Sunday
I’m going to church today. One of my neighbors does guest preaching and although I’m not their kind of Christian (and probably not anyone’s kind of Christian), I’m curious to hear what he has to say and how he says it.
Way back when, he and his wife would have been known as “Jesus Freaks” but they’re both too young for that era. But they are – or seem to be – sincere in their belief so I don’t push back when they try to save my soul. They mean well and they’re not pushy about it.
My soul is between me and any God that may exist; declaring a love eternal – or not – for Jesus isn’t going to make any difference. I’m headed for purgatory anyway; not good enough for Heaven, not bad enough for Hell. I suspect I’ll have lots of company.
Why do I suspect many of today’s belief’s come from the religious/political class efforts to keep control of the riff-raff?
Perhaps a study of the Church and its activities over the past couple thousand years?
If you desire life ever-after … “Love your neighbor”, “turn the other cheek” …
Sounds nice at first, but do you really want to live forever??? I mean, longer maybe, healthy, but forever?
Now, I don’t really want to dis that sentiment, but most Christians I know and have known, prefer the Old Testament god and use the “I believe! so my sins are forgiven” excuse to justify what they will.
But Jesus also said: “I come not to bring peace, but a sword.”
The guy was a shit-stirrer: tossing tables of the bankers, dissing the religious leaders of the time, pissing off those in power; that’s the Jesus I can believe in – they do not execute passive beta males in that manner.
In any case, I want to hear my neighbor speak. I know my attending services will encourage them to see me “born again” but I was raised in a hillbilly Presbyterian offshoot church and came to be (inadvertently) leery of holy-rollers and particularly preachers. But they are good neighbors, I like them, and it won’t hurt to establish myself as a “good guy” for the coming times.
And when it comes down to it, I’d rather live in a Judea-Christian society than the apparent other alternatives and I will stand with those that do believe “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace” (Luke 11:21)
Update:
OK. That’s enough of that for a while …
For most of my sentient life I’ve tried to live by the idea that, “I’d rather have a friend, than an enemy.”, and that has shaped my persona regarding interaction with all others. Initially, I’m willing to shut my mouth and bend a little, and observe and possibly learn. I am, after all, a life long student of life.
I’m not willing though, at this point, to venture into the den of the unknown no matter what that unknown, or supposedly known, will be.
My understanding is that everyone, after death, goes to purgatory until such time that the rapture happens, and then each person is “judged” and dispersed to their final destination. If you believe such a thing. I do not and remain unconvinced that anyone that does and that the people that proclaim they do are simpletons or shysters. Yes, I’ve read the book, and others.
I’m mostly good with letting everyone else live as they want and require the same in return.
“I’m going to church today. One of my neighbors does guest preaching and although I’m not their kind of Christian (and probably not anyone’s kind of Christian),…”
One should not concern themselves with being “anyone’s kind of Christian,” as anyone’s opinion of any individual’s salvation is of no importance, and actually against the teachings of Jesus Christ. Board in the eye, anyone? It’s only His opinion which matters when it comes to being saved by faith.
Sounds like there is hope for you, DT. There seem to be some core beliefs entrenched in your soul and that’s a good start.
After many years (10?, 15?) of meager snow around here we finally got some snow of substance. At least a foot, maybe 14″ or more. And at 10am it is still coming down. Difficult to walk on. On a vertical axis, where you put your foot on the surface may not be where it ends up when it compresses the snow down. Does that make sense? A 30″ stride at the surface could be 34″ at the bottom. Stairs can be trepiditious.
Our propane tank got filled yesterday so we have no worries regarding heat. If the powerline breaks our furnace won’t work but we have a propane fireplace that requires no juice.
Got about 40 gallons of filtered water on hand plus another 50 gallons of unfiltered in the water heater. Plenty of grub, so we’re fairly comfortable for now. As you know, Murphy’s always lurking right around the corner…..
I have a difficult time with the term “Judea-Christian society”–should be Judeo-Christian. The term is an oxymoron.
OK. You know what I meant though.
They are two religions with two completely different goals.
I do not. Two completely different religions with different agendas.
OK again. Maybe my terminology is incorrect; I’m NOT trying to dis your beliefs. I mean I’d rather live in a society based on the Old (Jewish) and New (Christian) Testaments – the Abrahamic beliefs … although that unfortunately includes Islam. To go further, I was raised hillbilly (Campbell) Presbyterian with the King James bible. To go even further, I do not believe in life after death … but I acknowledge I may be wrong. I’m just not anxious to discover the secrets of after-death any time soon.
My belief is that no one has any way of knowing what, if anything, there is re: god, heaven, hell. It’s all a guess and whatever one chooses to believe is what they choose to live with.
Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.
We come, we go. That’s that.
I was made from the dust of the stars and the oceans flow through my veins.
First law of thermodynamics….no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone when you die; you’re here just ordered differently. You have expressed this more poetically. You are and remain dust of the stars and of and in the oceans.
21 Grams
========
The title references a 1907 experiment that claimed to demonstrate the existence of the soul by measuring a small drop in body weight at the moment of death. Referred to as the 21 grams experiment as one subject lost “three-fourths of an ounce” (21.3 grams), the experiment has been dismissed by the scientific community as flawed and unreliable, though it popularized the idea that a soul might have a measurable weight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_Grams
Where did it go?
A side note about validity of those 1900-era experiments. Like always, pick and choose which one prefers to believe. People still take as faith the Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887 as gospel. If one has a soul, I doubt it has weight … but I’m of the belief our “science” isn’t necessarily flawed but lacking knowledge of what we don’t know sitting alongside the arrogance that we know most everything.
Are you aware that the speed of light is constant but time is not?
“We come, we go. That’s that.”
Works for me. 🙂
So, after all, what did you think of your neighbor’s preachin’ ?
The preaching itself was OK – he actually wrote his own sermon instead of reading a script. Fairly generic but you know: “God gives you what you need if you believe in Jesus”. Reformed Southern Baptists. Friendly people all in all, way too much singing (and all 4 verses of bad music). But my belief or disbelief in God aside, not for me.
Did they do the “invitation” toward the end of the show?
You know, where they tighten the emotional thumbscrews up to 100. LOL
When I was a young dood my mother used to take all us kids (5 kids) to church and I found it incredibly boring. When I was 10 my dad bought me a Timex watch. At that age I also became heavily addicted to swimming, especially underwater. During church I practiced holding my breath. Not only that, but because the church was mostly very quiet out in the congregation, I had to hold my breath quietly. So not only could I eventually hold my breath for 2 full minutes but I could also exhale at the end so that no one around me was any wiser as to what I was doing. Doing a huge exhale quietly is not very easy, you have to work with it.
I was surprised a bit. They didn’t pass a collection plate. They don’t allow one to just come down and say Hallelujah Jesus and declare you saved; they require one to actually participate in … shall I call it “instruction”?
Still, interesting but not for me.
Seems to me you would all benefit from a miracle. Their number is innumerable but the most interesting one, because it has received scientific attention, is “Our Lady of Guadalupe”. Scientists have studied the “tilma” over and over and over again. The results are interesting to say the least.