From an email I got from this woman from whom I bought office furniture once about 6 months ago...

If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions . Jesus said, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father." Pass this on only if you mean it. I do Love God. He is my source of existence.. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Phil 4:13 If you love God and are not ashamed of all the marvelous things he has done for you, send this on. Take 60 seconds & give this a shot ! Let's just see if Satan stops this one.

Not forwarding the email that preceeded the above has nothing to do with being ashamed or not ashamed of God or, as the email would have it, my love for John 3:16 but rather the fact that these emails almost always make the list of dumbest-fucking-things-I've-ever-heard-or-seen-anyone-say. "The little boy sat by the fire and felt so loved and warm and thought about John 3:16 and blah blah blah bullshit made up story blah blah." Then they try to guilt you into sending the drivel to ten of your closest friends (who the hell has ten closest friends anyway?) by calling you Satan if you stop the chain. Or by making the oh so convincing argument that, if you are ashamed of this dumbass email, you're ashamed of Jesus and, therefore, Jesus is ashamed of you. Even though they give no reference for that "ashamed" part. (Matthew 10:33) And even though just about every single version translates that verb as "denies" or "shall deny" and not "ashamed." Spam. The reason for the season.

Labels: Religion

"The reason the world's so fucked up is that we're undergoing evolution. And the reason our institutions - our traditional religions - are all crumbling is because they're no longer relevant. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

-Bill Hicks

indeed.

Labels: Religion

I found this interesting...
On Relevant Magazine's website, they are conducting a poll of song lyrics to see which is the most popular. Admitedly, the choices aren't THAT great... and there aren't enough of them... but this is still interesting.

Relevant is a Christian focused magazine. I get their newsletter every month or week or whatever, and it's sometimes quite good. There was a link this afternoon to this poll, so I took it. While "God put a smile upon my face." by Coldplay is ahead by a mile, "I'm losing my religion." by R.E.M. comes in second... just barely beating out DC Talk...

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/includes/poll.php?view=results&poll_id=13

I think the Smiths' low vote count is mostly b/c we're not in England...

Labels: Religion

Dear god,
Hope you got the letter,
And I pray you can make it better down here.
I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer,
But all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet,
’cause they don’t get enough to eat

From god,
I can’t believe in you.

Dear god,
Sorry to disturb you,
But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears,
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street,
’cause they can’t make opinions meet,
About god,
I can’t believe in you.

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!

Dear god,
Don’t know if you noticed,
But your name is on a lot of quotes in this book.
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
And all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true.
Well I know it ain’t and so do you,
Dear god,
I can’t believe in,
I don’t believe in,

I won’t believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners,
No devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
You’re always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
Those lost at sea and never found,
And it’s the same the whole world ’round.
The hurt I see helps to compound,
That the father, son and holy ghost,
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax,
And if you’re up there you’ll perceive,
That my heart’s here upon my sleeve.
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in...

It’s you,
Dear god.

-XTC

Labels: music, Religion

This is sweet. I wish something would happen around here so I could participate in such events...

From Sojourners:

Karl Rove, seeking a friendly venue for a commencement speech in Michigan, approached Calvin and offered President Bush as the speaker. The college, which had already invited Nicholas Wolterstorff of Yale to deliver the speech, hastily disinvited him and welcomed the president. But the White House apparently was not counting on the reaction of students and faculty. Rove expected the evangelical Christian college in the dependable "red" area of western Michigan to be a safe place. He was wrong.

The day the president was to speak, an ad featuring a letter signed by one-third of Calvin's faculty and staff ran in The Grand Rapids Press. Noting that "we seek open and honest dialogue about the Christian faith and how it is best expressed in the political sphere," the letter said that "we see conflicts between our understanding of what Christians are called to do and many of the policies of your administration."

The letter asserted that administration policies have "launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq," "taken actions that favor the wealthy of our society and burden the poor, " "harmed creation and have not promoted long-term stewardship of our natural environment," and "fostered intolerance and divisiveness and has often failed to listen to those with whom it disagrees." It concluded: "Our passion for these matters arises out of the Christian faith that we share with you. We ask you, Mr. President, to re-examine your policies in light of our God-given duty to pursue justice with mercy...." One faculty member told a reporter, "We are not Lynchburg. We are not right wing; we're not left wing. We think our faith trumps political ideology."

