This is repsonse to a diary entry Emily did as a response to my last entry:

I don't think I ever made the claim that bad things come from God. My point was that what is considered "bad" to the Shinto is not bad. There is no bad or good. The Shinto didn't blame a god or a demon for "bad" things, or thank them for "good" things, because they didn't believe in dieties the way we Westerners do. Their concept of something divine was Nature, in all its aspects, beautiful and deadly.

At the same time, I never said that I believed that, but I did agree with their ability to cope with those things that are way out of our control. We as a society get wrapped up in the "bad" and "good," and let them stop up our lives. Something "bad" (and I am using this form of "bad" to emphasize that it is something HUMANLY bad, not something Divinely bad) happens, and our path for life is changed, and we can't accept it. The Shinto stress that things happen in Nature, and Nature continues on, continues no matter what. This is a lesson to be learned.

Also, the Shinto WERE thankful for what they had. Christianity is not the first belief system to be thankful in any stretch of the imagination. The Shinto loved their lives and coexisted with Nature with a profound respect that no other society has had.

I believe in absolute Evil and I believe in absolute Good, but I do not believe that our everyday botherings, or even something like a Tsunami that destroys tens of thousands of people is bad, or a tornado, or a hurricane or any of it. That is Nature. In Nature, those things happen. Okay, I wanted to add something more to this entry. Let me clear something up that I think has become..unclear...as a result of my classes with Kristen. I am still a Christian, without exception. Not everything Kristen believes, I accept, and if there is something that i do accept, I use it as part of my beliefs in Christ. I never compromise those beliefs. We as Christians, American Christians especially, get focused on one thing and loose sight of something else. For instance, Conservative Republicans are against Abortions and Gay Marriage, but yet they remain silent on the Death Penalty and the Environment...how does that make sense? The idea behind listening to philosophies older than our western religion is that maybe there are some things they understood better than we do, and maybe those things are what we tend to overlook that are in the Bible. There seems to be a lot of things in the Bible American Christians overlook...why? Keeping your eyes open, but understanding what you believe, is the path to wisdom. One last thing, I don't want Emily or anyone else to think that I am arguing. I appreciate that Emily doesn't agree with me, and I am not asking her to. I am just writing, and I am glad that she wrote a response because that's what I wanted. I wanted feedback.

previous - next