"Existance"-The Movie: Now starring Abraham Lincoln as "God"
Inevitably, I'm sure I will be accused of "Christian bashing", or not giving religion the reverence it is due, or some such nonsense, by my attempts to ask questions about the nature of Humanity, Society, Social structure, and their interplay with Organized Religion.
But, that's okay, I'm a big boy. I can handle it. For the record, however, I will state, as I suppose I should have stated previously, that when I speak of Christians or Christianity, I speak of a certain faction (or denomination if you want to call it that) of Christianity who have abducted the original form of the message, and turned it into socio-political propoganda. The Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, John Hagee (and anyone who appears on a TBN program for that matter)
And, if I were living in Jerusalem, I would be bashing Judaism, or if I was living in Mecca, I would be bashing Islam. Because they are ALL the same. But, I live in The United States, where the predominant religion is Christianity, so it is Christianity that I question.
The truth is...and I pondered doing a separate post on this one all by itself, but this seems like the perfect place to address the topic...Can someone tell me the difference between The US Government, The Catholic Church, and Microsoft?
Cause I can't tell the damned difference.
Well, not true. Microsoft is actually supposed to pay taxes on its income. The Federal Government, and Churches? Not so much.
But, I digress.
My point here, was intending to point out the Biblical passage "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth", and pose the question of who or what is considered meek?
Is The President meek? Congress? Bill Gates, Warren Buffett? The Pope? Who decides who is meek? And how do we define "meek" in the first place?
Now, if you ask me...."meek", is the wrong word here. Meek conjurs up the image of fear in my mind. A small child cowering in the corner afraid of a whoopin by his or her parental unit.
Of course, that is what The Christians (see above) want us to believe, and where I believe the idea of "God Fearing" comes from. God, to them, is the ultimate Patriarchal monarch. It is no coincidence that many Christians refer to God as "The King". And we all know what Roman emporers did to The Christians...Can we say Collisseum?
Is there any more blatant evidence that Organized Religion (opposed to the personal nature of spirituality...pondering one's place in the universe and the unknown forces of said universe) is based on fear and control of the teeming masses? It seems to me that those who crafted the message of The Bible fully intended to say "we're going to Heaven, you're not, because you're unworthy", and nothing, no matter what you did, how good you are, what deeds you committed, you would not be "meek" enough.
So, let's rephrase the quote and say something else....
A better word would be "humble". It will be the humble, extrinsic, giving, generous people who help one another, (fuckin socialists!!! LOL) and do good for the world who would inherit the earth after the second coming and The Revelation.
If it is true that "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth", then I suspect there are going to be a LOT of gay cripples like me, not to mention the mentally ill and fragile. Maybe even a few guilty-by-association criminals too I bet!
The Pope, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, all the presidents and kings of the world governments?
Not so much.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
1661
Puddle Duck
Scarlett Sumac
Doug Socks
Major Mojo
ThroughMyEyes
Salon.com
Comments
To me he is a gentle spirit that lifts me when I am down. Loving my God, I want to TRY to live by his original tenents.....I mostly fail, but I still do not fear him. I also don't send money to the likes of those televanglists you mention.
I hate the business of business ventures...of Capitalism, essentially. As I said, it's not just the churches, it's corporations and the government themselves, whose ONLY goal is to earn money. And they'll do whatever it takes to earn that money, including lying, stealing, cheating, and murder
Sometimes I wonder just how much Jesus even factors into a lot of the conversation anymore. Lately Christianity has taken on the tone of "be saved by making yourself poor and making me rich in the process"...hence the term religio-capitalism
Christians, Jews, Bloods, Crips (the gang, not cripples LOL) There really ain't that much difference beyond scale
Last week I printed all my posts and mailed them to my technology-challenged mom. She called me after reading half-way through them and asked "Don't you ever stop thinking?" Imagine what she would say to you!
My theory about organized religion: A manmade phenomenon created for those who are afraid or unable to think for themselves.
Lezlie
To answer your mom's question: "No, I don't ever stop thinking! and I'm glad!" :-)
And, yeah, Organized Religion is just another form of organization to help try to control the masses against what those in power believe to be attempts to usurp the power they have.
LMAO...Man I hope there isn't a heaven or hell, cause I was kinda looking forward to becoming space dust and being compacted into an asteroid that hits another planet and throws their world into complete chaos LOL
Oh and as far as the crips, watch out for a PM
Technically, The Bible says "we are the church" which has been interpreted by scholars as meaning that you don't even need a building, 4 walls, an alter, any of it, to maintain your relationship with God. The simple act of meditation/prayer can be done anywhere, in the bath, walking your dog, on the toilet, anywhere. The fact that The Religiocapitalists have abducted the message into one of "save yourself by becoming poor" has more to do with the greedy nature of humanity than it does any belief system. And that is why I made the comparison between The Church, The Government and Corporations, because they all essentially serve the same purpose, to deem people worthy or unworthy based on the size of their bank accounts. And THAT is why supposedly Christian conservative politicians won't do what it takes to help the poor, and try to take away what few social services we have
Eh, you can keep Zappa, give me Bowie! lol
Robin-
Hey, if they accepted YOU they MUST be cool! LOL XOX (kidding)
All the evidence is speculative at best, and vague enough to leave things up to personal interpretation. Where's the bones of the big whale that the guy was supposed to be swallowed up into? Where's Noah's Ark? Where's ANY concrete evidence of Jesus's existance? It's been scientifically supported (nothing can be proven) that a meteor hit the earth in 3123BC, that destroyed Sodom and Gamorrah. So unless you wanna attribute that asteroid to God playing billiards with an asteroid and the earth, I don't buy it. Truth, like reality, is a matter of perspective. But, If you are going to call something "the truth", you need to have empirical evidence to back it up.
