'Moving your ass' as a new religion.
Each time I visit The Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, I get mixed feelings.
First time we went there with Mattia was to see the exhibition about the life of Francis Bacon.
Despite the fact that Mr. Bacon turned out to be an extremely interesting personality and artist, I felt sort of constant anxiety while being inside of that church. It had no 'divinity' to be overwhelmed by.
It is my personal point of view only, but a church or any other kind of temple, should give you the excitement and fear of something greater. As a 'non' believer' I find it hard to be surrounded by figures of holy people, to be trapped between all of the painting presenting scenes from the Bible.
I've been raised to put my trust in the catholic promises of heaven for the good ones, and hell- for the sinners.
So visiting the Nieuwe Kerk once again, to see the World Press Photo 2014 was even harder than my first time at that venue.
There HE is- the almighty God, and there he is- a young boy who just lost all of his family members. An american Sergeant, Robert Bales with cold blood murdered 16 innocent civilians. Just like that and without any particular reason. He hit a woman few time against the wall, he burned some of the bodies. Can you even imagine that? Being there, hidden, hearing shots and knowing that your family is gone, your mom will never smile at you the way she used to just moment before it all started. How could it be? How did we deserve this? It's not fair, but that's what they teach you at Sunday school- life is not fair, it's no paradise. What a convenient way to explain injustice.
I don't blame God as I don't believe in his existence. But all of you that do, tell me- what does it take to understand that we are the ones responsible for all of the good and bad around the world? You can pray, beg God on your knees, but I would just recommend standing up and taking your life in your own hands.
Also, I'm not asking for a proof of God's actions, no, I don't care for that.
Just think about the amount of innocent people suffering from all kinds of causes, all over the world.
You really want to tell me that if I put my trust in THE greater power one of the following will happen:
- my hopes/wishes/prayers will be granted;
- my hopes/wishes/prayers won't be granted but I will 'book' myself a ticket to heaven;
- I will suffer but thanks to the enlightenment and maturity which I've achieved due to being religious I will be able to understand and accept the way things are (and pray even more);
- I will achieve the inner 'peace'.
Nah, really?!
The more I learn the more I am convinced that we need God in case of events that can't be easily explained by science.
If someone dies, we say that he's in a better place now. If someone gets cured from a very serious disease- we call it a 'miracle'. When somewhere in U.S.A. an assassin enters a school and starts shooting children, we send our prayers to the families of the victims.
Seems to me like this 'God' takes a bit too much of credit for what's happening in our lives. Even creation of our world is somehow his work.
That concept just doesn't appear to me. But it has been indeed invented very clever. Not to be able to doubt that all of this couldn't simply be a creation of a human being, we came up with this 'God' concept who sent us Jesus Christ to be a human example for us. Again- I do believe that there was this person named Jesus, but he had no 'super powers', in my opinion.
For me, if there is an actual 'God' it is not a person for sure. It could be a huge power, a power that lead to that famous 'big bang' and created all that we know as the Universe.
Anyhow, the Nieuwe Kerk once again put me n the uncomfortable position of questioning all that I've learned and all I've been thought.
I stood there, surrounded by all of the holiness and I stared in the eyes of people, captured by camera's lenses, who experienced true tragedies and who will experience probably even more of them in their lives.
How long will we make God responsible for all of it, instead moving our own butts?
First time we went there with Mattia was to see the exhibition about the life of Francis Bacon.
It is my personal point of view only, but a church or any other kind of temple, should give you the excitement and fear of something greater. As a 'non' believer' I find it hard to be surrounded by figures of holy people, to be trapped between all of the painting presenting scenes from the Bible.
I've been raised to put my trust in the catholic promises of heaven for the good ones, and hell- for the sinners.
So visiting the Nieuwe Kerk once again, to see the World Press Photo 2014 was even harder than my first time at that venue.
There HE is- the almighty God, and there he is- a young boy who just lost all of his family members. An american Sergeant, Robert Bales with cold blood murdered 16 innocent civilians. Just like that and without any particular reason. He hit a woman few time against the wall, he burned some of the bodies. Can you even imagine that? Being there, hidden, hearing shots and knowing that your family is gone, your mom will never smile at you the way she used to just moment before it all started. How could it be? How did we deserve this? It's not fair, but that's what they teach you at Sunday school- life is not fair, it's no paradise. What a convenient way to explain injustice.
I don't blame God as I don't believe in his existence. But all of you that do, tell me- what does it take to understand that we are the ones responsible for all of the good and bad around the world? You can pray, beg God on your knees, but I would just recommend standing up and taking your life in your own hands.
Also, I'm not asking for a proof of God's actions, no, I don't care for that.
Just think about the amount of innocent people suffering from all kinds of causes, all over the world.
You really want to tell me that if I put my trust in THE greater power one of the following will happen:
- my hopes/wishes/prayers will be granted;
- my hopes/wishes/prayers won't be granted but I will 'book' myself a ticket to heaven;
- I will suffer but thanks to the enlightenment and maturity which I've achieved due to being religious I will be able to understand and accept the way things are (and pray even more);
- I will achieve the inner 'peace'.
Nah, really?!
The more I learn the more I am convinced that we need God in case of events that can't be easily explained by science.
If someone dies, we say that he's in a better place now. If someone gets cured from a very serious disease- we call it a 'miracle'. When somewhere in U.S.A. an assassin enters a school and starts shooting children, we send our prayers to the families of the victims.
Seems to me like this 'God' takes a bit too much of credit for what's happening in our lives. Even creation of our world is somehow his work.
That concept just doesn't appear to me. But it has been indeed invented very clever. Not to be able to doubt that all of this couldn't simply be a creation of a human being, we came up with this 'God' concept who sent us Jesus Christ to be a human example for us. Again- I do believe that there was this person named Jesus, but he had no 'super powers', in my opinion.
For me, if there is an actual 'God' it is not a person for sure. It could be a huge power, a power that lead to that famous 'big bang' and created all that we know as the Universe.
Anyhow, the Nieuwe Kerk once again put me n the uncomfortable position of questioning all that I've learned and all I've been thought.
I stood there, surrounded by all of the holiness and I stared in the eyes of people, captured by camera's lenses, who experienced true tragedies and who will experience probably even more of them in their lives.
How long will we make God responsible for all of it, instead moving our own butts?
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