I believe that people should do what they think is right, and, adjacent to that belief, I believe that they should also not do what they believe is wrong. Case in point: There's nothing wrong with eating pork. It's not against the Word of Wisdom. It's not a sin. Apart from the moral concerns a person may have about eating meat in general, there's nothing especially bad about eating pork, specifically.
Yet, for some people, there is. For Jews and Muslims, it is (if I'm not mistaken) morally wrong to eat pork, and I believe that, yes, it would be morally wrong for them to eat pork, even if it's not morally wrong for me to. We all have to live by the light that we have, and if the light that you follow tells you not to eat pork, then you shouldn't do it.
Of course, one might argue that some lights are better than others, that we should follow this light instead of that one, and that there is one light that is better than all others, perhaps even perfect. Perhaps, ideally, we should all follow that best light instead of any other, and we should all abide by its rules instead of any others, but we don't live in an ideal world. We live in a real world. And in this world, people have different lights, and it's difficult to judge which light is best, especially since just about everyone seems to believe that the light they follow is the best. Given that there's no clear consensus on which light is best, we all just have to do the best we can with however much light we have. And if the best light you have tells you to obey rules that other lights tell you not to worry about, go with the best light you have.
So, it might be okay for me to eat pork and other meat, and it might be okay for me to not fast during Ramadan and never visit Mecca or observe the Passover, and it's certainly okay for me to celebrate holidays and birthdays, but if your religion has different rules about such things, I think you should follow them. If you're a Christian, be the best Christian you can be. If you're a Muslim, be the best Muslim you can be. Same with Jews and Hindus and Taoists and all other religions. I think that people should follow whatever light they have as closely as they can, even when that means refraining from things that aren't actually sinful.
2 comments:
"things that aren't actually sinful" according to my beliefs
Yes, I believe each person should live the light they have. I do not believe that people should be forever bound to the light they inherited from their parents, nor should they discount it out of hand. We should study, test, and consider the light and its source. In my case that includes praying about it. We can and should share our light and learn about others. We should follow our light as faithfully as possible and respect and support the right of others to follow theirs.
Good point. And you're right; we each should seek to gain more and better light.
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