Suffering: the source of religion?

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot of the idea of religion. By "religion", I don't mean the opposite of "relationship," or a set of legalistic rules. This is not a post about how Christianity isn't really a religion or anything like that. I don't even think that's fair to say, but that's a different thought (rant) for a different day.

No, I mean actual religions. Right before Christmas I took a class on world religions, and had to read several books on the topic. Over the weeks following the course, I had to write three different papers, interacting with the concept of religion in various ways. In addition, I visited a Buddhist community a few weeks ago as part of an assignment, and have carried on a bit of a conversation with one of the facilitators in the group. Being exposed to such a different tradition and interacting with the people who practice it causes one's view to be broadened considerably, and it made me think, "Why do we all have this concept of religion, anyway?" Primal societies with no contact with the outside world develop a system of religion all their own, and it typically bears strong resemblance to many other traditions. It seems as though we are all simply wired to find answers in the spiritual realm.

Surely there are both biblical and theological reasons this is so. Ecclesiastes says that God "has set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecc. 3:11), and it seems logical that man, being created in God's image, would have an innate sense that he exists and would seek him out. But I wanted to look deeper than this. What drives us toward the divine? It's not that the standard answers are incorrect, but I wondered if they were perhaps incomplete.

As I sat in a cross legged position that would soon threaten to rupture every tendon and ligament in my legs, surrounded by dozens of meditating Buddhists, I pondered this. Towards the end of our session together, the facilitator opened up for a time of sharing. I listened to several people talk of their joy at finding a likeminded community to practice their faith (if that is the appropriate word ... it probably is not), but I also heard something else: suffering. It was subtle, but it was there. Some element of discord in their life had driven them to where they currently were, and they sought relief.

If you look through Buddhist literature, you will see much made of suffering, or dukkha, as they call it. To Buddhists, life is not merely filled with dukkha; life is dukkha. "To live is to suffer," the Buddha once said. The endless process of birth, death, and rebirth (known as samsara) is a cycle of suffering, keeping one from achieving enlightenment, and thus rest. All the pain that life brings is merely accepted as part of its nature. Buddhism offers its followers an escape to the paradisiacal realm of nirvana. Indeed, to speak to a Buddhist of the eternal life that Jesus offers is horrifying; they already have eternal life, they're trying to get out!

Buddhists are not alone in their fascination with suffering, though. Hinduism, closely related to Buddhism (much as Judaism is to Christianity), shares the same basic concepts. Many tribal religions have a concept of a Eden-like start to the world, only to deteriorate into the mess we now experience as a result of our distance from the spiritual realm. Humans in this world must appease the gods to ensure their supernatural assitance to overcome suffering in their lives. In order to prevent a drought, one may pray or sacrifice to a god of the sky; to avoid crop failure, one might make an offering to a godess of fertility. Jews and Muslims view suffering similar to Christianity, as a product of sin against God and others. The thread of suffering runs through every religion that I studied, and I am convinced it plays a major role in nearly every conception of the spiritual realm.

As I sat in that circle of Buddhists and heard their concerns, I found myself thankful. I would never deny or downplay the suffering experienced and found in our world, but I know that it rests in the hands of a sovereign God who is never surprised, never anxious, never outmatched. Rather than strive to get him on my side, I can be at peace, knowing that he already is on my side (Romans 8:31). Rather than discipline myself to escape from this life of suffering, I can rest in his grace, knowing that he will one day wipe away every tear and make all things new. Suffering is a powerful reminder of our distance from God, and a "megaphone to rouse a deaf world," as C.S. Lewis wrote. How comforting to know that that distance has been overcome by Jesus Christ, and no amount of suffering on this earth can separate us from his love.

Back to blogging ...

Sorry for the neglect of the blog this winter. I've been busy with some things, but I've also been trying to decide on a direction for this blog, rather than just spewing out whatever comes to mind. After a few failed (in my mind at least) series, I've decided to get back to basics -- that is, back to serious topics (for the most part), and back to scriptural topics. I'd like to use this space as an outlet for the things I am learning, both in classes and my own study. They may not be overly funny (if you thought they were at all in the first place), but it's the way to go for me. I should have a post up shortly beginning this new trend, and hopefully we can all be part of a dialogue on the topics raised here. Feel free to use the comments section (constructively please -- calling me an idiot might be true, but not very helpful or insightful) to share your own thoughts and reactions. Thanks for reading.

Random Reminiscence (pt. 2)

A personal favorite, from February 12, 2006 ...

In the movie Fallen, Denzel Washington plays a character who makes the following statement. "There are moments in life that define your existence. Your entire life is separated into two parts: time before this event, and time after this event."

Ok, so that's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. Anyway, I had one of these such moments. Now, Denzel's moment was when he found out that a demon was seeking to possess his body and ultimately destroy him because he was responsible for the execution of his former host. That's not quite what happened to me, but I believe the two events are of equal magnitude.

This moment I speak of occured 16 days ago, on January 27, 2006, when I attended for the first time the finest source of entertainment in the Denton, TX area, if not the world. Yes, that's right. I attended the weekly program of Xtreme Championship Wrestling (XCW, to those in the know) and it was everything I thought it could be. If you've never been to an independent professional (read: fake and ridiculous) wrestling show, go get about 12 guys and go right now. Get up and leave the computer behind. This post will be here when you get back. Go on.

There! Wasn't it amazing!?! Aren't you glad you went? As am I.

Our venture to XCW started on a whim one night and turned into the most fun I've had down here. A big, obnoxious group of about 15 of us showed up in force at the XCW arena, and they had no idea what hit them. My initial plan was to try and get us all thrown out, but it became quickly apparent that that was absolutely impossible, shy of brandishing a firearm. Some of the guys figured we should try and fit in with the locals, so most everybody tried to redneck themselves up as much as humanly possible, and they did a pretty darn good job of it. I chose not to even try, because I would just look like an idiot. Come to think of it, they all looked like idiots, too ...

Anyway, I'll have to post one of our group pictures later, when I can get my hands on one of them. For now, you'll have to settle for a picture of our favorite wrestler the whole night. His name is Sidd Murder, and he was the first one we saw. In fact, it pretty much went downhill after Sidd. He was awesome, though. His intro involved him coming out to a Lil' John song and dumping a gallon of water on his head while he danced around. Hilarious. Anyway, here's Sidd: (edit: apparently, the link to Sidd's picture doesn't work, but if you go here, you can see a thumbnail shot. Well worth the click ...)

Tell me he shouldn't be the XCW Heavyweight Champion!

Anyway, what made XCW such a success was the endless heckling of the wrestlers. None of them were that good, so we had to invent our own fun. This consisted of thinking of the funniest thing we could, and then screaming it. The arena was pretty small, so they (and everyone else) could hear whatever we were yelling. We would pick our favorite at the outset of the match and then obnoxiously spur him on. One of our favorites on the night was participating in a title match, and unfortunately he lost. All of us were disappointed, but not all of us gave up hope. Chris Babiak, mild-mannered film student from UT-Austin, decided to let the retaining champion have a piece of his mind. He ran over to the railing, no more than 8 feet away from this massive wrestler proudly holding his championship belt in the air, and screamed with conviction:

"I've got your momma's belt at my house!!!"

The guy was stunned. He actually started laughing. None of us expected that out of Babiak, but we sure were glad to see it.

I could talk for days about XCW, but I'll have to cut it short for now. If you're interested, check out tcwonline.net for more information. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.