kimmonster asked: 9. Hi Sam.

Hi Kim!

I guess I would be the one to get this question, as I just became a Christian late last year in college.  I don’t know how good this answer will be, but I hope you can make sense of it.

Remember those first few days of college?  Where everything was crazy and people were new and expectations were carried over and life was beginning again? 

The first few weeks of my college life were filled with alcohol and parties and weed and spent money and girls and “hangouts” and “bros”.  And guess what?  They didn’t fill me with the happiness and joy I had expected out of a “grown up” life.  When they ended, I was left with nothing, and looked for more small pleasures to fill up that void.  

I guess it started a search for more lasting things.  More lasting and impactful friends, actions, emotions, and desires.  

Life seems so insignificant when I think of this:  when I die, all the money I will ever earn in my lifetime goes nowhere.  Likewise, all the good food, trendy clothes, nice cars, cool gadgets, and everything in between that money can buy for me are still going to be on this earth.  All my memories and experiences of my family, my friends (you too, Kim), my entire life, and all the knowledge I’ve gained through education from school and the world will all leave me when the neurons in my brain cease function.  

So why do we live?  Kim, why are you painting at 3am?  Why am I in the library around the same time?  Why don’t we just kill ourselves now?  Between right now and our death in 50 years (knock on wood), it makes no difference in the end.  

I guess on the surface of things, a pessimist might say, hey, that really is it.  That’s life.  But there’s something in me that wants a little more meaning to everything.  

I think that’s where religion comes in, and the flow of ideas I listed above are a little bit of the reason why I came to an idea of God. Perhaps there really is something out there, something that we cannot see, an immortal component of our mortal selves, a perfection that is opposite to our flawed beings, and a before and everlasting that transcends our moments.

And I’m thankful I found an amazing environment at JHU where I could talk about religion with others, which led me to Christianity.  I feel a transformation, and Kim, you might have a hard time recognizing me next time we meet. ;)

It’s different for everyone though.  It’s like that Drake verse from a rap song, “We walk the same path, but got on different shoes.  Live in the same building, but we got different views.”  But I think it’s most important to never stop respecting and sharing and learning and asking questions, because there are terrible misconceptions and ideas that people have held onto their hearts.  I struggle with them as well, but that’s what friends and teachers are for.  We’re all in it together.

My answer isn’t perfect, probably isn’t great at all (actually, it doesn’t answer the question very much and I’m not sure how to answer it), but… it’s my thought on religion.