(no subject)
I finally found time to read a book that isn't school related, and I have to say, I'm a little iffy about this one. The book Blue Like Jazz was recommended to me by my doppelganger (^.^) so when I saw it in the bookstore I thought I'd give it a shot. I could tell by the first few pages that this book would help set in stone what my feeling are about religion, and Christianity, specifically. And while I'm only halfway through the book, I think that this has happened, but not in the way I thought it would.
I thought I'd be able to solidify my belief in Christianity, but honestly, if Christianity is really about this narrow view of God, I don't want to be a part of it.
The thing that always confused me about Christianity is the idea that unless you worship God in certain way, you aren't truly Christian. Ok...whatever happened to pluralism? Isn't that what being rational is all about? Accepting that there can be more than one answer? Life is never simple and neither is religion. To me, saying that Muslims and Christians or Wiccans and Christians worship two different gods is like says Catholics and Protestants worship different gods. It's ridiculous, this notion that God cares what name you call Him. To me at least, God is like (forgive the simple analogy) a diamond. Each facet is a different face of God. (God, Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, the Mother Goddess, Artemis, Apollo, etc). Whatever you call the god you worship, isn't it more important that you're calling God at all? Ultimately, that what I think. God doesn't care what you call him, as long as you call him. And so far, when I try to explain that to Christians, I'm met with hostility. Personally, I choose to follow a mix of Christian and Wiccan tenets. Until now, I thought that was wrong. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me. Honestly they aren't that different. In fact, the only noticeable difference is that Wiccans choose to acknowledge the female aspect of divinity. (Now I'm preaching...but we are told that we are made in God's image...man in God's...woman in the Goddess'....)
On a different note, I actually really like this author, most of the time. I think he's funny, witty and overall, a good writer. he has some good ideas, and is able to explain his thoughts on Christianity without getting preachy. I truly enjoyed reading this book until I got to the chapter I'm currently on. And now he's beginning to make me angry. Mainly, it was his treatment of other religions, specifically Buddhism that pisses me off. Maybe I'm reading into this too much, or maybe I'm not reading it the way it was intended, but this passage really made me angry:
"There were times I wished I was a Buddhist, that is, I wished I could believe that stuff was true, even though I didn't know exactly what a Buddhist believed. I wondered what it would be like to rub some fat guy's belly and suddenly be overtaken with good thoughts and disciplined actions and a new car. I would go into real estate and marry a beautiful blond, and when the beautiful blond tilted her head to the side as I talked about socialized education, I could rub the Buddha, and she would have the intellect of Susan Faludi. Or Katie Couric."
Well, I'm gonna pass by the dig at blonds (because who can resist making fun of blonds? -_-) and move on to the stupidity of this statement. If he actually took the time to study Buddhism, maybe he'd understand that it's as complicated, if not more so, than Christianity. And it's a hell of a lot older than Christianity. The self-discipline that is required to be Buddhist far exceeds the self-discipline of most Christians, and it really angers me that he views Buddhism as such a cheap and easy way into success.
He also pretends to understand things that he truly doesn't:
"I think part of my problem is that I want spirituality to be more close and more real. I understand why people wear crystals around their necks and why they perform chants and gaze at stars. They are lonely. I'm not talking about lonely for a lover or a friend. I mean lonely in the universal sense, only inside the understanding that we are tiny little people on a tiny little earth suspended in an endless void that echoes past stars and stars of stars. And it's not like God has a call-in radio show."
EXCUSE ME? At this point I had the urge to hurl the book across the room. NO he doesn't understand at all. Because it seems to me, from what I've read of his work, that he's never really taken the time to try to understand why other people believe what they believe and why they worship the way they do. If he had, he'd understand that crystal work is no different than Catholic rosaries and "chants" are no different than the Lord's Prayer!
To summarize the lj-cut, God doesn't care what you call Him as long as you call Him. And this author needs to do his research before passing judgment on other religions.
Le Fin
I thought I'd be able to solidify my belief in Christianity, but honestly, if Christianity is really about this narrow view of God, I don't want to be a part of it.
The thing that always confused me about Christianity is the idea that unless you worship God in certain way, you aren't truly Christian. Ok...whatever happened to pluralism? Isn't that what being rational is all about? Accepting that there can be more than one answer? Life is never simple and neither is religion. To me, saying that Muslims and Christians or Wiccans and Christians worship two different gods is like says Catholics and Protestants worship different gods. It's ridiculous, this notion that God cares what name you call Him. To me at least, God is like (forgive the simple analogy) a diamond. Each facet is a different face of God. (God, Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, the Mother Goddess, Artemis, Apollo, etc). Whatever you call the god you worship, isn't it more important that you're calling God at all? Ultimately, that what I think. God doesn't care what you call him, as long as you call him. And so far, when I try to explain that to Christians, I'm met with hostility. Personally, I choose to follow a mix of Christian and Wiccan tenets. Until now, I thought that was wrong. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me. Honestly they aren't that different. In fact, the only noticeable difference is that Wiccans choose to acknowledge the female aspect of divinity. (Now I'm preaching...but we are told that we are made in God's image...man in God's...woman in the Goddess'....)
On a different note, I actually really like this author, most of the time. I think he's funny, witty and overall, a good writer. he has some good ideas, and is able to explain his thoughts on Christianity without getting preachy. I truly enjoyed reading this book until I got to the chapter I'm currently on. And now he's beginning to make me angry. Mainly, it was his treatment of other religions, specifically Buddhism that pisses me off. Maybe I'm reading into this too much, or maybe I'm not reading it the way it was intended, but this passage really made me angry:
"There were times I wished I was a Buddhist, that is, I wished I could believe that stuff was true, even though I didn't know exactly what a Buddhist believed. I wondered what it would be like to rub some fat guy's belly and suddenly be overtaken with good thoughts and disciplined actions and a new car. I would go into real estate and marry a beautiful blond, and when the beautiful blond tilted her head to the side as I talked about socialized education, I could rub the Buddha, and she would have the intellect of Susan Faludi. Or Katie Couric."
Well, I'm gonna pass by the dig at blonds (because who can resist making fun of blonds? -_-) and move on to the stupidity of this statement. If he actually took the time to study Buddhism, maybe he'd understand that it's as complicated, if not more so, than Christianity. And it's a hell of a lot older than Christianity. The self-discipline that is required to be Buddhist far exceeds the self-discipline of most Christians, and it really angers me that he views Buddhism as such a cheap and easy way into success.
He also pretends to understand things that he truly doesn't:
"I think part of my problem is that I want spirituality to be more close and more real. I understand why people wear crystals around their necks and why they perform chants and gaze at stars. They are lonely. I'm not talking about lonely for a lover or a friend. I mean lonely in the universal sense, only inside the understanding that we are tiny little people on a tiny little earth suspended in an endless void that echoes past stars and stars of stars. And it's not like God has a call-in radio show."
EXCUSE ME? At this point I had the urge to hurl the book across the room. NO he doesn't understand at all. Because it seems to me, from what I've read of his work, that he's never really taken the time to try to understand why other people believe what they believe and why they worship the way they do. If he had, he'd understand that crystal work is no different than Catholic rosaries and "chants" are no different than the Lord's Prayer!
To summarize the lj-cut, God doesn't care what you call Him as long as you call Him. And this author needs to do his research before passing judgment on other religions.
Le Fin