Not with the flow- An interview with an INTP woman.

Part 12- Spirituality/religions.

Q: Do you believe in God?

A: I do yes.

Q: Are you part of a certain religion?

A: I'm part of a Faith. I'm a Christian.

Q: What's your opinion on organized religions?

A: First of all I think we need to make something clear. When we talk about organized religions we don't talk about the building of churches or temples. We talk about the 'systemization' of a faith and its change into something that resembles more of an organization/company than a faith. I think organized religions are one of the main causes of a faith's destruction and change for the worse. Organized religions take a pure faith/belief and turn it into a monetizing system that has nearly nothing to do with the purity and spiritual integrity of the faith. They also make decisions and change a faith's basic values and codes of conduct, based on their own profit. Even the people who are at the top of organized religions are usually hired for the 'job' without actually sticking to the faith they are supposed to serve.

They're there working as agents rather than leaders or bishops, etc...Hence why most religions today have become more of a political party than faiths. They care more about compromising with the social 'trends' than educating people on the faith's real values and matters, the way they are. Stroking people's ears and sugarcoating things just to make followers out of them, isn't going to grant any true believers, just some temporary, immature and opportunistic 'fans' who will abandon their beliefs once they have a hard time with them.

Q: It's not very usual for INTPs to be religious...or at least not in the conventional way.

A: I think the idea that INTPs or INTJs cannot believe in a faith or be spiritual, is more of a stereotype than a reality.

Sure INTPs and other types like us might not be fans of organized religions but faith and spirituality has nothing to do with organized religions...or organized anything. Faith and spirituality is a strictly personal and internal thing.

Q: What do you think are the main reasons why most people don't believe in a faith today?

A: Well one reason is the fact that most religions have become a bit too 'mainstream' today and just like I explained in the organized religions part, they compromise and 'conform' a lot to society's trends and ongoing stereotypes which makes them lose their originality and true spirituality. And let's not forget that for every main faith, there are nearly hundreds of several cults who use the faith's name to attract more people.

These cults work as a destructive mechanism for the faith and they only make things more confusing for those who are genuinely curious about spiritual matters. When people see that a faith is so confusing or that it has several types of 'truths' in it, they will naturally abandon their efforts out of frustration and doubt. Another reason is the fact that in many cases, mostly in the case of Christianity, the western world has created several types of 'Christianity' beliefs, each fitting an organization or a group of people's profits and desires.

Nearly 8 out of 10 Christian groups today do not follow the original values of Christianity as they were passed down since the time the New Testament was written. Hence why there are so many misconceptions and so much antagonism between religious groups.

And let's not ignore the amount of fanatical and superstitious 'Christian' families in the previous decades, who raised their kids in an environment of fear, judgment, condemnation and hypocrisy thus causing their kids to grow up hating anything faith related. There are of course also many people with a healthy skepticism in spiritual matters as well as those who are simply indifferent about them and there are also those who try to become part of a faith but view it as a means to their desires rather than a spiritual affair.

Many people become religious out of pure hypocrisy or a status quo and others become religious, hoping that God will act like a merchant to them and give them what they want as cheap as they can get it so when that doesn't happen they become frustrated and reach the conclusion that 'God is a myth'. There are people who are genuinely faithful and people who have simply some sort of pathological 'religiousness'.

Q: A lot of people seem to think that if God really existed, all this misery wouldn't occur today. What do you think of that?

A: I think that people don't really know what they want. According to my beliefs, God has given us free will for a reason. If people want to be truly free, without having God intervening in whatever they do, they must have the sense to take responsibility of their mistakes and the consequences of their actions. If people want God to intervene all the time and 'save the day', that means that they don't really want to be free. Which means that God will also not allow them to commit crimes, nasty things or anything that isn't according to His plans. We can't accuse God for all the wrongs that happen in our lives based on our mistakes and that is general too. We can't accuse God for the crimes that the governments and the people that we voted for, have done and caused to the world.

Wars, drugs, poverty and violence exist and occur because people have caused it. We cause it in a personal level and then we cause it in a global level because of the people we support to be in power. Drugs were created by humans, not by God. Child abuse is done by humans, not by God. Animals are going extinct and the planet is being destroyed because of humans, not because of God. And if you ask me, I'm telling you that God does intervene.

If he didn't intervene at all, this world would have ended centuries ago. People just don't see that because they're too busy doing dumb things and then accusing anyone and anything else except for themselves.

Q: That's an interesting view on this matter. Do you believe in proselytizing?

A: No. I don't agree with any form of proselytizing, peaceful or violent one.

Q: Would you call yourself spiritual?

A: I don't know, I can't answer that. I try to be as much of a Christian as I can (it's proved to be quite of a task) but I don't know if I could call myself spiritual.

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Skyywalls ♥♥