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Hugh Mackay's Beyond Belief

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Theme Three: The importance of the message
The final theme that I connected with in regards to my spiritual journey is the notion that the religious and spiritual doctrine and tradition is not of significance; one need consider the message contained within these in order to develop and assess meaning in their life.
Mackay draws attention to the phenomena that one will see, or not see, what best suits them, “the ‘eye of faith’ sees things more than skeptical people might miss, while skeptics see things that are hidden from the faithful (p. 235).” Mackay reiterates through his book that “we each have our own unique way of seeing the world (236).” He makes reference to the way that people will usually take on what they are told as true and factual, unless it is direct contradiction with a previously held point-of-view, or if it seems unreasonable, “Our natural tendency is to accept what we are told. And once we believe something, it’s an effort for most of us to change our minds (p. 19).” Thus, for the most part, we are all trying to make sense of the world we live in and to live a ‘good life’. How one determines what is meant by a ‘good life’, and how to live a ‘good life’ is open to …show more content…

Throughout the assignment, I have explored key themes that I connected with and considered how they relate to my spiritual and religious growth, both personally and professionally. Perhaps the themes that I connected with from Mackay’s book were not the most obvious, however, they allowed me to experience reflection on my journey of Christian Life. The personal reflection required for this assignment has in itself provided an opportunity for my spiritual growth as I was challenged to recall and deal with previous issues I had, up to this time, intentionally

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