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April 13, 2008 at 5:18 pm #28496detn8rParticipant
Have you ever believed in something before you knew what it was?
Without going into debates about religion, I’ll start off by saying that I became a Christian completely on my own. Being the only Christian in my family, I had to overcome many obstacles to be a happy individual in what I believed in. I eventually became baptized in an Anglican church and still remain the only Christian in my family. My father was born into being a Catholic, but neither follows it nor cares about it.
Throughout my short life of being a Christian – almost 6 years – I’ve always believed in asking for forgiveness when doing or saying something that was wrongful. But the thing is, I hardly ever prayed to ask for forgiveness. And I never once asked for forgiveness in church. I’m not sure if it was that I wasn’t comfortable in asking, or I just didn’t know how, but I found some type of suitable replacement.
For as long as I can remember, I always believed that my actions mental, verbal or physical were always something that was controlled by how I reacted or thought.
I became a fairly caring person, and almost always put others before my self. I tried to never judge someone by something they hadn’t done. By this I mean I wouldn’t put someone down by how they dress, or how they spoke etc to my self or to others.
I tend to have found my self doing things for people, and just in the general for the good of as I felt by default that if and when I do good things, in turn I get my own share. And as the opposite, if I had done something wrong, it would be in turn that something wrong would happen to me.
All this I believed, as still believe to this day. Until last month, I hadn’t a clue that people believed in this as a religion. Someone on my Facebook friend list had Karma listed as their religion. I knew I heard of Karma before, but never knew of what it was – until I looked up the definition. Much to my surprise, Karma was almost completely what I had believed in, before I even knew what it was.
I don’t really know if I truly used it as a replacement to asking for forgiveness, but Karma truly makes so much sense to me. I really don’t find my self being confused between being a Christian in praying and believing in the power or Karma, but it’s hard not to. The whole idea of “what goes around comes around” is such an influential motto.
Obviously I can’t ask anyone to make the decision, but am I finding my self a little confused with the true meaning of Karma? Obviously, there is much, much more to Karma than what I know, but for something in general is it true to believe in something before you know what it is?
April 13, 2008 at 8:09 pm #167983PolarBearNPRParticipantOf course there is Graham! You probably believed in a higher power before becoming Christian. You chose Anglican (which I don’t know much about) and made the decision, based on what you knew to be true before it was even given a name to have this intercessor (Jesus Christ). Now, as you reflect on the way the world has behaved in response to your actions you find something called Karma.
I’ve been brought up Presbyterian and continue in those traditions. For me, the truisms are supported by my faith. I’m not sure what comes first, but know that in everything I do, there is God and beside me Jesus and we walk this walk together.
As a seeker, you base things you observe on the myriad of possibilities out there, and some of them have names. And that is so very wonderful! When you see something mentioned, you say, “Hey! I know that! It’s what I’ve been feeling all along!” and can call it Karma.
And that’s one of the many great things the internet gives us . . . the ability to share ideas with many others. You never know what is going to be right for you. And as long as your faith brings you closer in your personal relationship to God I don’t think God really cares what you call it, just as long as you keep talking with God.
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