The Missed Point of Faith

After thousands — even tens of thousands — of years of practice, the faithful have always somehow missed the ultimate point of faith.

The point of religion and faith isn’t to spend a lifetime groveling before god, begging it to make your life better, or nagging it to intervene in affairs you ought to be handling yourself.

The point of faith isn’t — or shouldn’t be — to infantalize the faithful for their entire lives.

And what’s so maddening and unbelievable is that the faithful come so very close to understanding the purpose of their faith in virtually every expression of it — without ever actually achieving that understanding — by worshiping and extolling the virtues of their “father in heaven”.

But what is the greatest hope, the greatest achievement, of a good father? To raise children who rely on him all their lives? To never know a life of his own without his children begging for help and for him to fix the problems they’ve created for themselves?

No.

The greatest hope and achievement of a good father is to raise children who learn not to need him. Who can face the world and its challenges with confidence, intelligence, and resourcefulness that doesn’t rely upon rescue.

The point of faith is to grow beyond the need for it.

Unfortunately, religion — like any other addiction or affliction — is far less profitable once it has been cured.

So the practice of the underfathers of faith is not to create whole, healthy, independent people, but helpless, hopeless, and dependent ones.

It’s a point conveniently and artfully dodged by those leaders of faith, and somehow missed by its adherents for far too long.