20040424
Organized religion...
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about god and religion and how much my life has sucked and HOW that's effected my view on the afformentioned.
I went to kansas- I just got back today. we were there to listen to one of Nikki's friends bands. it was actually pretty good for a littler band- I went expecting them to suck. They didn't.
It was kinda a christian gig they were playing at, allthough they are not a christian band- and after they got off the stage, they had someone go up there to speak.
He went up there, and started it off with a intro of how he played football when he was younger, trying to relate to these high school kids that are in a small town.
"I'll tell you right now, if you don't find a good christian woman, you're lost. when me and my girlfriend started dating- about 6 months into the relationship, I sat down, and I said, 'look, I go to church and I'm a strong [baptist] and if you want to see anymore of me, that's how you'll be, too.' I laid down the law, and she listened, and she goes to church with me, too.
But that's not really what I was trying to get at, I was just trying to say that you, as kids, have a lot more influence over your fellow students. what I say, what teachers say, it just goes in one ear, around the airspace, and then out the other ear. but they listen to you. and if you tell them about being a good christian, they'll listen. they might not listen to me... but they'll listen to you."
now, maybe it doesn't sound that way to someone else, but that sure as hell sounds sexist to me. It pissed me off. a lot. He did a good job of putting it in the middle of another "statement, though.
"you see, god puts hardships in our lives because he likes to challenge us. he doesn't want us to become lazy, and the road to salvation should never be an easy one. We always face challenges in our lives- Me, I pretty much majored in football. *audiance chuckles, self deprecating smile* but then, one day Iwas out there, and I got tackled, and two of the disks in my back were fractured. The doctor, he said, 'You'll heal, but you can't play agian.' and I said 'doctor- that's who I am! I have to play!' and the doctor said 'not anymore you don't.
so then, I had to find a new path in life- you see, god challenged me. he took me off the road I wanted to be on and put me back on the road he wanted me to be on.
A good example of this- see, when I was young, my biological father left. my stepdad, really the only dad I ever had, he brought us together, and made us a strong christian family. he came down with cancer recently and died, bless his heart... and he was given 6 months to live. he fought the good fight for 18 months, and enjoyed every minute of it. you see, he knew god was challenging him, and he enjoyed every minute of it until he died- he woke up in the morning happy to go to chemo. he woke up knowing that today, he had the challenge of his life."
wow. I'm not so sure that I agree. I lost my thumb to a rattlesnake, and my dad abused me for 6 years. as for the loss of the thumb, that's a challenge I didn't mind so much, but the abuse??! and dying? this is the point at which I question god- the god of nazereth and Jesus and all the saints- and mary and jacob. that god. Jehova. I don't... I just can't accept that god would do these things and that we could believe in him. there's a story in the old testament about how god gifts somebody with so much and then takes it all away- and I don't believe that a loving god.. would do that.
The truth, as I see it, is simple. God doesn't care, in fact, he probably never did. we are just some ever changing product in a grand experiment...
allright, so I don't believe that. not really. I don't believe in Jesus, perhaps. but I believe in god and perhaps in grand destiny- ultimate plans, if you will...
I went to kansas- I just got back today. we were there to listen to one of Nikki's friends bands. it was actually pretty good for a littler band- I went expecting them to suck. They didn't.
It was kinda a christian gig they were playing at, allthough they are not a christian band- and after they got off the stage, they had someone go up there to speak.
He went up there, and started it off with a intro of how he played football when he was younger, trying to relate to these high school kids that are in a small town.
"I'll tell you right now, if you don't find a good christian woman, you're lost. when me and my girlfriend started dating- about 6 months into the relationship, I sat down, and I said, 'look, I go to church and I'm a strong [baptist] and if you want to see anymore of me, that's how you'll be, too.' I laid down the law, and she listened, and she goes to church with me, too.
But that's not really what I was trying to get at, I was just trying to say that you, as kids, have a lot more influence over your fellow students. what I say, what teachers say, it just goes in one ear, around the airspace, and then out the other ear. but they listen to you. and if you tell them about being a good christian, they'll listen. they might not listen to me... but they'll listen to you."
now, maybe it doesn't sound that way to someone else, but that sure as hell sounds sexist to me. It pissed me off. a lot. He did a good job of putting it in the middle of another "statement, though.
"you see, god puts hardships in our lives because he likes to challenge us. he doesn't want us to become lazy, and the road to salvation should never be an easy one. We always face challenges in our lives- Me, I pretty much majored in football. *audiance chuckles, self deprecating smile* but then, one day Iwas out there, and I got tackled, and two of the disks in my back were fractured. The doctor, he said, 'You'll heal, but you can't play agian.' and I said 'doctor- that's who I am! I have to play!' and the doctor said 'not anymore you don't.
so then, I had to find a new path in life- you see, god challenged me. he took me off the road I wanted to be on and put me back on the road he wanted me to be on.
A good example of this- see, when I was young, my biological father left. my stepdad, really the only dad I ever had, he brought us together, and made us a strong christian family. he came down with cancer recently and died, bless his heart... and he was given 6 months to live. he fought the good fight for 18 months, and enjoyed every minute of it. you see, he knew god was challenging him, and he enjoyed every minute of it until he died- he woke up in the morning happy to go to chemo. he woke up knowing that today, he had the challenge of his life."
wow. I'm not so sure that I agree. I lost my thumb to a rattlesnake, and my dad abused me for 6 years. as for the loss of the thumb, that's a challenge I didn't mind so much, but the abuse??! and dying? this is the point at which I question god- the god of nazereth and Jesus and all the saints- and mary and jacob. that god. Jehova. I don't... I just can't accept that god would do these things and that we could believe in him. there's a story in the old testament about how god gifts somebody with so much and then takes it all away- and I don't believe that a loving god.. would do that.
The truth, as I see it, is simple. God doesn't care, in fact, he probably never did. we are just some ever changing product in a grand experiment...
allright, so I don't believe that. not really. I don't believe in Jesus, perhaps. but I believe in god and perhaps in grand destiny- ultimate plans, if you will...
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