With school in session, it’s too hard to post every night so I’ve decided to post weekly instead of trying to post daily.  As soon as it becomes a Have-To instead of a Get-To, then the fun has been sucked out of it.  I’m enjoying my Blog and don’t want the fun sucked out! 

My random thoughts over the past week have been on running and religion – kind of strange, I know.

Running

Maybe some of you are interested in how I am doing on my 8-week running training program.  Well, I finished Week One this weekend (run for 30 min total, but alternate 1 min of running with 2 min of walking along with 3 min of walking warm-up and cool down for a total of 36 minutes). I was supposed to do this every other day alternating with 30 minutes of just walking.  Not too bad, right?  Well, I don’t feel that I did well enough to graduate to Week Two (similar to above except it’s 2 min of running with 1 min of walking) so I’m repeating Week One this week.

The one thing that I’ve noticed is that my knees are beginning to feel it a bit 😦 .  I have found some stretches that are supposed to prevent knee pain and I will be adding those to my routine.  I hate to think that my running goal is already in jeopardy after a week and a half!!  Man, I’m old and out of shape!

Religion

Um, this seems like a heady topic to take on and I’ve never meant for this blog to be controversial in any way, but I must bring this up because I can’t stop thinking about it due to the Gay Marriage and Ground Zero controversies in the news.  I usually avoid the topic of religion because it evokes strong emotions, is very personal and no one budges an inch (it seems) after a discussion. 

Growing up we were mostly Easter & Christmas Christians and thus, religion was not prominent in our household.  At some point in my parents’ lives after my sister and I left the fold, their faith has deepened and is very important to them.  I’ve seen how their faith has comforted them through the trials of life and I can respect the peace it gives them.  However, I have to say that much to my parents’ dismay, I’m still a raging agnostic.  I’ve always been a somewhat of an empiricist and skeptic and of course, the existence of God can neither be proven or disproven, so therein lies the conundrum for me. 

Going to church does make me feel like a fraud once a week, but it’s one of those things I do for my kids.  What I mean by that is in making the decision to attend church, my husband and I had committed to go “all in” and not be the C & E Christians.  We both think that it’s good to expose them to religion and let them ultimately make their own choices.  I’ve been completely honest with all three of my children about where I stand on the topic and with the fact that they will have to come to their own conclusions about faith and religion.  Like I said earlier, it’s a personal choice so I (or anyone else) can’t make that decision for them.

I was having a discussion with someone over the weekend and religion popped up as one of the topics.

Statement made by companion:  “The Qur’an is an inherently mean-spirited, hateful book”.

I asked this person if he/she had ever read it and the answer was “no”.  So, how can that comment even be made?  That’s how hate speech and rumors are spread (on any topic).  I couldn’t offer an informed rebuttal because I haven’t read the text either.  I’m sure some state out of ignorance that the Bible is an angry book after hearing Old Testament stories (it seems God was a bit angry in the Old Testament – do it my way or I’m going to drown everyone on the planet (except Noah)!).  The point I made is that any religious text (Bible, Qur’an, etc.) can be perverted by the zealous and turned into something hateful and angry.  Our World’s History is rife with unspeakable actions done in the name of religion (pick any religion).

So in an effort to be more informed, I have ordered my very own copy of the Qur’an from Amazon.com – it’s 1300 pages long!  It’s annotated and provides historical references, so maybe I will actually learn something.  It will definitely not be an easy read.

Statement made by companion:  “God has a special place in his heart for the Jewish people”.

This was in response to one of my hang-ups about Christianity.  I had asked my companion, “Do you really think that my Jewish BFF is going to Hell?  Because I can’t accept that.”  Okay, so God really likes the Jewish people, but not enough to let them into Heaven.  Hmmmm…  Since Abraham is the father of many religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – doesn’t that mean that God in all three of the religions is the same entity?  If so, are there separate Heavens for each one?  You know, Separate but Equal, like segregation?  Does God give a knowing wink at the Christians as he tells the others that he likes them best?   This may sound irreverent, but that is one of the many, many issues I have. 

 Statement by me:  “If you believe in Heaven, you have to believe in Hell.  The Yin and Yang of life so-to-speak.  Do you believe in Satan?”

My companion answered in the affirmative.  I personally don’t think that there is an evil entity walking around whispering in people’s ears to commit evil acts.  I think that people are capable of evil acts and it’s by choice.  So, now I have to consider the fact that if I don’t believe in Hell, can I still believe in Heaven?  Hmm….I guess I won’t really find out real deal until I leave this earth.

I have other dilemmas/questions about religion in general and Christianity specifically, but it would make this post TOO long.  Sorry for the randomness of this post, but these were the things swirling around in my brain this past week.