The Unknown Known | Teen Ink

The Unknown Known

December 12, 2015
By Anonymous

The concept that almost all of us humans have that we won’t find the answer for until we reach the end of our journey...religion. Is putting our faith into something that we don’t know is real or not, worth it? Many religious people devote to themselves a time of prayer in their daily lives. Indeed, we were given sacred texts and historical monuments to remind us that there were supposedly real spiritual figures that existed years ago. However, from generation to generation, humans alter many concepts based on their morals and what they believe is truly correct. This makes many of these sacred texts questionably unreliable, but it is “better safe, than sorry”. We have all gone on our lives, experiencing spiritual moments or not. If we are able to understand other people’s views, maybe we will get closer to the answer to religion.

Hey dad, is it okay if I ask you some questions about your religion? I chose to interview you because you seem to be the most religious person in the household. 
Sure.
Alright, first question. What is your religion and explain why it is.
I am a Christian. When I was born in the Philippines, my mother had raised me into this religion. Therefore, I grew up only believing that there is only one God, and Jesus of course.

How do you use your religion in your daily life?
Well, in the morning, I pray to God for allowing me to live another day. Then, as the day goes on, I think about God in the back of my head so I know that I am safe. At night, I then pray again for living another day and having a family under a house.
Why do you believe in God?
Going back to what I said before, I was raised to think that God and Jesus are real so that is why I’ve come to believe in him ever since.
I feel surprised that you are comfortable with agreeing to believe in God so easily. How do you know that God is real?
In my opinion, some of us really don’t know if God is real, so it is better to be safe than sorry. There is really no way to prove if he is real unless we die and come back to life. However, this hasn’t been able to be accomplished yet through science, complete revival from a dead human. Sometimes, people’s experiences aren’t reliable, because they probably do it for attention.
I agree. Sometimes people do tell their stories but I find them unreliable. Alright, next question. How have your beliefs changed over time?
My beliefs haven’t changed over time because there is really no reason for it to change. Nothing really tragic has happened in my life so I don’t have a good reason to doubt God and his reasons for things that happen on Earth.
Wow, I’m surprised that they haven’t changed because I have always had doubts at certain points in my life about religion. Has there been a moment where you have felt close to God? How do you feel about it?
There really hasn’t been a moment where I have felt close to God. I feel indifferent towards this because I know that when my death comes, God will call me up and I will be ever close to him. Also, my faith hasn’t been the greatest and I have done some bad things so God may be somewhat resentful of me right now.

What are three important beliefs you have?
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Don’t lie.
Love everyone.

Amongst the big world that we humans live in, there is much we don’t know about the world and each other. This helps develop the essence of life, allowing to discover unimagined things that will come to us, either big or small. Want to know more about someone? How about choosing someone close to you like a family member and ask them a couple questions about a topic. With the interviewee, who is my father, 44, works as a nurse, and is Filipino I am able to see from a different perspective of the views of Christianity in my family. When being with others, it is important to understand their perspectives on things so that you  will come to a more understanding with each other. With my father, I now I understand where his beliefs lie and originate. Being raised in the Philippines, we were raised to become Christians and have a very  strong belief in it. Growing up as a child, my father told me that he would always go to church with his parents and volunteer his time to do services for others and for the church. Today, he always goes to church on Sunday and sometimes does volunteer work once in awhile to help those that are in need. 


The author's comments:

I hope that people get to understand other people's views in a more significant manner so that everyone can know each other a little better. 


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