I have decided to retract my previous two blog entries. Thanks for the talk last night Jon. Jack, I wasn't dragging you into anything, merely stating a point that nothing personal to do with you. If you read your email, I kind of explained.
Anyway I was at work today and I was thinking. This in and of itself is not surprising, although you'd be surprised how little it is required. I was thinking long and hard about religion. Now brace yourselves, because if I have it in me, this may go on for a while. And let me say as a disclaimer that these feelings I have are strictly my own and I do not wish to alter anyone else's thoughts on God or whatever. And Jackie, this may not be a good debate topic, I'm not putting it forth to be one, I'm just stating my standpoint. That being said, on with the show....
Let me start off by saying that I am in no way an expert on any one religion. In fact, I think I've only been to church like four times. I was baptised Lutheran, or Catholic. I'm not exactly sure which, and I frankly don't really care.
I am not atheist. I believe in God. But my beliefs do not fall within any particular religion; rather, they fall into every religion. What I can't stand is the people who believe they are right and others need converting. Or that others are evil because they aren't the "right" religion. In Greek Mythology, a queen has sex with a bull and gives birth to the Minotaur, a woman is turned into a peacock by Athena I believe, and Zeus gets a woman pregnant by turning himself into rain and falling on her. These stories are quite fantastic, and it's hard to imagine that it could've actually happened in real life. But is it any less believable than a virgin giving birth to the son of God? Both the stories of Jesus and Zeus's rain require a leap of faith. Both are miracles. But to some, one obviously happened and one is a ludicrous story. It's like saying that you believe in Santa Claus because he obviously exists, but not the Easter Bunny, cause that's just retarded.
I mean honestly. The only reason anyone holds one particular faith over another is that is what they've been told to do. No one would come to Catholicism or Judism on their own. Without being exposed to religion, no one would be like "Ya know, I'll bet there was this guy named Jesus like 2000 years ago." You believe one thing because it's what you're exposed to, and you believe it over others because you're told you are right and they are not. People don't realize that while you believe in Jesus, someone else believes just as strongly in some other diety.
I'm not saying God is imaginary. I said I believe in God. But I also believe in Buhdda, Allah, Zeus, and whatever else. To illustrate this point, let me tell y'all a story.
Once upon a time there was this kid named Mike. Mike was a good little boy, until he met Jon and I. We introduced him to a pal named beer. Mike had never drank before, and during our second year in college, we decided to take him out to a house party. Well, to make a long (and quite funny) story short, Mike got hammered. We failed at watching him. I'll own up and say it was my fault. Anyway, we (being me Jon and Rob) took him back to our dorm and he started puking like the dickens. I, feeling responsible, sat up with him and got him drinking water, and eating crackers, and watched him vomit all over the place. However, he was still buzzed really badly. He kept saying "I'm sorry Rob. You can go back to the party Rob." Now, I know my name is not Rob. I also know that Mike is in a bad way, and can't really tell who I am. And even though he called me Rob, I knew what he meant. I knew he was talking to me.
This is how I feel God works. Call him Jehovah, or Allah, or Buhdda. I think He knows what you mean.
See I don't think there is a right religion. I think they are all right. The obvious question then is "Well, omniscient Joe, who's rules are right? I mean Jews don't eat pork, but everyone else does. Who is right?" Easy..... both of them. Yes, doublethink straight out of George Orwell's "1984." The simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas. To truly believe that American Beauty was a cool movie, and at the exact same time, to truly believe it sucked hard.
Okay, no, I'm kidding. It isn't contradictory. See I don't think that the offense is the action that breaks the rule; rather, the action of breaking the rule. I mean in Christianity, Eve got us all kicked out of Paradise because she ate an apple. An apple. I mean, come on. People eat apples all the time. They're nature's toothbrush. The reason it was such an offense is because God told her not to. She went against God and did it anyway. It's bad for Jews to eat pork because it goes against the rules. There is no rule in Catholicism against bacon, so it's okay, it doesn't defy God to eat it. Every religion has their rules. And if you belong to that religion, and you break the rules, that is the offense. Eating an apple, or meat on friday, or pork, or killing a cow, or facing west instead of east when you pray, or having sex before marriage, you defy your idea of God. That is the sin, or bringer of bad karma or whatever.
The other thing that gets me is HOW people believe religion. Particularly their idea of Jesus Christ, which is the one I am exposed to being that I live in middle America. People picture Jesus as a white guy that spoke english. How many white guys do you know from Israel? How many people spoke english 2000 years ago, let alone how many Israelis? But white, english speaking people want to believe Jesus was a white, english speaking guy. Now, I'm not saying that the son of God couldn't understand english now. It would be hard to believe that such a powerful being couldn't break a language barrier. But when he was here, english wasn't.
