Questions from a child - Part 1

"What do YOU think happens when we die?" inquired the child.
"They've taught us at sunday school" he continued "that when we die, our souls depart from our body and go to heaven"..
"What do you think?" replied the older man seated next to him.
"Well" began the boy, "I'd like to think that's true. Teacher tells me heaven is a nice place filled with all the people who have been nice here on earth"
"Nice on earth?" questioned the older gentleman suddenly intrigued.
"Yes" said the boy after much thought. "If we're nice, we're sent to heaven"
"Did she tell you what heaven is like?"
"Yes" said the boy. "She said heaven was filled with wonderful things and is a place that fulfills your every want by you just thinking it"
The old man pondered over this information for a minute. "What happens if you're bad then?"
"Well, I guess you'd then be sent to hell, where you spend all eternity"
"So" replied the old man, "If I understand you correctly, If I am bad in this life, I'll spend an eternity in a torturous place"
"Yes" replied the boy with certainty.
"And who may I ask judges if Ive been good or bad? God?"
"Well teachers told me that at the gates of heaven sits Saint Peter with a log of our good and bad actions. And if the bad ones outweigh the good, we're sent to hell"
"I see" "So people who steal, kill are sent to hell?"
"Yes and so are the people who lie, do not maintain sunday as a holy day and even people who dishonor their parents, there's a set of rules in the bible, it is called the ten commandments, i just learned them a month ago" said the boy proudly.
"You're quite smart" said the old man. "If you know the rules, its easy not to break them isn't it?" "By the way" he said "have you read the new Testament of the bible?
"Not yet, teacher says we have to understand the old fully before moving onto the new"
"well" said the old man "the new testament is very interesting, it says that Jesus, who was the son of god, loves sinners"
"What? really? does it really say that?"
"yes, he loves sinners because it is them who can repent and go to heaven. He even died for the sins of mankind"
"Died for, um, our sins?"
"Yes. He died and thereby forgave the sins of all mankind"
"So people from hell were able to go to heaven?"
"well no, its not that easy. Let me just say, their sins were forgiven"
"By whom?" questioned the boy..
"well, by God" replied the man.
"What about the people who were sinned against? people who lost family because of murders and people whose things were stolen? don't they have to forgive the sinners too?"
"Well yea" said the old man thoughtfully.
"So Jesus died, to forgive the sins of people, committed against other people who haven't really forgiven them and the sinners couldn't even make it to heaven?"
"well, when you put it that way, I guess you could say that"
"Ok" replied the boy not really satisfied with all that he had learned.

"What about hell then?" questioned the boy after much thought. "If we're forgiven for all our sins and jesus loves sinners, who goes to hell?
"Its complicated" said the old man. "First off, people who do not believe in our god go to hell, but you already know that"
"Just for not believing in god?"
"Yes, well, God punishes all non believers"
"But people who sin and kill others, if they repent, I mean, teacher says, if we repent and feel sorry for our sins, we'll go to heaven"
"Yes" said the old man. "Repentance is the way to heaven"
"So" replied the boy, "I can kill a person, repent and go to heaven, but if I live as a nice person, only, don't believe in god, I go to hell?"
"That's what the Bible says" replied the man
"Ok" replied the boy again, this time unhappy with the realizations dawning on him.


To be continued....

Look before you leap..

People are complicated..
I know very well that what I've just typed isn't ground breaking information and it isn't going to change anyone perceptions about generally anything..
It seems to be common knowledge amongst humanity as a whole..
I mean we've grown up watching tons of movies where the protagonist is a person of a deep personality.. Not easily deciphered.. Even in the case of seemingly simple straightforward characters like Forrest Gump..
Even movies targeting children (like Shrek) tell us that people have layers.. much like an onion.. Or cake.. That taking a person at face value will result in you missing out on the bigger picture.. That misjudging a character's personality in the beginning of a movie will result in shock when he is later uncovered to be the murderous butler..
Yet..
Yet we throw all that out of the window and jump to our own conclusions about people.. Is it in our DNA to do so? I don't yet know, but we do nevertheless.. We often jump to rash and mostly incorrect conclusions based on our immature first impressions of the people we meet.
but it isn't only restricted to first impressions?
Have you even confronted anyone about the reason for a particular action? An action perhaps that you didn't quite appreciate? before speaking to the person about it, you will have already formulated a supposed reason for it before you even confront the person..

let me reiterate my initial statement..
people are complicated.. and deserve a chance to defend themselves against any action if they so choose so.. and even if they do not wish to make clear their original intention, it shows a character flaw within the person that would rather speculate than give the person the benefit of doubt.
The next time you feel badly about the actions of someone, Stop and think not about why he would act that way.. instead think of how small it would make you look to feel bad about just a speculation formed in your curious mind..

Sharing a part of yourself.... Should you?

Now I'm a reserved person, you don't really need to be exceptionally perceptive to know that.. I respect the life and privacy of others and never intrude.. Is it really that tough for other people to do the same? Right now it doesn't seem so bad, so far so good right?
what about later?
why do i need to share personal things with anyone? why is being a social recluse a bad thing? is it because society as a whole is scared of people that they cannot keep tabs on? people with the need for personal space are treated like bad apples..
so what if i don't want to come for your religious laced social gathering, why am i any less of a human being because of it?
in a marriage, it is considered, well, bad isn't the ideal word here, so I'll say, not desirable, to keep 'secrets' from your 'better?' half.. why is that? does being married rob you of your personality? Of late an increasing number of married (and also people generally in relationships) people have begun question their partners about seemingly trivial things.. where are you going? why are you going there? what will you do there? A sense of trust that seem to exist in relationships a couple of generations back seems to be fast vanishing into a cloud of mistrust and suspicion.
A common factor that results in a couple visiting a marriage counselor is "he/she wont share her feelings with me"
What IS this need to completely 'know' someone! you do realize that you'll never really 'know/understand' anyone.. i can attribute the shock of the failed relationship to the grieving partner once thinking they had fully understood their significant other. "he cheated on me! *sob and i thought i knew him!"
Really!! are the majority of you nervous because you don't get along with yourself? is that why loners are subjected to harsh stares at restaurants when they attempt to have a quiet peaceful meal by themselves? or why a single person in a concert/theater is given a look of pity/sympathy as if to denote that he was stood up by someone?
modern science is gradually, with all its technology creating the perfect world where everyone is slanting towards being a little dissocial.. at the same time, it is constantly categorizing us into new mental diseases that seems bent on convincing us that we're all a little less that your average societal alpha man.. we're grouped into mental illness like the one mentioned above "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder#Diagnostic_criteria_.28ICD-10.29_-_dissocial_personality_disorder.E2.80.8E" and we're told that one in five people have a mental illness of the like..

its sad that when most people don't even get along with themselves and cant even spend a day with only themselves for company, they strangely expect you to do so..