The Faith of a 21C Maintenance Monkey

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So my faith is thus constrained - I don't believe and God is just going to have to learn to deal with that. I'm confident an omnipotent being won't be too psychologically scarred by the disbelief of one sceptical Scotsman.

See above.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

So, obviously, I've been struggling with my beliefs lately, and I've had a friend who recently passed, horribly.

I said the Kaddish for her, and then I started to say the Rosary for her, Sorrow Mysteries. I was reading the meditation on the Crowning of Thorns and I got to the point where, you know Jesus, as God Incarnate, was suffering so that he could bring himself to point where he could say, ok, maybe I'm being kinda harsh. And I thought that was silly. Why does God need to die to realize that being human blows. And I said, "Our Blessed Lord submitted to this terrible humiliation to make reparation for our pride... And HIS."

Then I stopped, smirked, put the beads down, and said, "God bless you, Anderson."

[Ben Shapiro]

Sharing. Might get something out of people. Besides HUR HUR JESUS HUR HUR.

[trippinprincezz13]

Loved this post (looks impressed and all that).

You know what actually solidified my belief?  The sudden conviction that God won't send me to hell for not believing in God.  This happened probably 15 years ago.  My problem prior to that was that the idea of a God who would send you to hell for disbelief struck me as particularly repugnant.  Then I asked myself, "where did I get that idea?"

Oh, yeah.  From going to a Jesuit school.

And this is where my feelings landed when I started questioning the religion I was brought up with. An all loving God who hates you for not super-duper believing in him and not being perfect (or at least feel horribly guilty for not being perfect - there's always something to confess!) They tried to excuse some of that away that those who had been taught about Jesus and God's love yet were okay (not always, but it often seemed to be implied that "ignorant of God" = 3rd World Countries) - until the second they are taught, then they damn well better believe or else. Because anyone who doesn't believe once they've heard about God is just terrible. Obviously, if I came up and said "Have you heard the Good News? God is actually a giraffe who lives on the bottom of the sea. It's ok you didn't know before, but you better start praying and asking forgiveness now, or it's hell for you", most people probably wouldn't be too quick to jump on board. But going to other people with YOUR version of God is a different story, because your version is really real for reals.

And I know over the years it changed to "ignorance is not an excuse" and maybe New Pope says now that it's ok, that God actually does love everyone, I don't know. Point being that the idea of an all-loving God that would send any of the beings he created to eternal torment just didn't sit right with me. And many Christians are happy to shove the idea of "Jesus" down your throat, but quick to forget that Jesus loved and associated with all sorts of people and really put a lot of emphasis on the whole loving your fellow humans and not playing God by judging others.

Enough rambling for now. At this point in my life, I feel that there is *something* out there, for reasons I can't quite put a finger on. Again, I really liked this piece

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Loved this post (looks impressed and all that).

You know what actually solidified my belief?  The sudden conviction that God won't send me to hell for not believing in God.  This happened probably 15 years ago.  My problem prior to that was that the idea of a God who would send you to hell for disbelief struck me as particularly repugnant.  Then I asked myself, "where did I get that idea?"

Oh, yeah.  From going to a Jesuit school.

And this is where my feelings landed when I started questioning the religion I was brought up with. An all loving God who hates you for not super-duper believing in him and not being perfect (or at least feel horribly guilty for not being perfect - there's always something to confess!) They tried to excuse some of that away that those who had been taught about Jesus and God's love yet were okay (not always, but it often seemed to be implied that "ignorant of God" = 3rd World Countries) - until the second they are taught, then they damn well better believe or else. Because anyone who doesn't believe once they've heard about God is just terrible. Obviously, if I came up and said "Have you heard the Good News? God is actually a giraffe who lives on the bottom of the sea. It's ok you didn't know before, but you better start praying and asking forgiveness now, or it's hell for you", most people probably wouldn't be too quick to jump on board. But going to other people with YOUR version of God is a different story, because your version is really real for reals.

And I know over the years it changed to "ignorance is not an excuse" and maybe New Pope says now that it's ok, that God actually does love everyone, I don't know. Point being that the idea of an all-loving God that would send any of the beings he created to eternal torment just didn't sit right with me. And many Christians are happy to shove the idea of "Jesus" down your throat, but quick to forget that Jesus loved and associated with all sorts of people and really put a lot of emphasis on the whole loving your fellow humans and not playing God by judging others.

Enough rambling for now. At this point in my life, I feel that there is *something* out there, for reasons I can't quite put a finger on. Again, I really liked this piece

Thanks.

I am unimpressed by anyone's religious teachings since Jesus died.  Paul of Tarsus can kiss my entire ass, and if HE can, then so can every self-described expert ever since, including but not limited to the pope, Jerry Fucking Falwell, Pat Robertson, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and that crazy lady that started the 7th Day Adventists.

In fact, the ONLY religions I have ANY sympathy for are the Jews (reform), and those chuckleheads in the Jehovah's Witnesses, whom I pull for the way I'd pull for the Apollo 13 team if they all had frontal lobe damage.