Revision history [back]

Hello there, I'm a Sikh highschool student living in America and I was wondering if I could get clarification on some aspects of Sikhism. I could be wrong, but from my understanding, it seems like the objective of Sikhism is to break out of a cycle of life and death, or reincarnation. What I'm wondering is that if there existed a God of some sorts that has control of the outcome of the world, why would that God not simply make us worthy or give us the ability to break this cycle to begin with? I keep reading things in Sikhism that talk about how we're drowning in this world ocean of suffering, so I would imagine that this divine being would want to circumnavigate these obstacles and just give us salvation or whatever the objective of Sikhism is. Whenever I question people at my Gurudawara, they usually claim something along the lines of "Oh, one can not know the ways of the divine one," but that answer seems to disprove Sikhism all together: If one can not know the ways of God, then how do we know that Paath, Simran, Sangat, or anything will lead to breaking this cycle of reincarnation? If one can not know the ways of God, then how do we know there is a cycle of reincarnation to begin with?

Usually most people respond to me by telling me that I should trust the Gurus, however the funny part is that Guru Nanak Dev Ji was a person that questioned the foundations of Hinduism and Islam when he was alive, so I would imagine that Guru Nanak Dev Ji would be disappointed with me if I were to blindly follow his writing without any critical analysis. If I've learned anything from the Gurus, it's that I should question the status quo and seek truth.

My inquiries at Gurudawara usually end here, because I don't wish to disrespect anyone's beliefs. I want to stress that I'm not here to debate or fight anyone. I'm just seriously looking for some answers if anyone has any. Since I don't read or understand Punjabi very well, I was hoping that someone on Sikhnet could shine some light on my inquiries and perhaps inform me of something I've been overlooking. It seems improbable to me that millions and millions of people would simply buy into a religion and never think to question the premise of it (Dawkins might disgree with me there). Anyways, if someone could give me some constructive answers or perhaps some resources, books, websites, etc. that I could research, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you!