Faith is not Ideological

One does not ask of one who suffers ‘What is your country and what is your religion?’ One merely says, ‘You suffer, that is enough for me.’ – Louis Pasteur

Look at the world today. All it would take for the complete degradation of societies is for people who know the truth to fail to stand for the right. And it’s happening right now: widespread failures by individuals and societies to undertake simple stating of truth, speaking out against injustice, helping in any small way to aid the downtrodden, ACTING out faith instead of making a pompous theory of it and looking down on others from atop imaginary artificial vantage points.

Organized religion has repeatedly replicated ideological zeal in many of its proponents. Today ideologies like capitalism have gone so far as to straddle the line between religion and ideology. With the rapid decline of religion in Europe following the so-called Enlightenment era, SOMETHING had to fill the gap! Psychological experts say one habit is only eradicated by replacing it with another; thus, today, especially in the first world and its satellites, we see faith replaced by any number of highly variant ideologies. Arrayed types of capitalism for one to choose at leisure, including liberalism and its distant cousin nihilism, are freely to be mixed with whatever remains of culture, party loyalty and individual expression.

You see, ideologies are limiting - because they simply do not admit that there are unknown variables and plain old random events. By every indication, nor even do they recognize “acts of God” as real causes or terminating agents of events. They presume to be able to explain everything. MEMO: Only God is all knowing, “omniscient”. True faith, in contrast, knows just enough to get along and does not quite “know” all what will happen as much as trust that God is in charge and that is enough.

The thing about lies is that eventually they are uncovered for what they are. A little fib may do little harm, but the problem becomes critical as more little fibs are added to the original little fib to cover it up. Eventually we have a mega-ideology constructed entirely of lies and backed up by loads of misapplied data and sustained at high bio-ecological expense to maintain vested interests of every shape. The cracks show. However, when the inevitable truth exposes the foundational lie, the financial vastness and complexity of the system of supporting lies constructed around it will count for nothing, however hip, weaponry-skilled, technologically advanced or globally interconnected. It will be a great collapse, the end of lies. However long it seems to take, it is only a matter of time before the lie and the truth confront each other once and for all. Only one must win, right?

Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. At the very least, it is very fair. Light is better than darkness; the difference is openly apparent. Believe! Good actions are the manner in which faith is completed. Actions speak louder than words. Beware then of those who would reduce good and evil to merely intellectual multiple-choice preferences, claiming one to be as futile or pointless a decision as the other. Because when we come right down to it, good is better than evil, life better than death, light better than darkness. It don’t take no intricate ideology to figure that.

Walk in the light, people. Our times require it of us. Though truth is unpopular, “a hard teaching”, only truth has staying power. Pay no attention to the father of lies. He and his spawn shall be forgotten.