1 A view of right and wrong---reply (this isn't really about abortion)
Religious
Rating: PG-13
Quality: (Quality: Unrated)
Hi. I read your forward on truth. First of all I want to thank you for staying open-minded unlike many of the people who wrote things in that section. I have been having trouble with the same question that you have, and I hope you don't mind if I try to sort out what I believe in this e-mail to you.
I'm 15 years old and in my church, (Unitarian Universalist), I'm taking a program which is all about finding my truth and figuring out what I believe. I always have this argument with myself: How can anyone believe something and feel that it is right or the one truth when there are 6 billion other people out there all thinking the same thing to themselves but possibly all having different beliefs? Say I go through my life and contemplate truth and meaning, and right before I die, I decide that there is no God or heaven and that when I die, that is the end. (This is not necessarily what I believe.) But say another person goes through their life and thinks aobut truth and meaning, and right before they die, they decide that there is a God and Jesus is the savior and they will go to heaven or hell. How can I say that my truth is right while completely ignoring the other person's point of view? How can I assume that mine is the real truth? What makes me special enough to know the real truth? Yet, almost everybody thinks this. If there is one real truth like you suggested, who is good enough to know it when others don't? Is it possible for there to be many truths?--Not just about God, but about everything? I think I will think about that my whole life. I still have many years to figure it out.
You mentioned Osama Bin Laden and the memorial for him. I feel that what he did is wrong too. But, although I know you hate this phrase, that is just my opinion. I wonder why you suggest us putting up a memorial for him. Declaring that I respect others' opinions doesn't mean that I agree with them. You said that Bin Laden is evil by reasoning that I can understand. However, you failed to look at the other side. We have killed more civilians: mothers; fathers; children in Iraq than the suicide bombers killed on September 11th. George Bush is the person behind this just as Bin Laden was behind the September 11th attacks. They both had reasons for what they did. If Bin Laden if "evil" by what he did, then by your standards, so must Bush. A possible counterargument to this is that Bush is defending our country, and defense is civil. But, quoting my english teacher (Mr. Nurenberg), "You don't kill terrorism with terror." I digress. . .
I feel that everyone's opinion is valid, no matter how extreme. That doesn't mean that I agree with them, or in many cases can even relate at all to them. Still, you wonder if there is one truth that God lays out for us. But how can this be if there are people who do not believe in God at all? Can you really say that they are simply mistaken and go on knowing that you are right? I can assure you that there is someone out there doing the exact same thing and blowing off your beliefs. I respect you for being open-minded about what you talked about. I only wish that everyone could realize that there is another side to everything. When will we stop seeing in black and white and notice the whole rainbow?
I would love to hear if you have a reply. Thanks so much for listening to me rant. It really helped my figure out what I believe right now.
Submitted by Hershey_kiss1018@yahoo.com 66
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