What's the real deal here?

Something to chew on: (excerpts from a discussion thread and some of my own thoughts)

'Religion' divides, faith and principles unite.
'Religion' is man-created rules, regulation and practices. Faith is God's principles.
The most important thing is our personal relationship with the God we choose. What does it matter what the world says about what we believe, if we ourselves know what we believe?

As with most religions and their scriptures, followers believe with all their hearts that it is perfect, the word of God him/herself, be it the Bible, the Quran, the Gita, etc. It may or may not be but it really doesn't matter cause the one who is exposed to it is the one using his mind to interpret, understand, form conclusions and act from it. Now if this person is rooted in love, then the interpretation takes on the dimensions of love, on the other hand if the person is rooted in violence and anger, then the interpretations can take on violent mediums. A good example is some individuals have used religion to learn to love, bring out the best in themselves while others have used it to wage war, genocide and murder the innocents. Yet again we see the equation constant of religion remains the same, but the flawed variable seems to be the individual and what he or she is rooted in.

Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha etc were known as 'madmen' or ostracized, rejected individuals of their times. Yet those who were more 'evolved' saw in them a deeper truth, a larger reflection of themselves and sought their wisdom and insight. These followers are left with second hand experiences, memories, wisdoms stored in their minds. They go on to record them, interpret them and in the excitement of a kid finding his toy, spread them. As down goes this fragmented knowledge down the ears and minds of the masses of course much of it romanticized and altered to suit individual mental absorption as many of us know, the mind is not capable of conceiving more than just utility theories and analysis, rules and regulations - and not the actual learning of things like love, awareness, insight, intuition etc. Its like the telephone game, where the final message comes out differently to different people from the original message.

So beyond scripture and tradition, we need a real experience of God in our lives.

The Constitution is made by men and very much subjected to flaws, inconsistencies and change which is why the laws of the land should be secular in nature; subject to change. But the ability to affect that change on laws or the constitution is not the measure of freedom. Freedom is the ability to choose, no matter what the consequences. And to live with the consequences of your choice, whatever they may be. Lina Joy has made her choice, and lives with the consequences. I admire her courage and strength for taking a stand for her faith. But what does the court ruling change? At the curtain call, there will be no High Court, no Syariah Law, no Article 11 etc. Only her and her faith.

Religion or rather faith, is a personal thing and should not encroach into the governance of people and how they interact with each other. God intends to only judge mankind on His Judgment Day, so why should man judge others for God's Laws? What may seem like a tussle of religions and faith is merely politics at its finest/worst. And pity on us who fall prey to it. I would rather fight for the removal of race, religion and creed from my Malaysian identity then bicker over state-sanctioned conversion of faith.

On a lighter note: