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Nov. 25th, 2005 06:33 pmDaaaaaamn. I read the slactivist feed, which does a weekly dissection of Left Behind. Today's post compares the bloodless, self-righteous smug religion of La Heye's "visiting ministers" with a must-read link from the "Real Preacher" site:
You see, people facing death don’t give a fuck about your interpretation of II Timothy. Some take the “bloodied, but unbowed” road, but most dying people want to pray with the chaplain. And they don’t want weak-ass prayers either. They don’t want you to pray that God’s will be done. Hell no. People want you to get down and dirty with them. They want to call down angels and the powers of the Almighty. THEY ARE DYING and the whole world should stop.
One of the things that attracts me is that he and I both lost our faith for relatively similar reasons. He found his. I'm happy without mine. But that doesn't stop the world from having needs that must be filled, and this really rocks my socks: In our world we have separated mind from body to our great loss. Here a man may betray his wife and neglect his children, but say he loves them “down inside”.
Bullshit. There is no “down inside.” Love is something you do, not something you feel.
Likewise, we think having faith means being convinced God exists in the same way we are convinced a chair exists. People who cannot be completely convinced of God’s existence think faith is impossible for them. Not so. People who doubt can have great faith because faith is something you do, not something you think. In fact, the greater your doubt the more heroic your faith.
I learned that it doesn’t matter in the least that I be convinced of God’s existence. Whether or not God exists is none of my business, really. What do I know of existence? I don’t even know how the VCR works. What does matter is whether or not I am faithful. I think faithful is a hell of a good word. It still has some of its original shine. It still calls us to action.
Christian, Jewish, pagan, atheist - all y'all gotta read this, you really do. Agree with his beliefs or not, this is someone who really understands what it is like to live your philosophy in the trenches. Besides I'm gonna love anyone who names happy shiney untroubled strawberries and rainbow anything as "shitting Hallmark cards before a live studio audience."
You see, people facing death don’t give a fuck about your interpretation of II Timothy. Some take the “bloodied, but unbowed” road, but most dying people want to pray with the chaplain. And they don’t want weak-ass prayers either. They don’t want you to pray that God’s will be done. Hell no. People want you to get down and dirty with them. They want to call down angels and the powers of the Almighty. THEY ARE DYING and the whole world should stop.
One of the things that attracts me is that he and I both lost our faith for relatively similar reasons. He found his. I'm happy without mine. But that doesn't stop the world from having needs that must be filled, and this really rocks my socks: In our world we have separated mind from body to our great loss. Here a man may betray his wife and neglect his children, but say he loves them “down inside”.
Bullshit. There is no “down inside.” Love is something you do, not something you feel.
Likewise, we think having faith means being convinced God exists in the same way we are convinced a chair exists. People who cannot be completely convinced of God’s existence think faith is impossible for them. Not so. People who doubt can have great faith because faith is something you do, not something you think. In fact, the greater your doubt the more heroic your faith.
I learned that it doesn’t matter in the least that I be convinced of God’s existence. Whether or not God exists is none of my business, really. What do I know of existence? I don’t even know how the VCR works. What does matter is whether or not I am faithful. I think faithful is a hell of a good word. It still has some of its original shine. It still calls us to action.
Christian, Jewish, pagan, atheist - all y'all gotta read this, you really do. Agree with his beliefs or not, this is someone who really understands what it is like to live your philosophy in the trenches. Besides I'm gonna love anyone who names happy shiney untroubled strawberries and rainbow anything as "shitting Hallmark cards before a live studio audience."
