The “G” word. What do YOU believe?

Friday, 02 September 2011 9:25am

Principia owner Vern Jones’ excellent new book titled The Non Religious Christian - Finding Faith Outside the Church is due to be released in a couple weeks (reserve your autographed copy now). Vern is fond of saying that people need to find a faith that they can own—rather than relying on the religion of their upbringing.

Now in the middle of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan along a busy highway is a new billboard that says: “You don't need God—to hope, to care, to love, to live” placed there by The Center for Inquiry, an atheist organization.

While Vern was raised in a conservative Baptist household that force fed him a dogmatic religion, I grew up in a Presbyterian family that provided myself and my siblings with the basic Christian message but then emphasized that we each determine our own beliefs.

The point is that every great belief system stresses love in its message (which is exactly the message the great religious figures from Jesus to Mohammed to Gandhi taught). It is us humans who have messed up religion by placing our own set of rules and beliefs on top of the fundamental message of love.

Often in design we stress the famous Mies van der Rohe’s quote, “less is more.” Meaning when things seem way too complicated it is best to strip everything away but the basic message, and get rid of all the complicating junk.

It is also good to ask the question: Does anyone living on earth today really have the true answers to the nature of a higher power or even if a higher power actually exists? What we really need to do is to open our minds and take some sort of leap of faith. Whatever comes out the other side of that self-examination becomes a faith that we ourselves own. Some of us may find that faith to involve the Christian God, others may find our way to other world religions or even our way to no faith in any sort of higher power. All that is okay. The point is that we, ourselves, determine our own faith. It doesn’t come because some evangelist got you to take an alter call, or somebody shamed you into believing something or that others you know talked you into following them to their faith.

In Vern’s case, after years of exhausted biblical study, he eventually found a faith that was totally different from that of his parents. His book helps readers to dare to let go of their past beliefs in order to find a faith that they themselves can own. It is not written by a biblical scholar or a theologian (what exactly do they know for sure?), but instead by a man of science who applied scientific research to the matter of faith and who emerged on the other side with a faith owned by nobody but himself. It is an empowering read because rather then advocate a specific set of beliefs, it stresses that everyone look into their own heart and mind in order to find what they themselves believe.

The Principia community exists to foster open dialogue and discussion. All books published by Principia reflect our six principles for living a meaningful life (passion, relationships, faith, security, wellness and giving). If you are wanting to share something with the Principia community feel free to comment on any of our blogs or submit a guest blog for us to publish. For those who are interested in exploring the publication of a book, click on the “Let’s Talk About Your Book” button on our homepage. I promise it is not a sales pitch but instead a chance to speak with myself or another publishing professional about your book project and what steps you can take to make publishing your book a reality.

Dirk Wierenga, Director of Publishing Services
 

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