Is This Crazy Insane or What?
It’s Spirituality Thursday and you know what that means boys and girls. We’re going to get a little edgy. We’re gonna talk some crazy insane, newfangled, funky, offbeat concepts designed to rock your world and push you right out of your comfort zone.
Of course, I’m being facetious here… (of course!) Even still, every time I push the envelope, especially in this area of spirituality and religion, I can expect 5-10% of my readers to race for the unsubscribe button.
I’ll admit, I’m like a three-year-old trapped in a 55-year-old body. (Maggie and the girls will certainly attest to that.) When I see something that I don’t understand – and let’s face it folks, there’s a TON of crazy insane stuff going on in our world today – I revert to my three-year-old-like habit of asking incessantly, “WHY?”
I’ve been doing this all my life… quite literally from the time I could talk. I’ve made a few steadfast friends who took the time to satisfy my unending queries. However, I’ve probably burned far more bridges with people as I pushed and probed for truth. In a previous Spirituality Thursday article, I mentioned how I wore down my parish priests, plying them with unending questions about religion and spirituality.
I was just trying to make sense out of the crazy insane things I had heard either in a sermon or in Sunday school. “WHY?” I kept asking.
I’m sure the priests would have rather had me just be a good little sheep and blend quietly back in the flock. “Just take it on FAITH, my son!” they would try to brush me off.
Seems the more I asked “WHY?”, the more the authorities receded. My built in B.S. detector suspected they were holding something back… or <gasp> they didn’t KNOW the answer themselves and were just masquerading as truth peddlers. I intensified my resolve to know. Soon, both of us began thinking the other was crazy insane!
Don’t Take My Word for It
Funny, up until the time I was 15 I wanted to be a priest. I guess that’s why I still tend to get a little preachy. 
However, I don’t want you to accept anything that I say as absolute truth. What I’ve come to understand and believe simply helps me to make sense out of my own sometimes seemingly crazy insane universe. I am not here to convert anyone. And I’m certainly in no position to judge anyone else’s beliefs for that matter, either.
My only intention is to encourage you to think for yourself by questioning every belief you have with a simple, “WHY?” Allow me to continue with my own experience so you can see how my crazy insane mind works.
WHY Don’t I Go To Church?
“Oh, see there… NOW you’ve done it Russy! You’re gonna have people unsubscribing faster than Moses’ people fleeing old Pharaoh.”
Follow me now… seriously! Ask yourself similarly tough questions and you will come up with some pretty amazing answers. Trust me, the truth will set you free, just like it says in the Bible!
“Why do I have to go to church?” I’d ask my parents, priests and nuns.
The first answer usually proffered was, “So you can be closer to God.”
Well, THAT couldn’t be it. In Sunday school, we were taught that God was Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. They even taught us little kids what those big words meant – God was all knowing, all powerful and EVERYWHERE all at the same time. I GOT that part!
“So if THIS is true, WHY do I have to go to church? And don’t give me any of that ‘closer to God’ stuff. We are ONE – can’t get any closer than that! So what’s it gonna be, huh?”
I tell you, I was RELENTLESS!
Keep Your Eyes On the Prize!
The next answer given was usually, “So you can be more FOCUSED on God.”
Sorry, but that couldn’t possibly be it either. Look at any kid and most adults in church; they are anything BUT more focused on God.
WHY?
Because it’s ssssoooo bbbooorrriiinnnggg! Yeah, I said it - so boring!
For a while, my parents would pre-scout the church bulletin to see which priest was saying a particular Mass – so they could AVOID the old, slow one who droned on and on. However, our church caught on to this and stopped publishing the line up. Like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never knew WHAT you were going to get until the opening hymn. By then it was too late, Baby!
So we fidgeted and whispered about what the fat lady up in front was wearing. We complained that the guy in the back sang way too loud and off key. Like numb, mindless droids we stood up. We kneeled. We sat down. We stood up again. We went to communion. We went back to our seats. Kneeled down. Stood up. Is this crazy insane, or what?
Finally – FINALLY – when the priest said, “Mass is ended, go in P..” well, we had already blown out the back door, honking and cussing at everyone in our path. All the way home in the car, our discussion was about how long and boring the Mass was; what the fat lady up in front was wearing; how that guy in the back sang way too loud and off key.
Oh, yeah, we were more FOCUSED on God!
You know what’s really crazy insane though? I did this again and again, week after week, year after year, never intentionally missing a Mass until the time I moved out of my parent’s house. I didn’t dare to (see below). But first…
Closely related to the ‘focus’ answer was, “So you can pray TO God!”
Well, we already covered this one. Since the nuns in Sunday school taught that we are ONE with God, didn’t that mean He is within us? “Through Him, with Him, in Him…” as the church prayer goes. And, let me see, something about Moses and that First Commandment again, “I am the Lord thy God; though shalt not have false Gods before me.”
I thought, “If God is already IN me, then who is this other God I’m supposed to be praying TO? If it’s OUTSIDE of myself, isn’t THAT a false god? What’s it gonna be, huh?”
The Crazy Insane Ultimatum to End All Ultimatums
That’s when the authorities – priests, nuns and even my own parents – brought out the HEAVY artillery.
“WHY do I need to go to church?” I persisted.
They delivered the ultimatum to end all ultimatums, “Because if you DON’T go to church, when you die you will go to hell!”
When the carrot doesn’t work, break out the big stick!
Good old fear and guilt kept me quiet and complacent – well, at least to all outward appearances. However, I NEVER stopped wondering; searching; asking myself “WHY?” (if you haven’t watched and listened to the video above, go back and check it out… it’s important that you understand fear and guilt if you seek truth and freedom)
to be continued…
Next week on Spirituality Thursday:
Seek and Ye Shall Find – The Truth Will Set You Free!