I will pray for you, my stud.
A person named Jesus, that was born in Nazereth was nailed to the cross. I can't recall the charges.
No mention of miracles or anything like that.
But if you read the bible you can come away with some very good rules to live by. Use much of the rest to give yourself a good laugh. A whale in the Med? That's a laugh. Noah's Ark? That would have taken decades to build, then rebuild the parts that fell apart. And my most loved story. Adam "knew" Eve and begat Cain and Able. Cain killed Able and was cast out. But god protected Cain from the other people that were out there. If Adam and Eve were 1 and 2, Cain and Able, 3 and 4. Where did these other people come from?
~GROAN!!!~.....~shaking my head, laughing~
Oh, just don't get me started talking about anal sex, my rationality will go out the window! LMAO
As to your question, "Can someone tell me the difference between The US Government, The Catholic Church, and Microsoft?"....Here is how I see them: Microsoft is a money making venture. The government is a money losing venture. And the Catholic Church (and all Protestant churches are just offshoots of that whether they recognise it or not; Martin Luther didn't reject Catholicism, but the authority of the Pope over him;) is a money soaking venture. Good post. Rated.
Thank you for posting you ideas this way, PSM. I can see where you're coming from even better than before.
I guess I fall into a category that is seldom seen as either faithful or full of faith. Yet, I do sense the spiritual nature of life. And tho' our way of perceiving the words "meek" or "inherit" may vary from era to era and culture to culture, I think it's fair to say our Robin Sneed has put it best here.
Being a pacifist (I come from a long line, stretching back into the 1600s, if not before) I've come to believe that we are generalized against, and therefore had better set the tone for a better understanding, and no generalizations necessary.
That being said, it is obvious how the larger money-holding organizations wield power that is unevenly distributed. They are big business. And with money at the heart of their dynamic, they can only overrun those they must protect: the so-called meek. I like the term humble better. It takes humility to admit one has wronged another. And it takes courage to believe it would be better to act faithfully than for a further profit margin.
My only child likes to state it in matter of fact terms: Our country's worst troubles began with the advent of our stock market. They are trading on air based on somebody's conjectured outcome.
I would have to agree, if only in part. It takes a responsible capitalist to make the health and safety of the people his concern.
Let's hope and pray for that to become our norm.......
Sounds about like the difference between ketchup, bottled tomato sauce and home made tomato sauce to me!
Good luck wth that! You may avoid it in New York, but talk like that will get you called a librul commie pinko socialist here in Ohiaaa (yes with a drawn out "a" as in apple sound). Remmeber Ohio is who gave the world John Boehner
you think it began with the stock market? Hardly. It started with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael at the very LATEST, and probably before that. Hell it probably started in some cave somewhere in Africa when the first caveman realized he was stronger than the guy whose head he just bashed out with a club to steal his food. It's a part of human nature, a part of evolution of the species and Survival of The Fittest. Cash money has simply replaced the fruits nuts and berries that the African cavemen would have used 10,000+ years ago
It and its rituals and its works have proven to be a good carrier wave for a lot of information; like all such, it has accumulated a good deal of kruft over the years, but as rational people we should be able to make a determination of what is good, what is bad, and what it relatively innocuous. And so, since I am a rationalist-materialist, I must say that I dislike spirituality, but under the right circumstances can be in favour of religion.
Consider the African-American churches' usefulness in moving civil rights forward cannot be denied---and what other institutional power base would have been available to black Americans at the time...there's only so much that Pullman porters and funeral directors can do.
Consider how the social distance and alternate knowledge base and historicity have helped to bring so many American Jews to the forefront of the various good fights...as these fade or retreat into narrow cliquishness, note how we (as I will never say of this group 'they', no matter how obnoxious some of my notional relatives get, as I am not the Wicked Son) are less useful so.
The flaw in your argument is the assumption that we are a rational creature by nature. We are not. We are an emotional creature by nature. When we are faced with fear, or a threat from an external force, even if only perceived and not real, we fall back and rely on emotion and instinct and become wounded snakes ready to strike. If we were truly rational creatures, we would see within us our own strength, and use it to our advantage to vanquish that which threatens us. Sadly, that is not the norm of the universe.
It's not just Christianity, though. It's all of the inherently competing Abrahamic religions. I'm not at all referring to Buddhists or Hindus who have a completely different hierarchical structure than that of the Abrahamic religions
When you're right; you're right. Rated.
Well, in fairness, I'm only half right, because in my previous post I argue that there was no historical Jesus, at which point we're basically talking a case of Harry-Potterism, ie complete and utter worship and devotion to a fictional character, much like a Trekkie.
Which, I am, of course, but that's another story all together
Great post. Governments are good at using religion to keep the people in line. The Joel Osteens for example will point out that if you're poor then it must be god's will or that if you done something wrong and therefore repent by giving more to the church. Yup religion helps this imperialist-capitalist system along. Much love to you.
there are days, as rare as they are, when I wonder if the anti-christ is here and living in the bodies of these televangelist shiesters. Of course, that would depend on me believing in an anti-christ, which would depend on me believing in Christ, and I think we know where I stand there! LOL