I met a Jewish Rabbi while in a café’ in Amsterdam who said to me that “the only reason humans believe in a religion, is because they need something to believe in. They are trying to achieve something from this life that has been set out by a higher power, whether is be God or his denominations.” Now granted he was ploughing through his 2nd plate of brownies, I had to take note of what he said.
I proceeded to ask him whether I should then elect a religion to follow- Catholic because the majority of my schooling had occurred there, Buddhist because it’s not really a religion but a way of life or Judaism... well because they have really good food.
He then questioned me, chocolate crumbs bouncing from his beard. “Do YOU need a religion? Can you survive knowing that what you believe is enough and whether is be for yourself or focus it on some entity that a ‘fuddy duddy’ tells you to?”
I was in a kind of awe that lasted I think about 5 whole minutes of silence. Well it felt like that I was half way through my own plate of brownies. I then had to ask the most obvious question… “Why the hell did you become a Rabbi?”
“Only way to get out of Vietnam. And I found it really helped with picking up. Girls in the 70’s loved corrupting the righteous boy”
What I took away from this encounter apart from a sugar rush and the everlasting memories of a stoned Rabbi, was a clearer sense of why people choose to love religion so unconditionally. There’s a sense of belonging and covenant within a church community and it gives its followers something to believe in that stems from history and the prophetic future.
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