Sehnsucht
I've wrestled many times with my faith this semester, especially in light of all these theories that seem to go against the Christian religion. Theories in my communication major definitely don't help either. I learn from Foucault that humans are just docile bodies with no agency and are disciplined by society through institutions to fit into the heteronormative. I find that religion is just another man made construction and like humans can be very flawed. I see that in my very own religion, that it is affected by secular society when it ought not to be. All these things are frustrating to me. It becomes hard not to analyze and critique sermons as I listen to the discourse within them that reinforce heternormativity, gender roles, and performativity.
However, I found great hope in two things: That many philosophers and comm professors are Christian, therefore, they know something that I have not learned yet. So I will just be patient and continue to think and read to learn more. My other hope is in the fact that I find that no one can explain sehnsucht. I've gone over philosophy after philosophy with a non-Christian friend; he showed that, as humans, we really know nothing and that most everything is not inherent but a man made construction. He also showed that everything is meaningless. Which is true, very true. In fact King Solomon writes about that very thing in Ecclesiastes. Yes, everything is meaningless in a world with out God -- there is not point to living with out God in the equation. I instantly felt bad for all who did not know God. So while what my friend said made rational sense, he still could not answer why EVERY human being has an inherent longing for something greater -- why it is that everyone searches for a purpose. Interestingly, one has no purpose in life if one does not know God. The point is that he could not answer the question as to why it is that everyone has this longing and that this longing is unique to humans only. That is my second hope, knowing that while my doctrine may be under a microscope at the moment and my religious institution may be in question, I can still know that there is a God. I know because this longing in me is all the proof I need of God's existence.
No comments:
Post a Comment