Oh religion. You so silly.
I got a Jesus email from my friend Nicole yesterday; she is a friend I've had since we were 12 and to say that we have vastly different views on life and personal situations would be putting it mildly. She's already married, with 2 kids and has a scary Baptist grandmother who was making all kinds of wild predictions (based on the bible, natch) about the end of the world around the turn of the millennium. Which. . .obviously did not come true. I don't know if this is the same grandmother of hers that I know or not, because she is a sweet and hardworking lady. But people can cover up their crazy good if they have to, I suppose. Plus I pretty much try to avoid bringing up religion around people I know to be very devoted to it, since I get frustrated trying to use logic on what usually ends up being an emotional argument. People love them some Jesus.
I think this guy sums it all up pretty nicely.
The email she sent me yesterday was some obviously made up story about a little boy handing out religious pamphlets and inadvertently saving some old woman's life who was going to commit suicide (it was raining and cold in the story too, of course) but that LITTLE ANGEL helped her FIND JESUS! And really it's all as ridiculous to me as the fact that people once believed that Athena sprang fully formed from Zeus's forehead and I'm sure we'll all come up with more crazy shit in the future (see: Scientology). This particular email had all these great lines about GOD AS KING and that's always the interpretation of god I thought was the biggest asshole.
I quoted Asimov at her since the email focused on the angle of Hell- that Hell is a "drooling sadist's dream" and if there is a god who is into eternal punishment he'd probably save that for the kind of people who come up with that shit. This confused her and she sent me back an email asking "sooo. . .you don't believe in god then?" and got something longer than this entry back. It's complicated. I think absolute belief in a divine being- that you know his or her thoughts so well you know exactly how they want you to act and what to think and say- that is pretty fucking arrogant. Especially if you assume, as in Christianity, that said deity is all-knowing and all-powerful. It's also pretty arrogant to assume you know the universe and the laws of it well enough to outright dismiss the existence of any deity whatsoever. Color me agnostic (which my mother would call "too lazy to make a decision").
I like George Carlin's take on it also. BULLSHIT.
And also my favorite snarky Australian, David Thorne. This exchange with his kid's "School Chaplain" over permission for the kid to attend an Easter play is HYSTERICAL. I should always remember to refer to Christianity as "medieval meta physic propaganda" and Jesus as a "purportedly magic jew". Bless.
Love from a Sarah
Click to viewI think this guy sums it all up pretty nicely.
The email she sent me yesterday was some obviously made up story about a little boy handing out religious pamphlets and inadvertently saving some old woman's life who was going to commit suicide (it was raining and cold in the story too, of course) but that LITTLE ANGEL helped her FIND JESUS! And really it's all as ridiculous to me as the fact that people once believed that Athena sprang fully formed from Zeus's forehead and I'm sure we'll all come up with more crazy shit in the future (see: Scientology). This particular email had all these great lines about GOD AS KING and that's always the interpretation of god I thought was the biggest asshole.
I quoted Asimov at her since the email focused on the angle of Hell- that Hell is a "drooling sadist's dream" and if there is a god who is into eternal punishment he'd probably save that for the kind of people who come up with that shit. This confused her and she sent me back an email asking "sooo. . .you don't believe in god then?" and got something longer than this entry back. It's complicated. I think absolute belief in a divine being- that you know his or her thoughts so well you know exactly how they want you to act and what to think and say- that is pretty fucking arrogant. Especially if you assume, as in Christianity, that said deity is all-knowing and all-powerful. It's also pretty arrogant to assume you know the universe and the laws of it well enough to outright dismiss the existence of any deity whatsoever. Color me agnostic (which my mother would call "too lazy to make a decision").
I like George Carlin's take on it also. BULLSHIT.
And also my favorite snarky Australian, David Thorne. This exchange with his kid's "School Chaplain" over permission for the kid to attend an Easter play is HYSTERICAL. I should always remember to refer to Christianity as "medieval meta physic propaganda" and Jesus as a "purportedly magic jew". Bless.
Love from a Sarah