From: Jay_Thomas@putnaminv.com
Date: Wed Sep 13 2000 - 07:24:44 PDT
"B.K. DeLong" <bkdelong@pobox.com>:
>I was appalled to hear of such horrible activities as people who had
>been more than happy to thrust the bible in my face many a time detailed
>their violation of commandment after commandment. Mind you....this was
just
>*my* experience.
Have you ever thought you're looking at it the wrong way? I've often been
dismayed by how many "losers" I know who identify themselves as Christian,
as I also consider myself Christian, and am sometimes horrified that we
belong to the same "club". But I took a step back and looked at it, thus:
Healthy people don't need a doctor. Christianity is not a religion you're
born to, it is a choice you make, a request for forgiveness, redemption,
help, guidance. If anything *these* people you heard at church that day
were the ones who *needed* to be there. They were obviously flawed. As all
good 12-steppers know, the first step is to admit you have a problem, and
they did just that. They then asked for forgiveness, and if they were
sincere, they were forgiven. Thats the point. Hopefully they used that as a
springboard to getting help, and correcting their lives (of course my
cynical side says "probably not").
Christianity is not a religion for the perfect. Those who act like it is,
are the true hypocrites (and will be judged accordingly, eventually). Those
who strive to impose moral order, basic rules for human interaction and
civility (10 commandments?) are doing so, because they think/know that
these rules help level the playing field, lubricate social interactions,
civilize people. Just because I've lied before, doesn't mean I don't
recognize the validity of "thou shalt not bear false witness". Does that
make me a hypocrite, because I've messed up in the past?
Jay
From: "B.K. DeLong" <bkdelong@pobox.com>
09/12/00 04:04 PM
To: fork@xent.com
cc:
Subject: Re: For our next debate...
At 12:18 PM 09/12/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>Religion: good or bad?
Man.....talk about *FLAME* bait. My new copy of Eudora 5.0 is just spitting
out triple peppers today ;)
>Is Religion spiritually enriching and a guide
>to living a fulfilling life, or is it a bogus
>outdated concept, appealing only to hypocrites?
I tend to side with Cindy's POV. I had the benefit of witnessing hypocrisy
in organized religion at its best when I visited my father's church (born
again Christian...Presbyterian I think) one Thanksgiving. Everyone was
asked to stand up and give thanks and ask for forgiveness. One would think
that in a auditorium full of devoute Christians, they would be giving
thanks for all the good things in their life but person after person were
getting up asking for forgiveness for beating their children, drunk
driving, and adultery. Not one person gave thanks for their bountiful
lives. I was appalled to hear of such horrible activities as people who had
been more than happy to thrust the bible in my face many a time detailed
their violation of commandment after commandment. Mind you....this was just
*my* experience.
I've come to appreciate other religions like Wicca/Witchcraft that focus
more on the spirituality Cindy touched upon and which allow practicers to
ask their Goddess and/or God for assistance during rituals or sabbats but
apply such rules as the "rede" like "And ye harm none do what ye will" or
the three-fold law (basically anything you do will come back at you
three-fold. If you do good....great! If not, it will come back to haunt you
3 times as bad). There is less focus on organized religion in cases like
this....most Pagan's I know consider themselves solitary practicioners
But people who utilize religious teachings to impose moral law drive me
absolutely nuts. Especially in cases such as the one I mentioned prior
where the devoute were hypocritical to said teachings. This drove me into a
pseudo atheism/agnosticism for years....
-- B.K. DeLong Research Lead ZOT Group617.542.5335 ext. 204 bkdelong@zotgroup.com http://www.zotgroup.com
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