I think I have started something that cannot be finished. There can be a finite number of comments when it comes to anything about religion. Let me stick it out a little further. There are those who believe in the book call the Bible. There are those who follow the teachings in it. But what they follow are the interpretations of some other people from some other times. The need to believe in themselves.This of course flies in the face of organized religion. If you are a follower then you follow the teachings to the letter and to the grave. But what if you are a believer and not a follower? What if you believe that what is being taught is incorrect and not something valuable for the human race? Most people shy away from expressing their true beliefs so as to avoid controversy as well as to be considered a part of the accepted community. While those who send the emails trying to force us to follow their religious path criticize us for not forwarding them as we would an innocuous joke can we not in turn criticize them for not having the individuality to stand in the face of religious convention and say I believe in God but not the way you put it?
I put it to you this way. When I hear the phrase ‘vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord’ I do not interpret this as a vengeful God but one who is telling mankind not to waste time taking vengeance on others because the Lord will handle those who who have harmed you. It seems to me that if you believe in a God who will provide and show you the way then you must believe in a God that protects all your interests. That same God would handle revenge as in ‘an eye for an eye’. He would decide whose eye.
When I hear ‘the Lord will provide’ I am assured that He already has. If you believe than you have the strength to know that the providing that will be done is based on the abilities that the Lord has already given you. It irks the hell out of me to listen people who refuse to make a move to help themselves even after praying because they are waiting for God to do something. He did. He gave you a brain so use it.
I could go on with this for days but I won’t. I promised myself this would be short and hopefully to the point. But I have one more belief to express.
Years ago many in the acting community who had been what the zealots might call abominable sinners ‘found Jesus” . Whenever I would ask them how they were doing they would respond with a non enthusiastic “I’m blessed”. I say unenthusiastic not because they didn’t believe but because it was a mantra that they were adjusting to. Recently I have noticed that more people end their emails, conversations, letters with “have a blessed day’. I find it interesting that people who follow the bible so faithfully are missing the point that only God can bless us. However those of us who think outside the old and new Testaments may believe a couple of things about this statement. One every day is a blessed day because we are living in it and must make the best of it with whatever means we have at our disposal. The second thing is we can place positive energy in the universe by saying have a great day or a blessed day and meaning it. Anything to help a fellow human being feel better.
We must mean what we believe and believe what we say. If you think about it we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ because we are God’s children. But that is another long argument. Right now I say it is enough to believe.
For many years I have asked the question “What if God who created heaven and earth is a complete meglomaniac lunatic like Mao, Stalin and Hitler? Are you still going to obey Him without question?”
I have never yet known anybody dare to give an answer.
Luckily, I believe that the ultimate mind is really quite bright. It is a shame he chose not to pass much of his intelligence on to his fundamentalist believers – or perhaps it is the wisest decision he ever made.
Minnette,
I don’t read your work daily. Sometimes weeks go by before I sit down and look to see what Minnette has to say today but, I always respect your right to speak without interruption (pun intended). I also have a great deal of admiration and respect for you as a person.
I know of some of your trials and I know of the good you have always tried to do and of the good that you have been able to accomplish.
You have struggled for years to share your wonderful talent with the world. I applaud you for your strength. Even in the face of rejection you perserver.
On this topic I again applaud you for the courage, for your conviction and for your respect of others in saying what you believe. Your sharing afforded us the opportunity to do the same
I believe right along with you that the Ultimate Mind,The Creator,God,The Great Spirit, Jehovah, or whatever we choose to address him, her or it ( the English language is so limiting at times) by is really quite bright and that he or she (since I believe that we are talking about a Spirit that encompasses both the male and the female of all of us). I don’t agree with you when you say that that the Great One hasn’t passed on his/her intelligence to the fundamentalist believers. I believe they choose not to use the gift.
While I doubt that the Creator has Maoist tendencies or is a megalomaniac lunatic (Wow) I do believe that there is good and evil and that sometimes evil seems to win. I do believe that in the end however good will always overcome. I like many have had difficulty in being submissive and obedient. I believe that I have been able to humble myself and overcome that. There is a law to the universe and it will be obeyed.
I have no fear that you will allow one or even two irrational thinkers stop you. At some point even the blind will see the light.
Rock on Sister. Once again you’ve made me proud! Hey, by-the-way,I very much enjoy your work.
Yes, Kay, but you still haven’t answered the question: “What if God who created heaven and earth is a complete meglomaniac lunatic like Mao, Stalin and Hitler? Are you still going to obey Him without question?”
Yes, No, Don’t Know, or “I’ll take Pascal’s Wager” are all acceptable answers.
I think the greatest fallacy of religious thought is that people tend to think of a deity in human terms. Why? Even to be a meglomaniac lunatic, it would have to be human. I have never understood why that possibility exists beyond the merest fraction of a half-assed chance. Isn’t it far more likely that this awesome creator has absolutely nothing in common with the few semi-intelligent creatures on this small planet in one corner of the universe? Why wouldn’t “the lord of hosts” cast his eye to our edge of the galaxy one day and says “Holy crap what’s all this stuff growing all over my lovely planet, yuch! Now where’s the Brillo?”
OK Tim, No, I don’t think I would (at least I hope I wouldn’t)and, I don’t believe that all reason is corrupt so, I don’t think I can prescribe to Monsieur Pascal’s Gambit/Wager. What I do think is that that some folk’s reasoning is corrupt. Just as I believe that some folk don’t reason at all, they just blindly follow and make very little use of their little gray cells.
Prentiss,I don’t think of God in human terms I think of God as a Spirit and I believe that the Spirit is of peace and love not of hate and evil(we have the devil for that). And, I think the Spirit is very upset with us humans as a whole and has been for a long time, Thus the scripture passage that speaks about God’s people humbling themselves (2 Chronicles 7:14, the Old Testament, which by the way I have not problem with). I firmly believe in the forces of good and the forces of evil and that we grapple with some form of evil daily.
With that, I think enough said on this subject (for now anyway). It was good and thought provoking and I enjoyed every bit of it but, it’s time for me to move on. The conversation was good. Once again, thanks Minnette you are a jewel.
Interesting, and yet “the devil” works for god, by all accounts. Or perhaps he works for free will.
Glad to know this has helped.
Who said the devil works for God??