12-28-2005, 02:43 AM
Pete,Dec 27 2005, 09:28 PM Wrote:Hi,
Good for you. And is 'Thor did it' the sum and sustenance of your religion? For that is the form of 'religion' which I lampoon. Those who go into the battle of a high school football game with a prayer for victory are the superstitious savages I lambaste. When a personal god becomes a personal servant (my mother prays to St. Anthony to help her find lost items -- but perhaps he has more free time than the trinity do/does) then the concept of god is reversed. The godhead becomes a doghead.
So, if the shoe fits . . . If not, then just move along, there's nothing here for you to see.
--Pete
PS It is the person ignorant of science that only can experience half the universe. A rainbow to me is something that delights me, awes me, and can bring tears of joy to my eyes. And still, I *understand* how that beauty came about -- I have no need for miracles, or biblical promises, to explain it. And so in addition to the awe of the direct experience, I have the awe of the simplicity, of the elegance, of the beauty of nature's methods that delights my intellect as much as the rainbow itself delights my senses.
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You know, I don't much care for those who use God as their personal servant either. I believe that we agree on something. Don't get me wrong... I pray. But I also believe that you work as if everything depended on you and have faith as if everything depended on God. To sit in a room and ask God for something, and then do nothing but sit there and wait, well, that's bloody stupid if you ask me.
As for your point about praying for football games... Yargh. What a waste of faith. With two people praying on both sides, one of them is going to walk away disapointed. Which only breeds bitterness and disbelief in a higher power. It is frivolous pointless action, and I heartily agree, they should be lambasted.
And don't get me started on all those people that only talk to God when something bad is happening, asking to have their ass pulled out of the fire. That annoys the crap out of me. Why not share good news? Share joy? Give thanks? When life is going good, many people have very little to say to God so long as they can keep running on their own two legs. All those people for whom God is merely the guy you call on to pull your fat out of the fire. It makes me sad to see these people. Many of them have miserable lives, and their faith is shakey at best. Many of them ask "Where is God and why isn't he listening?" To many people screw up their faith with religion.
Faith is the act of allowing your self to be carried where your heart would choose not to go. On January the third, I have to go get the results of a biopsy. I may have cancer again. I would really rather not go. I'd like to go and hide. Really, I think I would rather blow my own brains out rather than face another battle with cancer. But I will go and I will continue as God allows it.
All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.
"Isn't this where...."
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.
"Isn't this where...."