pissed off and pontificating on a thursday
the beautiful thing about facebook is that you can keep in touch and up to date with people you don't normally see every day. so i've been reading people's profiles and walls and shit from Immanuel and today I saw some shit that really REALLY pissed me off. reverend schultz retired back in April after serving IUCC for a long time...he announced his retirement over 4 years ago so the congregation would have enough time to prepare themselves...you know, get over their grief and loss and sadness at losing our beloved rev. and start accepting the fact that a new pastor would be gracing our presence after he was gone. the church spent the last four years looking for the right pastor to take over the job and they found him: James Shelton, one of the sweetest men I've ever met and a great minister. his techniques are different than Rev.'s techniques of course, but no one preaches the same way. after all, ministers end up doing what they do because they feel a call from God to do it in whatever way they can demonstrate the message. the congregation seems to have forgotten that they themselves voted for Pastor Jim as the new minister and several families have left the church in protest. I say good riddance because those families pissed me off when i went there anyways. however, the ones that haven't left or are in the process of leaving are being downright cruel to Pastor Jim, hence my anger. I read a few comments passed back and forth between former youth group members on facebook that just broke my heart and made me fucking mad. these people call themselves christians and yet they refuse to accept a man of faith into their spiritual home because they can't handle change. what kind of goddamn sense does that make? the idea behind religion, at least from the way I see it, is that we are all children of the same God who loves all of us equally, no one more or less than any other person. and yet, these people, who call themselves loving children of God, find it possible within themselves to treat a man of God whose leadership THEY THEMSELVES voted for, like an unwanted outsider, a stranger they refuse to even accept. what the hell kind of sense does that make? none whatsoever. i can't believe you people.
if this is how christians think about life then I want no part of their religion. I believe Jesus was a real man...but only a man...with a real good plan. I believe the concept of God has been skewed and blown out of proportion by the masses of people out there looking for something bigger and better than themselves. i looked up at the beautiful night sky in St. Augustine, Florida one night during my senior trip three years ago and was stricken with a sense of thankfulness for the beauty I saw...in that moment I knew there had to be something to it all, some sense of purpose for why I'm here on this beautiful earth, surrounded by chaos and turmoil and still somehow managing to survive it all. however, I dont necessarily believe there's a godly explanation for things that can be proved scientifically...I will always be a skeptic. I think the universe is made up of constant, ever changing forces and to say that everything is controlled by one all powerful deity seems ridiculous to me. however, I think the ever changing forces all have a will and a way to keep existing no matter what happens. if there is one thing I believe above all its that my life is a gift and a privelege and I live every day as if I don't have another one to live tomorrow. i am in control of my fate and my universe and the choices i make are mine to live with. christianity doesn't satisfy me anymore, partly because my education has taught me to think for myself and to question what doesnt make sense to me, but a big part of it is the attitudes of most people today who call themselves christians. i have met very few christians who are completely accepting of everyone and everything in their world that they dont know about or can't seem to figure out...my father and my mother are exceptions, they are the only people of faith i have ever met that has no reservations or unaccepting attitudes about their fellow human beings. i'm disgusted with people who say they're christians and act the way they do, especially most of Immanuel UCC who can't even accept a new pastor into their arms, whom they KNEW was coming and whom they themselves voted into the position in the first place.
my views on religion have changed a lot recently and i have my education and open minded-ness to thank for that. i dont care what anyone else thinks, i feel only an obligation to the path i've chosen for myself to wander and the mantra i respect and try to follow daily. if i were to claim a religion, it would most likely be paganism or satanism, but right now i'm pretty disillusioned with the concept of religion as a whole and am content to stew about it for a while, at least until my own revelation about God presents itself to me.
if this is how christians think about life then I want no part of their religion. I believe Jesus was a real man...but only a man...with a real good plan. I believe the concept of God has been skewed and blown out of proportion by the masses of people out there looking for something bigger and better than themselves. i looked up at the beautiful night sky in St. Augustine, Florida one night during my senior trip three years ago and was stricken with a sense of thankfulness for the beauty I saw...in that moment I knew there had to be something to it all, some sense of purpose for why I'm here on this beautiful earth, surrounded by chaos and turmoil and still somehow managing to survive it all. however, I dont necessarily believe there's a godly explanation for things that can be proved scientifically...I will always be a skeptic. I think the universe is made up of constant, ever changing forces and to say that everything is controlled by one all powerful deity seems ridiculous to me. however, I think the ever changing forces all have a will and a way to keep existing no matter what happens. if there is one thing I believe above all its that my life is a gift and a privelege and I live every day as if I don't have another one to live tomorrow. i am in control of my fate and my universe and the choices i make are mine to live with. christianity doesn't satisfy me anymore, partly because my education has taught me to think for myself and to question what doesnt make sense to me, but a big part of it is the attitudes of most people today who call themselves christians. i have met very few christians who are completely accepting of everyone and everything in their world that they dont know about or can't seem to figure out...my father and my mother are exceptions, they are the only people of faith i have ever met that has no reservations or unaccepting attitudes about their fellow human beings. i'm disgusted with people who say they're christians and act the way they do, especially most of Immanuel UCC who can't even accept a new pastor into their arms, whom they KNEW was coming and whom they themselves voted into the position in the first place.
my views on religion have changed a lot recently and i have my education and open minded-ness to thank for that. i dont care what anyone else thinks, i feel only an obligation to the path i've chosen for myself to wander and the mantra i respect and try to follow daily. if i were to claim a religion, it would most likely be paganism or satanism, but right now i'm pretty disillusioned with the concept of religion as a whole and am content to stew about it for a while, at least until my own revelation about God presents itself to me.