Hell is (some) other people
Silly me. I thought you could be a Christian and dislike Mel Gibson and not want to see his scary movie.
I guess not. Waaah! I want to be a Christian! I thought I was one. OK, a somewhat sucky one. Christianity is not easy. I can't claim I'm particularly good at it.
But, still. I didn't know I had to vote Republican to get into heaven.
Well, actually, I don't have a whole lotta confidence about going to heaven. Actually, zero confidence. I'm not that confident of a person though and maybe I will luck out the way pessimists sometimes do.
The interesting thing is that I have been told--often on planes, going to third world countries, sitting next to missionaries, that all I have to do is say: "I open my heart to Jesus. I am a sinner and repent of my sin" and automatically, almost, I go to heaven.
But like, that's so easy. And I do that every day and am riddled with guilt so I'm assuming that there must be more to it than that.
Is it because I don't vote Republican and I want a strong separation of church and state and gay marriage and all the rest? Because of that I am going to hell?
Or because I'm a selfish slob who spends 100X more money on books than I ever have helping out any other poor slobs? And I think about myself constantly? And I'm just a jerk sometimes? Etc? This is always why I think I'm going to hell.
In any case, I'm hoping God is a little less bureaucratic than saying the right words (as easy as this is) but still cuts people a bit of slack--the way I would. I would cut lots and lots of people slack!
Martha Stewart? I'd cut her tons of slack. Yes, she seems cruel and greedy but if I was the judge of the universe, I'd give her time to change. She really needs to work with the poor or something. A year or two in Burkina Fasso would do wonders for her.
Come to think of it, from a theistic standpoint, going to prison might be the best thing that ever happened to her.
Donald Rumsfeld? Warmongering? Smiling with barely disguised glee at the thought of dropping bombs that will--without doubt--kill human beings, almost all of them guilty of no crime at all? Those things are bad alright, but with a little talking to, a wider range of reading, perhaps some education in compassion he too could be brought around. Working with the poor and sick, would that do it?
Donald Trump? I'm not sure about him. I can't think of anything that would cure him but perhaps there is something.
The point is, if it were up to me, I'd give everyone a second chance.
Speaking of attempted conversions on planes I'll never forget the time I wore out the Christians with my attempts to make them more like me. Yes, most pro-secular government people scoff in scorn when a Christian comes up to share their faith. But not me--I assume we have something in common. That's right, I assume we are all Christian! They are sweet, lots of them. They get confused when I discuss my views though. And sometimes weary.
My questions to the ones on the plane were genuine. I just thought it was funny that I was way more vociferous and fanatical than any Christian has a right to be.
Well, first I wanted to know why they went to convert people in Central America. Especially Guatemala. They are really very religious there, you know. Shouldn't they go to, say, the Village? If you want to find the Godless I would assume Laurel Canyon or Marin County would be a better place to start.
I can't remember what they said about that. But then I wanted to know another thing about the whole being gay is sinful schtick. Because that I simply don't get--Why? And isn't it really cruel in any case to assume that God would demand a lonely loveless life for anyone--which is what you get if you are gay and can't be with the one you love.
What it came down to, this one rather intelligent woman said, you have to love Jesus so much that the earthly things--like human sex and love--don't matter to you.
Well that again makes little sense since we are always grateful to God for the earthly things like love.
We got on to why you have to believe in Jesus, specifically. That seems so random. You are going to hell with eternal torment just because one thing didn't seem convincing to you, or was outside your culture, etc.? Isn't that a bit extreme? And why not be given a second chance, later, when you are dead? Why the requirement to believe with the expiration date of death?
OK, I won't bore you as I did them. But I'm telling you--they actually started laughing and I swear they thought I was hysterically funny. I got this feeling that deep down inside, they agreed with me. Maybe I was just imagining it. But I know if I had more time I could have brought them around. They wanted to watch the in flight movie, though.
-------------
As for the faith, the wages of sin, etc. I am now having my eyes opened rather brutally by
Fried Green al-Qaedas
World O' Crap
and Sadly, No!
Seriously, the World O' Crap guy/gal is truly brilliant. I thought my asides about my two favorite targets (over Sunday brunch, not on this blog) William "What the hell is your point?" Safire and Thomas "Non-Sequitur" Friedman were good...but World O' Crap makes me look like the amateur I am.
Their theme this week is the Devil and I am (no joke) scared by scary Devil movies. A whole lot. But they scared me even more last week just by making it obvious that there are actually people...maybe lots of people?...who actually want to turn the U.S. into a theocracy. A crazy theocracy. So if you are weak of heart maybe avoid these blogs with their tales of the theocrazies...
