Monday, June 11, 2007

JESUS WILL SAVE YOU...But Only on Tuesdays

And so it happens again.

I had a friend a while ago that was a single mother. Got pregnant when she was 16, was a party girl, didn't really take her life seriously, drank, let her folks bring up the kid, didn't study in school and then one day the parents cut the purse strings.

Faced with the harsh realities of not just self-supportation, but the supporting of a child, she managed it for about a year before she (you guessed it) "found Jesus." And I always found it interesting how people who can't deal with the harsh realities of life always become born agains and "find Jesus."

And it basically boils down to something as simple as this;

People will goof up. People will make mistakes. You can either be a man about it, admit you made those mistakes, face up to those mistakes and live with the consequences or go find some excuse as to why it isn't your fault. And the latter case is the born agains and that is why I cannot stand them.

For it is has nothing to do with the noble purposes of religion (salvation, repentance, etc.) but to shield the ego of a person who does not have the character and wherewithal to be an adult and look at themselves in the mirror and say, "I goofed up."

Now I know Christianity isn't the only religion out there where people will abuse seeking for something else to make their lives easier or explain why their lives suck. If you are a poor young Arab the local imam may trick you into believing that it's Israel and foreign powers intervening in your life, making you poor, thereby incentiving you to go and join Islam and blow yourself up. I remember a woman desperately trying to marry a Jewish man so her son could become Jewish. I even remember one particularly intellectually weak-minded person that joined Christianity because she got in trouble for stealing a pair of pants in middle school (akin what Hilton above has done). But whatever the reason, the true reason for joining the religion is avoid serious self evaluation, criticism and blame and to make your life easier by jettisoning your responsibility for your actions and your situation. It is ulterior to the true purpose of the religion and is an insult to that religion. They're hypocrites.

But Christianity is different and is why I theorize it attracts more born agains (like Paris). And the reason I say this is two fold;

1. The forgiveness aspect. Hey, you could have kills a bunch of kindergartners, punched some nuns or been Hitler and as long as you ask for forgiveness, you are forgiven.

Are you joking me? This is the big attraction to those where reality or the authorities have caught up with and are now going to suffer punishment. Living life as if they are above all others, when revenge is about to take its toll, then they start to search for an excuse for their behavior. Having none, how convenient there's a bible there. And how convenient according to this doctrine you are forgiven. It absolves a person of any personal responsibility. This still doesn't change the fact my friend's kid has grown up in poverty is not going to have a decent shot of getting out of it.

2. The "Fateism" or "Calvinistic" aspect of religion. That everything is in God's hands or fated to happen. That God has a plan and you have no ability to control or change the outcome. I don't know how many times I've seen the direct consequences of an action a Christian friend of mine has made and when I asked them, "why did that happen?" "Well, God has a plan." Yes, a plan. I'm sure this morning when I woke up, God planned me to have a Rooster Booster light. My personal tastes and preferences had nothing to do with it. I was powerless, I really wanted a diet Coke, but God forced my hand to grab the Rooster Booster. Just as I'm sure it was God's plan for Mao Zedong to wipe out 40 million Chinese. Mao was completely powerless. Hey, he didn't want to wipe out all those people, he wanted to help them. But God had a plan. And I'm sure God made my friend have unprotected sex at 15 so she had a kid and has since lived in poverty.

But think about this aspect of Christianity (or at least the Calvinism sect of it) and how it again absolves you of any personal responsibility. And how convenient it must be for people whose lives just got too difficult for them to face. "Hey, it's not your fault, God has a plan."

So here's the deal people. I'm not a particularly religious fellow, but I do respect religion. And I don't much care to see people pervert and abuse a religion for purposes it wasn't intended for. So the next time you run into trouble do us all a great big favor, don't become an intellectual weakling and say "you found Jesus." That doesn't excuse your behavior or any of the bad things you've done to society. All it's done is convince you in your own little mind that you're still an OK person. Be an adult, be a responsible person, pay your dues and face the music. You'll get more respect from society and probably true forgiveness.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, where to start.

OK, being Christian does not absolve you of your bad actions (sins). It is supposed to make you aware of them. It is supposed to make you understand that sin has affects on your fellow man. It is supposed to make you understand that their sin affects you. If we all help each other to sin less, we are all better off.

The best thing that you can do is to reach out to the people who sin the most and ask them to try to understand how sin affects both themselves and the rest of us. If they take it to heart and try to change, things will be better for us all.

Christians see Christ's message as one of the best ways to get this across to someone. People who genuinely convert are often appalled at what they have done, and with good reason. People whose conversion is not genuine typically just want to wall off the sins of before. Atonement of past sins (or penance) and forgiveness of sins against you are necessary to fully reach an understanding of how sin hurts both the sinner and victim.

