Sean Petersen

Humm 1100
Religion Theme writing assignment

For this assignment, I would like to compare the religion of Christianity and
the philosophy Hakuna Matata or the idea Dont worry and be happy. While the
title Christian encompasses a large, diverse, and sometimes conflicting or
disagreeing sects, the points mentioned will apply to most, if not all variations of
Christianity. I personally believe that living by the philosophy of Hakuna Matata is
far superior to Christianity for the following reasons:
1.) There is ambiguity in Christianity, which could lead to misinterpretation and
failure to abide by the rules.
Christianity presents a set of rules and guidelines that must be followed in order to
achieve access into heaven, where you are granted an eternal paradise. One of the
most notable set of rules would be the Ten Commandments . Some of these
commandments can be vague. For example, one commandment instructs you to
honor your mother and father. However, it makes no mention of how you should
honor them. Is there a right or wrong way to honor someone?
Another example would be You shall not make idols. What constitutes as an idol?
There are no clear guidelines as to what an idol is. Is the statue that you see of
Jesus to be considered an idol? Is a painting? Unfortunately, you cannot know until
the day comes where you will hopefully be judged.
The main point to take from this is that if you think critically about Christianity, you
run into some serious questions about whether your actions you make in everyday
life will affect you. Are you going to go to hell for going to Subway after church on
Sunday? Were the people who battled in the Crusades denied access to heaven
because they killed someone? Or were they granted free passes because it was a
good cause.
If you think lazily about it and just accept that if you tag a title to yourself a
Christian and somewhat follow the rules, and only work on Sunday if your boss asks
you then what is the point of accepting rules if youre not willing to actually live by
them? If you truly believe that you could be eternally punished for not following the
rules, shouldnt actually follow those rules and not risk it?

2.) Following the correct form of Christianity is like winning a lottery.

Let us assume that there is indeed a specific and correct way of living life to ensure
that we are granted access into heaven. Whatever that way is, it has long been
diluted by a large number of various branches and sects of the Christian religion
and it has been changed and merged with various cultures and populations. The
odds that you happen to be following the correct version of Christianity is slim, but
more importantly, that your interpretation of the guidelines set by that version are
correct.
Throughout time, there have been numerous claims and opinions claiming that one
specific variation is correct. Is the LDS missionary right? He or she likely has a lot of
personal experiences and details to prove that the Mormon religion is correct. But
then Im sure if you sat down and had a conversation with the Catholic pope that he
would have a very different set of experiences and evidence to support his claim.
Who is right? Both claim with absolute certainty that they have the correct answer,
but if one is right, is the other not wrong?