Religious Life

Religious life is the book Ygo August Donia wrote in 2010. It was a work written mainly by his father August Magnus Donia but Donia the Elder could never finish it because of his unexpected illness and premature passing. Therefore Donia the Younger has finished the book, which is to be published somewhere in mid-November 2010. The book will deal wife the religious beliefs of the author(s), his search for the “absolute truth”, which, as he concludes, does not even exist, and with the importance of religion in our everyday lifes.

Finding the truth
I am always in search of the truth, but what is the truth? Is it something that can be measured, something that can be seen, or touched? Does the truth exist at all or is it just an empty word made up by people who have no clue what is true and what is not, this is the question we much ask ourselves.

Life starts for someone the moment he or she is born into this world. We, the children of mankind, are born with a conscience and with a mind and opinion of our own, which develops over time. We have the ability to think and we have the ability to learn and to evolve. We can be taught to believe blindly in what we are told. At home our parents may teach us to pray and read either the Bible, the Quran, the Talmud or perhaps even the Origin of Species or Mao's little red book Mao's little red book. One can be raised and educated by either religious parents or atheist parents. One could be taught at school about the theory of creationism and at the same time could be taught the basic principles of the evolution theory. We get access to tons of information and we choose for ourselves what to believe in. We may keep our personal beliefs to ourselves but in essence, our minds belong only to ourselves. All of us are able to belief in God, and also to abandon our faith at any time. We can choose to belief something just as easy as we can choose not too.

Both a scientist and a priest believe in things they have been told. The same can be said for an atheist and a devout Christian. Because proof is always lacking. A teacher could teach his pupils about the big bang theory, and he will tell them his words are words of truth and wisdom. But can he proof his theory, a theory that has been invented and made up by other as a “plausible theory”, and nothing more? No, he cannot proof it. After all he was not there when the earth was created and neither where those who came up with the theory in the first place. Then a religious teacher could teach his pupils the earth was created by God, in six days and that He took a rest the seventh day. The pupils will most likely believe what they have been told, after all their teacher is a man of wisdom, a learned man and he took his knowledge from the Bible. And whatever the bible says is instantly the truth, of course. Or is it?

The truth is: we do not know. We are unknowing creatures, us people. We think so much and we will start to doubt everything at some point. There are no certainties for us if we keep challenging the given certainties. Religion and science are both based for a large part if not the biggest part, on speculation. How did the dinosaurs die out? How did animals “evolve” (if they ever did), and why are we, humans, on earth? Are there facts, are there any certainties at all? There are only two certainties: we are born into this world one day and we die another. We enter, and we leave. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return. Other then that, what do we know for sure?

I believe God made us. I believe God created man after His image. Mind you, these are MY beliefs, and yours could differ greatly from mine, which I respect. Darwin claims we are all the descendents from apes. And it is true, in a way, that we, or some of us, do act like we’re animals from time to time and commit beastly acts. This can be seen if we read the bible; both the Old and the New Testament describe bad people and good people and several groups of people stand in sharp contrast to each other. This is meant to show the read what is good and what is bad. It is meant to teach the reader moral values. Over time, these change. What would have been considered normal 2,000 years ago would not necessarily be considered normal today. Many passages of the bible are awfully outdated but that doesn’t mean we should simply dismiss the bible and its teachings altogether. Who knows what we will find out over the cause of the centuries to come? Who knows what we will discover, what we will learn? In two hundred years virtually all people may be rolling over the floor with laughter when they read about a big bang theory or the evolution theory; as many people today are.

Each and everyone of us has his or her own truth, and there is no such thing as an universal truth. We can be completely sure of something and then suddenly one question, one word, one sentence could cause you to doubt your beliefs. You could believe firmly, even fanatically in something and a sudden and unexpected remark of someone or a book you’ve read could rock your world and make you doubt everything you seemed to “know for sure”.