Sometimes, I think that attending a private college and following a faith are very similar. Both take up a lot of time and dollars, you can be as involved in activities as you want to, and bureaucracy abounds throughout.
You also have to invest in what you're taking part in. The investment is beyond the monetary, but rationalizes that. I'm talking about the investment of your braincells, your thoughts, and your values. By attending school, I have to convince myself that private is better than public, studying journalism has value, and education is truly priceless so 50 thou a year is actually a bargain. By attending services, I have to believe that there is value there too, whether it's community, peace of mind, or divine intervention to glorify my life. That last bit is a stretch (as is journalism's potent value :-).
Anyway, the study of things and the religion side of me came smashing into each other today when I helped out a friend by attending a lunch-and-learn discussion on Ezekiel Chapter 9. I felt like I was attending something on True Life: I'm a Bible Belter.
As we went through an awesome discussion about a prophet having a dream about a city and a people being destroyed by 6 angels and the symbolism of all of it, I thought about why studying bible is so interesting. You could approach it from a purely literary perspective, but you'd lose so much of the faith-based interpretative meaning, the spirit of it. You could also approach it with complete faith and no questions, and then you'd lose the literary richness of it.
I'm anti-academia and I'm anti-fanaticism. So, as I posted way way way long ago, I think it's all about staying balanced, normal, and understanding of the happy medium. Making no grave judgment calls and trying to draw the best from the text, while keeping doubt and questions central to your reading.
Deep conclusions like this make a work day feel extra-productive.
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