And wow. I got this far with no Kevin Smith quotes. So I guess I'll toss in a few and then call it a night.
"I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant."
That'll do. Peace out.
Anyway I was at work today and I was thinking. This in and of itself is not surprising, although you'd be surprised how little it is required. I was thinking long and hard about religion. Now brace yourselves, because if I have it in me, this may go on for a while. And let me say as a disclaimer that these feelings I have are strictly my own and I do not wish to alter anyone else's thoughts on God or whatever. And Jackie, this may not be a good debate topic, I'm not putting it forth to be one, I'm just stating my standpoint. That being said, on with the show....
Let me start off by saying that I am in no way an expert on any one religion. In fact, I think I've only been to church like four times. I was baptised Lutheran, or Catholic. I'm not exactly sure which, and I frankly don't really care.
I am not atheist. I believe in God. But my beliefs do not fall within any particular religion; rather, they fall into every religion. What I can't stand is the people who believe they are right and others need converting. Or that others are evil because they aren't the "right" religion. In Greek Mythology, a queen has sex with a bull and gives birth to the Minotaur, a woman is turned into a peacock by Athena I believe, and Zeus gets a woman pregnant by turning himself into rain and falling on her. These stories are quite fantastic, and it's hard to imagine that it could've actually happened in real life. But is it any less believable than a virgin giving birth to the son of God? Both the stories of Jesus and Zeus's rain require a leap of faith. Both are miracles. But to some, one obviously happened and one is a ludicrous story. It's like saying that you believe in Santa Claus because he obviously exists, but not the Easter Bunny, cause that's just retarded.
I mean honestly. The only reason anyone holds one particular faith over another is that is what they've been told to do. No one would come to Catholicism or Judism on their own. Without being exposed to religion, no one would be like "Ya know, I'll bet there was this guy named Jesus like 2000 years ago." You believe one thing because it's what you're exposed to, and you believe it over others because you're told you are right and they are not. People don't realize that while you believe in Jesus, someone else believes just as strongly in some other diety.
I'm not saying God is imaginary. I said I believe in God. But I also believe in Buhdda, Allah, Zeus, and whatever else. To illustrate this point, let me tell y'all a story.
Once upon a time there was this kid named Mike. Mike was a good little boy, until he met Jon and I. We introduced him to a pal named beer. Mike had never drank before, and during our second year in college, we decided to take him out to a house party. Well, to make a long (and quite funny) story short, Mike got hammered. We failed at watching him. I'll own up and say it was my fault. Anyway, we (being me Jon and Rob) took him back to our dorm and he started puking like the dickens. I, feeling responsible, sat up with him and got him drinking water, and eating crackers, and watched him vomit all over the place. However, he was still buzzed really badly. He kept saying "I'm sorry Rob. You can go back to the party Rob." Now, I know my name is not Rob. I also know that Mike is in a bad way, and can't really tell who I am. And even though he called me Rob, I knew what he meant. I knew he was talking to me.
This is how I feel God works. Call him Jehovah, or Allah, or Buhdda. I think He knows what you mean.
See I don't think there is a right religion. I think they are all right. The obvious question then is "Well, omniscient Joe, who's rules are right? I mean Jews don't eat pork, but everyone else does. Who is right?" Easy..... both of them. Yes, doublethink straight out of George Orwell's "1984." The simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas. To truly believe that American Beauty was a cool movie, and at the exact same time, to truly believe it sucked hard.
Okay, no, I'm kidding. It isn't contradictory. See I don't think that the offense is the action that breaks the rule; rather, the action of breaking the rule. I mean in Christianity, Eve got us all kicked out of Paradise because she ate an apple. An apple. I mean, come on. People eat apples all the time. They're nature's toothbrush. The reason it was such an offense is because God told her not to. She went against God and did it anyway. It's bad for Jews to eat pork because it goes against the rules. There is no rule in Catholicism against bacon, so it's okay, it doesn't defy God to eat it. Every religion has their rules. And if you belong to that religion, and you break the rules, that is the offense. Eating an apple, or meat on friday, or pork, or killing a cow, or facing west instead of east when you pray, or having sex before marriage, you defy your idea of God. That is the sin, or bringer of bad karma or whatever.
The other thing that gets me is HOW people believe religion. Particularly their idea of Jesus Christ, which is the one I am exposed to being that I live in middle America. People picture Jesus as a white guy that spoke english. How many white guys do you know from Israel? How many people spoke english 2000 years ago, let alone how many Israelis? But white, english speaking people want to believe Jesus was a white, english speaking guy. Now, I'm not saying that the son of God couldn't understand english now. It would be hard to believe that such a powerful being couldn't break a language barrier. But when he was here, english wasn't.
And wow. I got this far with no Kevin Smith quotes. So I guess I'll toss in a few and then call it a night.
"I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant."
That'll do. Peace out.
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