Silly me. I thought you could be a Christian and dislike Mel Gibson and not want to see his scary movie.
I guess not. Waaah! I want to be a Christian! I thought I was one. OK, a somewhat sucky one. Christianity is not easy. I can't claim I'm particularly good at it.
But, still. I didn't know I had to vote Republican to get into heaven.
Well, actually, I don't have a whole lotta confidence about going to heaven. Actually, zero confidence. I'm not that confident of a person though and maybe I will luck out the way pessimists sometimes do.
The interesting thing is that I have been told--often on planes, going to third world countries, sitting next to missionaries, that all I have to do is say: "I open my heart to Jesus. I am a sinner and repent of my sin" and automatically, almost, I go to heaven.
But like, that's so easy. And I do that every day and am riddled with guilt so I'm assuming that there must be more to it than that.
Is it because I don't vote Republican and I want a strong separation of church and state and gay marriage and all the rest? Because of that I am going to hell?
Or because I'm a selfish slob who spends 100X more money on books than I ever have helping out any other poor slobs? And I think about myself constantly? And I'm just a jerk sometimes? Etc? This is always why I think I'm going to hell.
In any case, I'm hoping God is a little less bureaucratic than saying the right words (as easy as this is) but still cuts people a bit of slack--the way I would. I would cut lots and lots of people slack!
Martha Stewart? I'd cut her tons of slack. Yes, she seems cruel and greedy but if I was the judge of the universe, I'd give her time to change. She really needs to work with the poor or something. A year or two in Burkina Fasso would do wonders for her.
Come to think of it, from a theistic standpoint, going to prison might be the best thing that ever happened to her.
Donald Rumsfeld? Warmongering? Smiling with barely disguised glee at the thought of dropping bombs that will--without doubt--kill human beings, almost all of them guilty of no crime at all? Those things are bad alright, but with a little talking to, a wider range of reading, perhaps some education in compassion he too could be brought around. Working with the poor and sick, would that do it?
Donald Trump? I'm not sure about him. I can't think of anything that would cure him but perhaps there is something.
The point is, if it were up to me, I'd give everyone a second chance.
Speaking of attempted conversions on planes I'll never forget the time I wore out the Christians with my attempts to make them more like me. Yes, most pro-secular government people scoff in scorn when a Christian comes up to share their faith. But not me--I assume we have something in common. That's right, I assume we are all Christian! They are sweet, lots of them. They get confused when I discuss my views though. And sometimes weary.
My questions to the ones on the plane were genuine. I just thought it was funny that I was way more vociferous and fanatical than any Christian has a right to be.
Well, first I wanted to know why they went to convert people in Central America. Especially Guatemala. They are really very religious there, you know. Shouldn't they go to, say, the Village? If you want to find the Godless I would assume Laurel Canyon or Marin County would be a better place to start.
I can't remember what they said about that. But then I wanted to know another thing about the whole being gay is sinful schtick. Because that I simply don't get--Why? And isn't it really cruel in any case to assume that God would demand a lonely loveless life for anyone--which is what you get if you are gay and can't be with the one you love.
What it came down to, this one rather intelligent woman said, you have to love Jesus so much that the earthly things--like human sex and love--don't matter to you.
Well that again makes little sense since we are always grateful to God for the earthly things like love.
We got on to why you have to believe in Jesus, specifically. That seems so random. You are going to hell with eternal torment just because one thing didn't seem convincing to you, or was outside your culture, etc.? Isn't that a bit extreme? And why not be given a second chance, later, when you are dead? Why the requirement to believe with the expiration date of death?
OK, I won't bore you as I did them. But I'm telling you--they actually started laughing and I swear they thought I was hysterically funny. I got this feeling that deep down inside, they agreed with me. Maybe I was just imagining it. But I know if I had more time I could have brought them around. They wanted to watch the in flight movie, though.
-------------
As for the faith, the wages of sin, etc. I am now having my eyes opened rather brutally by
Fried Green al-Qaedas
World O' Crap
and Sadly, No!
Seriously, the World O' Crap guy/gal is truly brilliant. I thought my asides about my two favorite targets (over Sunday brunch, not on this blog) William "What the hell is your point?" Safire and Thomas "Non-Sequitur" Friedman were good...but World O' Crap makes me look like the amateur I am.
Their theme this week is the Devil and I am (no joke) scared by scary Devil movies. A whole lot. But they scared me even more last week just by making it obvious that there are actually people...maybe lots of people?...who actually want to turn the U.S. into a theocracy. A crazy theocracy. So if you are weak of heart maybe avoid these blogs with their tales of the theocrazies...
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