Bump
Whoa! Take a nice little family vacation to Yellowstone and look what happens. (The trip was lovely, thanks for asking. Oh yeah – United Airlines sucks. But I digress.)
Pinqy, liked your list a bunch. That was the kind of answer I thought the OP wanted, but what do I know? IMO, whatever your religion, it represents a choice. And I was wondering why people made their personal choices. Precious few respondents have explained how they have chosen the doors they walk through for worship, or their reasons for not passing those or any other doors. Thanks to those of you who have.
Fast, I don’t know that everyone here is preaching (tho I suspect some are). I certainly did not intend to in the OP. I was simply curious about behavior I don’t understand. I have never attempted to convince someone to change their “religious” beliefs or to adopt mine. But I will freely explain why mine make sense to me. And I do think less of people who consider my atheism less valid than their choice. Especially when that person knows less about their religion than I do, and attend a particular church for no more developed reason than because their folks did. That’s not necessarily an invalid reason for choosing your church, but it doesn’t exactly qualify you for the higher ground. And it surprises me how often people act threatened/insulted when you express curiosity about their religion. Reminds me of insecurity. Maybe I’m mistaken. I’m the doofus who actually thinks he knows one or two good people. Heck, thought I was married to one, godless atheist heathen that she is.
Friend, I think I know some good people, unless I am deceived. What the heck, the deception works for me, so I’ll stick with it. I used to work under the assumption that everyone was an asshole until they proved otherwise to me. But I think I was angrier and unhappier, and maybe less secure then.
Seems to me any big G God must be the only god. So yeah, as Monty said, maybe everyone is worshipping the same “thing/being/idea” in their own way. Here in the states it should be no big surprise that people seems stuck in their ethnocentric ways, and don’t even check out what other religions have to offer. Heck, we don’t insist on teaching foreign languages in early grade school. Metric system? We don’t need no stinking metric system! And who cares about that train wreck/typhoon/hijacking in “the rest of the world”, as long as there weren’t any Americans involved.
Heck, in my experience folks don’t check out what other western religions offer, and often don’t even check out what their own religion stands for.
I believe this life exists. Another one would be nice, but so would x-ray specs (I’ll bet anything that young lovely on the train in the conservative suit was wearing lacy undies. I just know it!) When I leave my church on Sunday, my minister has given me something that I can apply to my daily existence. Last christian service I attended (probably not fair cause it was this past Easter) provided no fare of that type. Was entirely limited to, aren’t we happy, because Christ dies we are all going to live forever. Hey, if you believe that, great. More power to you. But could you at least mention what is going to happen after I walk out the doors?
And I remember my mom, a very unhappy woman, attending church regularly because she just couldn’t bear the thought that there wasn’t something better than this miserable existence. Oh yeah – and she wouldn’t accept communion because she had sinned by deciding not to have any more children after I, the fourth in 5 years and a rhythm success, came along. Sure, not all christians’ beliefs reflect this, but in my experience a fair number do.
Thanks again, all.