support of Christianity, and all hell broke loose, so to speak!  Miss Ginger LOVED it!!  To have her little post spark such heartfelt debate made her appreciate the electronic social venues more than she already did!

And it really got Miss Ginger thinking about the point of the whole issue:  "faith" vs. "religion". So, she did one of her favorite things when she wants to research a concept:  she went to ask.com images and asked for images of "faith" and "religion".  Miss G had an angle for this article,  so she selected the following image to represent "faith", although she must admit she sifted through a lot before she came upon it:

She chose this image to represent faith, because the sun and star seem to represent diverse ideologies, and the open hand symbolized an open mind, and an acceptance of all. A "faith" in Miss G's mind is quite personal-  each individuals "faith" defines their personal spirituality, and it is as unique as their fingerprint or their DNA!  To Miss Ginger, any faith worth following should hold those ideals to be important! Truth be told, most of the images that Miss G had to sift through represented "faith" as christianity, with images of churches, praying hands, nuns, doves, and crosses.

"Religion", on the other hand, means a "ritual observance of faith", or "a set of beliefs governed by a moral code of human affairs".  So, religion is godsreich, so to speak. Does anyone appreciate it expressed that way? Miss Ginger thinks not! So, she was quite surprised when she asked for images of "religion" and got many images that in her mind represent "faith"!

To Miss Ginger,  this image represent the diversity of faith that makes the world a better place!  Yasee, Miss Ginger's primary problem with christianity is it's belief that it is the only true faith, and that all others are blasphemous, unworthy, and hell-bound.  Certainly Miss Ginger is no student of theology, but the fact that her christian friends all insist that she must accept christ as her savior or burn in a lake of eternal fire just make her mad!!  Miss Ginger simply refuses to worship a "deity" who is so self-centered that all other points of view are considered blasphemous!  Miss G knows many Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and others,  and they are lovely people who will follow their faith to an afterlife of their desire and belief!  While Miss Ginger certainly hopes to spend her afterlife with her family and loved ones who came before her, she hopes it will be in a place of love and acceptance of all people!  Even if the streets are paved in gold and it rains Absolut every day, Miss Ginger simply cannot imagine spending her eternity in a place that only allows people of one specific belief!

What do you think, GingerSnaps?  Are you "faithful", "religious", or "none of the above"?  Where do you expect to spend YOUR eternity?