Some Odd Little Thoughts
Some times I like to sit back and think that there was once a time where spirituality was an issue between you and your God, not an issue of what your religion was named. That there was a time when faith meant walking hand in hand with the divine and allowing yourself to be guided, not grabbing a sword and slaying all those who don't interpret the same scripture the same way.
It saddens me that the greatest flaw with any religion is that it is run by human beings. That faith has so frequently moved out of the arena of personal worship and into the arena of a reason to hate. Sadly, few people do as much damage to their fellow human beings for any other reason than the claim that it was God's will. I don't believe it was, yet this bothers me.
A clear cut example of how faith so frequently falls by the wayside in the face of politics confronted me today. I was driving down the street (well, riding, most of you know I can't drive) and I saw a real estate sign that had been vandalized. On it was painted a large green pentagram. When I saw this I had to shake my head. I had to shake my head because I can envision why it was done, and who did it.
This wasn't the work of some satanic cult, nor was it likely to have been a threat towards anyone. The pentagram was painted for the same reason that the teenager who did it undoubtedly has necklaces bearing the same symbol. Rebellion.
There are plenty of teens out there who are rebelling against their families, and one of the best ways they can find to do this is to rebel against the faith that is practiced by their parents. So they choose an increasingly popular pagan faith and flaunt this in their parent's faces. Then they go out to do that which their parents wouldn't approve of, such as this act of vandalism.
The biggest problem with this is that this accomplishes nothing. Nothing that would come close to matching their goals anyway. Does it harm the parents in any way? No. Particularly not if the kid doesn't get caught. Does it prove a point to the administration you are rebelling against? No. What it does is take people who actually walk that spiritual path and makes them look worse to the public.
Does it hurt the parents of the kid who walks through the mall with the pentagrams, black clothes and spiked hair when he causes a scene and gets tossed out? Not really. It hurts the woman who is there with her child and happens to wear the same symbol though.
I have never found where it says in the bible that a good Christian should take up arms against non-believers at every turn, but some people do. More people do it with this silly and thoughtless behavior on their parts. An entire group of generally harmless people suffer in public opinion due to the actions of people who don't even believe what they do. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
Much as I have said in the past about these "Christian" hate sites that encourage the murder of homosexuals and other sinners for the glory of God, I say that intentionally trying to keep up hostility between these groups is not what Jesus taught. As for the kids who aren't even pretending to do these things for a spiritual reason, wouldn't putting a bumper sticker with the same symbol on your parent's car be more effective? At least hitting the target in question? Or better yet, find something you believe in and stand behind that.
Maybe this last is the key. Your own belief and faith. We must first be solid on our own spiritual ground before we can consider others, and to tell you the truth, I don't think anyone is ever that solid. Perhaps we should leave the judging up to the one who has it all under control.
Well, that's my take on life or something like it. I will catch up with you on the next round.
It saddens me that the greatest flaw with any religion is that it is run by human beings. That faith has so frequently moved out of the arena of personal worship and into the arena of a reason to hate. Sadly, few people do as much damage to their fellow human beings for any other reason than the claim that it was God's will. I don't believe it was, yet this bothers me.
A clear cut example of how faith so frequently falls by the wayside in the face of politics confronted me today. I was driving down the street (well, riding, most of you know I can't drive) and I saw a real estate sign that had been vandalized. On it was painted a large green pentagram. When I saw this I had to shake my head. I had to shake my head because I can envision why it was done, and who did it.
This wasn't the work of some satanic cult, nor was it likely to have been a threat towards anyone. The pentagram was painted for the same reason that the teenager who did it undoubtedly has necklaces bearing the same symbol. Rebellion.
There are plenty of teens out there who are rebelling against their families, and one of the best ways they can find to do this is to rebel against the faith that is practiced by their parents. So they choose an increasingly popular pagan faith and flaunt this in their parent's faces. Then they go out to do that which their parents wouldn't approve of, such as this act of vandalism.
The biggest problem with this is that this accomplishes nothing. Nothing that would come close to matching their goals anyway. Does it harm the parents in any way? No. Particularly not if the kid doesn't get caught. Does it prove a point to the administration you are rebelling against? No. What it does is take people who actually walk that spiritual path and makes them look worse to the public.
Does it hurt the parents of the kid who walks through the mall with the pentagrams, black clothes and spiked hair when he causes a scene and gets tossed out? Not really. It hurts the woman who is there with her child and happens to wear the same symbol though.
I have never found where it says in the bible that a good Christian should take up arms against non-believers at every turn, but some people do. More people do it with this silly and thoughtless behavior on their parts. An entire group of generally harmless people suffer in public opinion due to the actions of people who don't even believe what they do. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
Much as I have said in the past about these "Christian" hate sites that encourage the murder of homosexuals and other sinners for the glory of God, I say that intentionally trying to keep up hostility between these groups is not what Jesus taught. As for the kids who aren't even pretending to do these things for a spiritual reason, wouldn't putting a bumper sticker with the same symbol on your parent's car be more effective? At least hitting the target in question? Or better yet, find something you believe in and stand behind that.
Maybe this last is the key. Your own belief and faith. We must first be solid on our own spiritual ground before we can consider others, and to tell you the truth, I don't think anyone is ever that solid. Perhaps we should leave the judging up to the one who has it all under control.
Well, that's my take on life or something like it. I will catch up with you on the next round.
posted by Wanderer at 7:26 PM
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