As I begin to write my essay on The Promise by Chaim Potok, I want to share this quote from the book. I feel it describes so well the place I am at currently with my Faith, Religion, "Christian Walk" whatever you want to call it.
"The Orthodoxy in which Abraham Gordon had been raised by his parents in Chicago became a riotous mockery to him about one year before he entered the university. He never really rebelled against his religion. He simply stopped taking it seriously. Rebellion, said Abraham Gordon, is a conscious act of the will directed by persuasion. Turning one's back upon ideas or institutions is therefore not an act of rebellion but an act of disengagement. The old is considered dead.
All Through college he considered the old dead. And yet strangely enough, he found it impossible to abandon the rituals of the tradition. The entire theological structure upon which those rituals were based had disintegrated into a joke: creation in six days, the revelation, miracles, a personal God-all of it. But the rituals-particularly prayer, kashruth, the Shabbat, and the festivals-had intrinsic value for him."
more thoughts later...when i can afford the time to write for pleasure;) Anyone reading this have thoughts on this?
i can very much relate to the quote as well. but it IS hard to give up traditions. that is why they stay around. traditions are comforting and familiar. even though my perceptions of christianity have changed vastly and i interperet the bible and the life of jesus much differently now, i will still pass on the traditions of christmas, for example, to josie.
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