On commencement day, according to news reports, about a quarter of the 900 graduates wore "God is not a Republican or a Democrat" buttons pinned to their gowns.

Awesome.
and, "fuck you, bush."

Labels: george bush, Religion

just...
wow.

I dunno how long these articles remain... or whether you can see them w/o signing up.... but check this out: www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/breaking_news/11593934.htm

basically, a church in North Carolina voted to revoke membership of 9 of their members b/c they wouldn't sign a pledge in support of bush and his antics.

praise Jesus.

Labels: george bush, Religion

Two posts in one day... weird, I know... Talking to an old old friend last night, which got me thinking. (... at the risk of pissing anyone off... I MIGHT say something offensive below. I might not, but I might. Since this is my website, I figure I can say whatever I want to, and you don't have to read it, but I also figure it's polite to say that I might offend somebody in case there are some random people reading this drivel... so, I've said it. And that being said, these are my own musings and are not aimed at or intended to hurt anyone.) About Christianity kind of. And what it does for/to one's wants. If Christianity has something that you want, (a thing or person or job or something kind of tangible in a way) and the only way to get it is to really become a Christian, (not learn about it or understand it, but really BECOME) then you will probably never get it. Say, you really want to be a youth pastor of your old church b/c you enjoyed it when you were a kid or what have you. But you're not REALLY Christian. And you pretty much have to be in order to be in this position. You have two options... try to fake it and get what you want or concentrate on being Christian in hopes that you might get what you want. If you go the first route, you may eventually get what you want, but you'll most assuredly lose it due to your deception. (given time) And, if you go the second route, you might be able to keep what you want, but you'll most assuredly never actually get it. Turns out that a huge part of Christianity is forgoing one's individual wants and desires. Giving into Christianity means totally forgetting anything and everything you ever wanted. Because you're going to let God decide what's best for you. And you will accept what happens b/c it is what God has chosen to have happen to you. On one hand, it's kind of ok sounding. You don't have to really worry about anything. Doesn't mean you don't have to DO anything, but you really shouldn't have to worry about anything. The only reason people worry is because they're afraid that their plan for their life is going to get screwed up. If your plan for your life is God's plan for your life, and He won't tell you that plan (which, apparently, He won't), then how can you ever be worried that the plan is off track as long as you're doing what you think God is telling you to do? But I'm getting off topic about the want stuff. If you totally give your life over (meaning that you no longer have a plan for yourself), then you simply stop wanting anything other than God's plan. (I think) So, that job you wanted? Unless God also wants you to be doing that job and not anything else, you aren't going to get it. Of course, if you're a good Christian, you won't care, b/c you'll be following God's plan. Realizing that becomming a Christian inherently means that you should be giving up everything you wanted to do with your life is tough. And, I suppose all I'm saying is that it's totally pointless to want anything that a lack of a true sense of Christianity is blocking you from having. And I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing yet. I know that I try to see myself in terms of the things that I want to do with my life or the things that I want in life. And I think I've always done that. And I'd be surprised to find out that that's not what other people do too. The point of life has been to figure out what I want and do what I can to get it. Some things that I want, I figured out years ago and have wanted ever since. Some things, I'm not totally sure what I want yet. But that's how I grow, dammit. Figure out what you want, try to get it, succeed or fail, figure out what you want... blahblahblah... So, Christianity is simply offering to take away my ability to determine what I want. Or what is good for me. And, if something is not good for me, and I'm living a Christian life, I'm not going to get that something no matter how much I want it. Ugh... probably should have written this last night if it wasn't so late. If you actually got this far in reading this, sorry I've got no major climax. The whole Religion thing just annoys me so much. The more I think I figure out about it, the less I like the idea of it, and the more I think it might be true. It's good to know the truth, but it sucks when the truth turns out to be the exact opposite of what you wanted it to be.

Labels: Religion