In the Catholic teachings, reconciling sin is a 3 step process there is confession (admitting the sin), penance (performing an act to "pay" for the sin), and then forgiveness (usually with an enjoinder to 'go and sin no more').

If Paris has truly seen the light, she should endeavor to sin less and less until she can control herself and truly sin no more.

Thanks,
Bob Young

Captain Capitalism said...

Oh, I agree with you Bob, I'm not slamming on Christianity or any other religion, I'm just slamming on people who use it as a crutch and only in emergencies or use it for some sick twisted perverted reason to blow up buildings. I find it interesting (or at least contest) that Paris's epiphany and the terrorists' zealotry have the same origins.

Mark Adams said...

Actually, that article gives the impression that she actually is trying to clean up her act (she dropped her appeal, and goes on about various charities). The real question is whether she'll stick to it when she gets out, or whether it's all just a PR stunt.

What I, as a student of religion, found most amusing, though, was Cappy's comment about the woman wanting to find a nice Jewish boy. A child's status as a Jew is inherited from his mother's Jewishness. A child born to a Jewish father and shikseh mother is not a Jew unless he explicitly converts.

Anonymous said...

Did you check out the adds on the top of this blog? Too funny! I do not think the powers that be bothered to read the blog when selecting the advertising.

It is hard to be an atheist when surrounded by zealots. I find the moral choices much easier and simpler, but the judgment of the zealots is harsh and strange. I think I have an easier time sleeping at night than those who struggle with their morals and religion. I want to ask them why they bother.

Here is the thing- if I live without intentionally hurting people, tend to leave people better off than before they met me, and contribute to society, why would a God punish me for those things the zealots believe will send me to hell? Frankly, I do not want to believe in that kind of God. If there is a God, I will deal with it when the time comes. Here is my conversation with God, should I meet him/her. "Sorry dude, I thought the night with the chick in the red dress would balance out with saving the kid from drowning."

-Bellicoze

Anonymous said...

Jack Handey quote: "Once my friend told me that he had found Jesus. I thought to myself, "Yahoo, we're rich!!!" It turns out he meant something different."

Anyway, those people piss me off too. I suppose it's mostly because I am a very religious person, so when I see people making a mockery of God just so they can hide from the world it bothers me a great deal.

Look people, either God is not controlling everything you do, or He's a jerk for punishing you for all the bad things He supposedly made you do. It can't be both.

Yes, I believe that God has a plan for people in the sense that no matter what happens, you'll have the means to at least try to deal with it, but free will is absolute. Blaming God for your lot in life is cowardly and stupid.

Why is it that whenever celebrities have one of these little epiphanies, it always manifests itself in a desire to do something that will get them a whole lot of attention? Why don't they decide, "Ok, I need to change my life. I'm going to donate all my money all at once to some worthy charity, drop out of the public spotlight, and get a real job."

I know why they don't. It's because they're crazy for attention. I think deep down they might know they're scum, so they make a huge deal about it and more often than not become political activists for the Left.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know Paris Hilton was a born-again Christian; I thought she was just carrying the Bible because she thought it was a good media stunt.

On the flip side, some born-agains take it seriously, so who knows, would be really cool if Paris became a real true born-again.

For example, that "Dog the Bounty Hunter" guy, he did lots of bad stuff, but now he goes around catching lots of bad guys.

Anonymous said...

Organized religion does nothing but cause problems in this world. Most, if not all, of the major conflicts are a result of it. I have no stomach for it and all the nonsense that comes from it's practitioners.

Anonymous said...

Bob,

You write as if all those things are actually real (i.e., sins, penance, forgiveness, whatever). Its only in your mind.

Anonymous said...

"Organized religion does nothing but cause problems in this world. Most, if not all, of the major conflicts are a result of it. I have no stomach for it and all the nonsense that comes from it's practitioners."

Yeah, like WW1 and WW2, right jackass?

Religion is used as an excuse for wars because people believe in it. Pretty much anything that people believe in can be twisted into an excuse for war, be it religion, nationalism, racism, national security, economic policy, or whatever. Blaming religion for all wars is utterly juvenile. Grow up.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...

" Bob,

You write as if all those things are actually real (i.e., sins, penance, forgiveness, whatever). Its only in your mind."


Let's look at only one sin and show that sin exists and its effects are real.

Theft is a sin. If someone else has something that you want, and you take it without their permission, that is theft. The person who owned the object is a victim of that sin. You can make up for that sin by admitting that you were the one that took the object and paying for it or giving it back (the admission and repayment being penance). The victim can forgive you and not hold that against you. Or they could choose to not forgive you, its their choice but the forgiveness is real if granted.

I am not sure what in this would be all in my mind. Perhaps you could explain yourself.

Thanks,
Bob Young