Me, Myself, And My Religion

I was raised a Seventh Day Adventist by my parents, with a strict dose of religion almost verging on the puritanical. No movies, no radio, no TV, only books, no coffee, no tea, no alcohol or cigarettes around the house, no jewellery, daily prayers, observing the Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, being called in for family prayers even if it meant being halfway through a game with the other children on the street, compulsory churchgoing on Saturdays, no cooking or doing work of any kind on the Sabbath day, no celebrating Christmas or Easter or observing Lent like the other Christians, but only celebrating New Year's Day, and so on and so forth. That was our way of life since my earliest memory, my parents having converted to Adventism from the Lutheran Church even before I was born. As an obedient child, I never questioned the strict religious upbringing my parents subjected me and my siblings to. As I grew older, however, my outlook on Christianity and religion, in general, changed radically, leaving me as who I am today.

I am a Christian, no doubt, but certainly not the Bible-toting, regularly-church-going, always-on-my-knees-praying, Bible-verse-spewing-at-the-drop-of-a-hat kind of Christian. I do not wear my religion on my sleeve. I get very uncomfortable when people pontificate to me about religion, or try to emotionally blackmail me using Jesus' name (you know, "If you really love and believe in Jesus, forward this email to 10 other people", or "If you are not ashamed of being a Christian, post this as your Facebook status" kind!) - I always delete or ignore such imperatives, both the religious and the non-religious kinds. I feel there is no need to prove to anyone that I believe in Jesus or in anyone or anything else. My faith is personal and I choose to keep it that way. I personally do not post anything related to religion on Facebook and choose to keep it strictly for social networking purposes, and I certainly have no qualms per se about friends airing their views on religion on Facebook. It is their call to do what they please, and if and when any of their posts DOES appeal to me, I DO hit the LIKE button then without fail. I hate a holier-than-thou attitude in people, and try to stay as far away as possible from such people.

I certainly am a Christian who is not very fanatical about religion. I believe in being good, both in thoughts and in deeds. I believe in loving my neighbor as myself, and in being compassionate and kind and helpful to my fellow human beings. I help the poor and the needy as much as I can, and firmly believe that what goes around, comes around. I begin each day with a prayer and never get out of bed without thanking God for keeping me safe through the night and having added another day to my life. I never eat a meal without saying grace, and I never get into bed without a prayer of thanks to God for having been with me throughout the day. These habits are those ingrained in my childhood that I'm still comfortable with. My personal faith keeps me well-grounded, and I see no reason to sit in judgement over others. I am tolerant towards other religions and respect others for what they believe in. I chose to marry a Hindu solely for the good human being that he was, and never insisted he convert to my religion or else. Twenty four years later, we're still going strong, each of us keeping our own religion, and never having fought over religion even once!

More than religion itself, I esteem the love that all religions preach. My son has been exposed to both his parents' religions, but if he chooses not to have a religion at all, that's fine with me too. I would be very pleased if he turned out to be a good human being above everything else, and practised the values of love, respect, compassion, forgiveness and tolerance towards his fellow human beings. My faith is very important to me, but I can't say the same for others, my son included. I was raised an Adventist, for sure, but I'm now a Christian, needless to say, albeit a very different kind of Christian!