Earliest Years: I grew up in a home where both of my parents were believers who took my sister, brother, and I to church and were faithful to read the bible with us and pray. As a child I’m certain I didn’t realize the great value and worth of this – this was just the way life was. As an adult I am so thankful for the incredible Godly foundation my parents were faithful by the grace of God to lay in my little life. Because I was introduced to the gospel at an early age and the Holy Spirit was working in my heart even then, I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior around the age 6.

Teen Years: As a result of some bad teaching my family had sat under in a well-meaning church, I had a hard time understanding the love of God. I lived with constant fear that I was going to do something that would displease my Father so much he would decide I was no longer his child. It seems silly now, but it really was a huge concern for me during that time. Thankfully my family began attending a church that was more faithful to scripture and I began to understand more about the love and grace of God – that none of us deserve God’s favor, but that God chooses to give it to us anyway. That all the judgment and wrath I deserve was poured out on Christ on the cross and that that God was my heavenly father who loves me and desires that I grow in grace.

College Years: These were some of the most wonderful and terrible years of my life. Wonderful because I feel like I grew by leaps and bounds in my walk with God and terrible because of an illness that left me physically and mentally drained and extremely depressed. I had a terrible case of reactive hypoglycemia that left me with a myriad of yucky symptoms that made life very difficult. It wasn’t until several years later, after I had my first child, that I discovered my illness was being caused by a medication I was taking. This dark time was definitely something I would not have chosen for myself, but looking back I can see how during it I reached the proverbial end of myself and clung to Jesus for dear life. God’s word became alive and very precious to me during this .

Married Years/Kids: This is so funny b/c some of the things that God has been teaching me as a wife and mom, I’m being reminded of right now as I’m “attempting” to type this with a two year old climbing all over me talking non-stop . I’ve been known to jokingly say that having a child puts a person on the “sanctification fast track”. Honestly though, this has been probably my favorite stage of life to this point. I love being Haddie’s mommy and being Brance’s wife. It has also been one of the most eye-opening stages of my life to this point. I am not as nice as I thought I was… in fact my depravity runs much deeper than I recognize or even would like to admit. Thankfully I am finding that as I say no to myself and yes to what God desires and requires that I experience an overwhelming joy that I would not otherwise.

Future Years: As I think about the future I can look back over where I’ve come from and can be encouraged by God’s faithfulness. Philippians 1:6 reminds me that it is God who saved me and it is God who continues the process of sanctification, making me more and more like his son and my savior the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 8:28 I’m also reminded that God is working out things for good for his children.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God does not guarantee that everything in life will be rosy for his children. To the contrary, Jesus says in John that as Christians we will face difficulty like he our master did. But because of God’s faithfulness I rest confident that everything, even the difficult circumstances in my life, are meant for my best good of becoming more like Jesus and that I have a loving father guiding me every step of the way.

Like I mention in my previous discussion board post, it seems this compelling driving force of all humanity, for all times (as far as archeologist have been able to discern), to uphold this intrinsic moral parameter, so often repeating itself even in isolated people groups, is fascinating, at least, and miraculous, at most. For example, the issue of good and bad kharma (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism), light and darkness (referred to in early Chinese religions as yin and yang), sickness and health/ good and evil spirits (Oral Religions), desire and suffering (Buddhism), good and evil (Islam, Juddaism, Christianity)… ultimately, salvation and an final relief.

Is there an ultimate truth to be found in the claims of these various religions? Is there even a truth to be found at all? Darwinistic evolution, which I believe influenced the opinions in regard to the origin of religion in the the first chapter, taken to its final conclusion tells its adherents and faithful that the only truth that exists is the cold biological truth – matter is all there really is, nature doesn’t care, and any other “truth” outside of that is a fanciful coping mechanism.

Even though unlike other religions, Buddhism rejects the idea of god, even in their founder Gautama (though in recent years, a certain renown Hollywood actor made claims to the sinlessness of the Dahli Lama, which the Dahli Lama so humorously dismissed as false), they like the Hindus appear to be guided by an internal compass in regards to what is right and what is wrong. This seemingly intrinsic code of morality that reminds us of the value of all life, compassion, the importance of refraining from selfish behavior, and a recognition of the spiritual reminds us that there may be more to life than the physical – that there may be a good and satisfying ultimate truth to be found after all.

In case your wondering, Haddie has six, let’s just say , articles of clothing around her neck.  When I helped her get them off her little neck was sweaty.

What I find most intriguing after reading chapters 1 and 2, are the stunning parallels and similarities that can be drawn between the various world religions.  I found these similarities especially striking while reading about the indigenous religions in chapter 2. Amazingly, or miraculously (depending on you beliefs about the origins of religion), these indigenous peoples “found in every climate” and “developed in isolation from each other” realize and incorporate many of the same religious truths and practices, so similar that the author of the text refers to them collectively as “sacred paths.”  These oral religions that “sprung from tribal and small-scale cultures” all over planet earth believe in a supernatural realm, share similar beliefs about nature, time, and space and hold in high regard their ancestors and origins.  And though there were and are variances among these religions, it is obvious that there is something at work more than coincidence or chance that would result in these astonishingly similar religions establishing in isolation from one another,  something that would suggest that religion is part of the human DNA, so to speak.

The author began this discussion in chapter 1 by offering an explanation for the phenomenon of religion and religious parallels (ones clearly seen amongst the indigenous religions that developed in isolation studied in chapter 2 ).  His explanation is one of origins. That,  religion finds its origin in man’s effort to answer difficult questions about life and the universe we find ourselves in, ultimately to cope.  The only problem with this explanation is that it is a presupposition that removes the possibility of ultimate truth being found in any religion, by inferring that rather than being created for religion or ultimate truth, man is the creator of religion and his own truth – that the desire for religion is biological or physiological, at best.  If this is the case then religion becomes nothing more than a pathetically weak misinformed attempt to make sense of the world through a bunch of fairy stories.  One might assert that there is some historical and anthropological value in religion, there is some beauty and intrigue, there are some “truths” to be discovered about nature and our relationship with it (which I would argue is debatable, because now we are swimming in the murky waters of relativism).  This might all be true, but if religions find their origin in man and man’s attempt “to deal with our mortality”, then it would seem our deepest questions continue to go unanswered and truth is up for grabs.  The only alternative is to believe that man was created for religion and the phenomenon observed is evidence of that.