Shouldn't I choose God, as opposed to being compelled to him?
IMHO the concoep of being able to choose God is fairly recent. Back in the bad old days, or as Spider J. said " Back when our brains were not as developed as they are now and we halucenated on a dialy basis " [1] , the idea of chosing a god was a basis of competition. There were many many gods ( and goddesses ) out there - all with mortal agents vying for numbers. Each one had a frantic to two screaming about how if you didn't align with the god of steel then someone would kill you , and across the street you are told that the god of weather would never grant you rain unless you woshiped him, and as you were debating all this the god of wrath represenatitive would tell you that if you align with him all of your foes would be crushed into sand. In the end people came to a decision and put their hearts, minds and money into their choice. Now we have a handful of mainstream religions , and yes some still try to scare you into buying their $19.95 prayer beads or donating so that the doghouse can have a new air conditioner - but in reality you don't get bombarded on your walks through the city ( that much ) , and if you do it's by people who are treated with little regard. Miracles flourished on a daily basis, whereby all we have now is the occational blueberry muffin with the face of a religous figure baked into it to send our people on a pilgrimage.[2]
We are at liberty now to choose a system of worship ( or none at all ) with much less of the competition ( which IMHO was mostly commercial ), and armed with knowledge of how / why things work in the world we are less moved by " Miracles " such as an eclipse, or a really bad thunderstorm on a particular date.
Still, we will always have the people who look for it, and find it. I remember someone showing me the way to fold a one dollar bill so that some part of it looks like the twin towers on fire.
In the end, religion is a personal issue that we all have to arrive at on our own. We owe it to ourselves to make the decision with the thoughts & opinions of others, and not their undue influence. We also owe it to the world to excercize our religous choice without forcing it on others.
[1] Transmetropolitian, the religion issue ( I forget the number )
[2] However, Out here, every summer the highway is littered with people who walk so many miles to go to a little dirt and timber church where in theory the dirt therein heals everything.
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Date: 2004-11-04 07:29 pm (UTC)IMHO the concoep of being able to choose God is fairly recent. Back in the bad old days, or as Spider J. said " Back when our brains were not as developed as they are now and we halucenated on a dialy basis " [1] , the idea of chosing a god was a basis of competition. There were many many gods ( and goddesses ) out there - all with mortal agents vying for numbers. Each one had a frantic to two screaming about how if you didn't align with the god of steel then someone would kill you , and across the street you are told that the god of weather would never grant you rain unless you woshiped him, and as you were debating all this the god of wrath represenatitive would tell you that if you align with him all of your foes would be crushed into sand. In the end people came to a decision and put their hearts, minds and money into their choice. Now we have a handful of mainstream religions , and yes some still try to scare you into buying their $19.95 prayer beads or donating so that the doghouse can have a new air conditioner - but in reality you don't get bombarded on your walks through the city ( that much ) , and if you do it's by people who are treated with little regard. Miracles flourished on a daily basis, whereby all we have now is the occational blueberry muffin with the face of a religous figure baked into it to send our people on a pilgrimage.[2]
We are at liberty now to choose a system of worship ( or none at all ) with much less of the competition ( which IMHO was mostly commercial ), and armed with knowledge of how / why things work in the world we are less moved by " Miracles " such as an eclipse, or a really bad thunderstorm on a particular date.
Still, we will always have the people who look for it, and find it. I remember someone showing me the way to fold a one dollar bill so that some part of it looks like the twin towers on fire.
In the end, religion is a personal issue that we all have to arrive at on our own. We owe it to ourselves to make the decision with the thoughts & opinions of others, and not their undue influence. We also owe it to the world to excercize our religous choice without forcing it on others.
[1] Transmetropolitian, the religion issue ( I forget the number )
[2] However, Out here, every summer the highway is littered with people who walk so many miles to go to a little dirt and timber church where in theory the dirt therein heals everything.