I suspect we all have dreams of grander, especially if we have a chance to read, biographies of successful people or of great people in history. I guess the genesis of this idea was inspired by some Facebook entries that accused religious people of being judgmental because they don’t agree with marriage being outside the union of a man and woman. They accuse religious people as being self-righteous and not seeing our own faults.
I invite people who feel this way to consider this explanation. Religious people acknowledge to themselves the need for self-improvement. In an effort to improve, I see that there are certain areas that we cannot control, and there are other areas more within our power to influence. For example, I have a devil of a time with a bad habit. Sometimes I bite my nails and sometimes I don’t. My human frailties and lack of willpower illustrate that this is still a problem. This is an area I have difficulty controlling. Getting up in the morning and going to work is something that is easier for me to control. It’s manageable.
Religious people can get just as discouraged about not accomplishing a goal as nonreligious people. in fact it can contribute to depression when we don’t achieve certain things. Since there are certain goals that religious people feel are God’s commandments, it merely emphasizes the degree of urgency to reach a goal.
I’ve heard that Utah is one of the highest states using anti-depressants. Many people believe a key contributor is because as religious people we get discouraged because we are not the type of people we are striving to be. We see our shortcomings when we want to be better than we are. Religious people are trying to be better people. We do this by avoiding things that can hinder our progress, which includes maintaining a home environment that can promote a positive relationship with God. We try to live his commandments and try to overcome our short comings.
Non-religious people also try to be good people. I think most of us, with or without religion are trying to do the best we can. Some of us have a belief that God is an additional motivator behind our actions. Non-religious people find other motivations. Many good people of the world, who don’t have religion, are known to be the type who would give the coat off their back to help someone.
That’s cool.
In our efforts to constantly improve, religious people endeavor to keep our foundation strong. We seek to build our homes on the stones of The Commandments, seeking out God’s word, and working on overcoming our private sins. Since the creation, God had illustrated the importance of the relationships between a married man and woman. Each gender has character traits that make them a good parent in raising children. Even before reading studies how children raised under a nuclear family are usually less inclined to pursue crime; religious people see the family unit as being essential in raising children to have a good relationships with God.
People complain about the degrading of society today. There is an increase of crime and apathy toward life. Mass murderers are motivated to kill defenseless children. Citizens are perfectly willing to continually vote for politicians who are power hungry and who pursue their own agenda over the desired of the people. An example of this is pushing through laws against the will of the people to fulfill political agendas.
With so much corruption and loss of morals, it makes it all the more important to try to maintain an environment in the home where both genders can use their positive attributes to raise their children to be the most capable possible. That means that parents (male and female) see the value of their roles as parents and coupled with the laws of God, they disagree with same sex marriage.
Some parents have no choice but to raise a family solo. I was reared in a single parent home.
Religious people want to maintain a course of action of raising a family that has showed positive results for centuries. A commandment demands obedience. They are not just a list of ‘good suggestions’.
When it comes to a perceived attitude of self-righteous, check out a church and you will likely see a lot of people struggling with personal challenges but who are working on making themselves better. In Sunday school, I will hear numerous hints of people acknowledging their shortcomings, and their efforts to keep trying to improve. At various stages of our lives we see that church is for the sinner. In our efforts to improve, we desire to associate with people who share a similar goal. We go to church to hear suggestions for improvement and the read the scriptures and to review the principals of God to see how those list of instructions can help them achieve their desires.
Just some of my thoughts on the matter.
A friend told me that this blog entry is a bit incoherent and suggested that I revise and organize my thoughts and try again. I have done so and the next blog under Teaching Embellishments is such an effort. It is titled:
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/06/30/motivations-of-some-religious-citizens/
Thanks