ms

Fun night tonight, surprisingly.

First I went to band practice. I am no longer the horrid drummer. I am now the mediocre guitarist. A giant step up.

I went bowling with my roommate and his friends. They are all church friends so I was the token atheist in the group. I watched my mouth and tried to tone down my "Mikeness" for them. Under most circumstances I wouldn't go bowling (with a gaggle of Christians no less) but it was a night to hang out with some people that I normally wouldn't associate with so it was a good time.

Came home and then my roommate and I started talking about religion somehow. Had a one-and-a-half hour discussion with him regarding his Chirstianity and my Atheism. It wasn't hostile in any way and it definitely was not one of those "convert and be saved" conversations. It was just a conversation of (or at least I see the conversation topic as being) logic-versus-faith.

I have a lot of respect for him and I have more respect for him now than I did before we started our conversation and I think he feels the same way. We hashed out differences and even met eye-to-eye on a few points.

It's nice to just sit down and talk over differences without a lot of bullheadedness getting in the way. We are both unwavering in our views but we realize that they are just that--our views. They are not for everybody and frankly, it would boring if everybody held the same views.

Fernando is definitely a wise person and he culls a lot of his wisdom from his faith. It definitely makes him a better person. He needs that faith in something because he just does not feel whole as person without it.

He did say something tonight that took me by surprise. It didn't stop to make me think about myself but it did make me think about him a little and it made me think about our friendship. He said that he feels that it takes more faith to believe in nothing at all than it does to believe in Christ. It definitely gives me insight as to how he feels and thinks. He just needs that (I hate to use the word because it is definitely not what I am looking for and he sounds repulsive when used in this context) "crutch" for when he is feeling unsure about himself.

When I am feeling unsure about what I am doing or I am having second thoughts about how I am living I just take a look at myself and try and figure out what is going wrong. When he feels unsure about himself he turns to the Bible and tries to find that passage or goup of passages that guide him in the right direction. It may not seem like a big deal, but it made me realize the difference between us. It's a wonder that people who have two wholly different views on a subject as dear as religion (or lack thereof) can still be as close as we are.

He takes great pride in his religion and he is proud to be a follower of Jesus and he uses the teaching of the Bible to find answer to his problems. I'm proud of the fact that I can turn to myself and find the answer to my problems without having to follow someone else.

I'm thinking that we are going to have another one of these conversation again soon. They keep things interesting around the household.