Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

I've struggled with faith for much of my life - grew up going to church, because "that's what you do." Never really got much out of it. I'm sure there are still many people who go because they've always gone, they enjoy seeing friends, feeling like part of a community. And I've attended services of probably more than a dozen churches of many faiths back in my newspaper days - can't say that helped me much either. But I started going again, and I guess the main reason is that I've realized it isn't about getting "answers" but really about asking questions about the things life throws at you out of nowhere. It's my "operating system" more or less. I can't explain why something happens, but I do have a better understanding of how I can continue on. It's just an anchor point. It works for me. It's like the 12 Steps - its a way of trying to make order of an often unforgiving world.

 

My feeling is that if a creator does exist, it is of a nature so profound that it's far beyond the ability of humankind to understand; we can only grasp snippets. That's why I have little faith in the myths that have emerged from ancient cultures.
I regard Jesus as a great philosopher who laid out rules for living a positive life -- among them, be kind; be generous; judge yourself first and foremost. I think we'd all be in a much better place if all Christians focus first on purifying their own hearts instead of attempting to modify others'. Unfortunately, evangelism is written into the tenets of the religion.
Efforts to spread the "good news" have often been forcible. As a result, the "converted" have often suffered. It also has corrupted Christianity, with each branch creating an unnecessary human hierarchy and often looking upon variants as heretic.
To me, each believer's church should be inside their soul. The ornate buildings and rich vestments are just worldly objects -- false idols.

 

Transubstantiation is voodoo.

 

Yep. Got nothin' against honest voodoo, though.

 

And
Let no one say this is aberrational, this practice has been performed for decades without a rebuke from any Church hierarchy and mainstream laypersons. Why? Because blessing guns is a Christian act? Christian leaders blessing weapons used to kill other humans, WTF

 

"Let me show you how God will put a cap in your ass." -- Pat Robertson, 2021​

 

Nice trigger discipline.

 

I did not see this curve in the road coming.

Pat Robertson—Yes, Pat Robertson—Lashes Out at Cops: ‘They’ve Got to Stop This Stuff!’

 

WWJD?

MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Two women were caught trying to spend a fake $1 million bill at a Tennessee Dollar General store earlier this month.
An employee of the discount store in Maryville reported April 5 that the women tried to use the counterfeit fortune to purchase several gift cards.
Blount County Sheriff’s deputies responded around 10:00 a.m. and spoke with one of the suspects, Amanda McCormick, who said she “received the one million dollar bill in the mail from a church, but could not provide the church information.”

 

How would it not be constitutional with the proper right-wing judges declaring it so? State declares the unborn to be a person. Doctor performs abortion on woman. The abortion is discovered, and police charge both because they ended the life of a person.

Now, it would be extremely difficult to prove, and pre-Roe, states rarely had laws on the books to charge women, and had difficulty charging doctors because women would either refuse to testify against their doctor or say that they had a miscarriage instead. But I would think they wouldn’t stop some of these radical right-wing states from implementing the law anyways as a potential deterrent to an abortion.

 

Better yet, the guy can walk on water and comes back to life, but he cannot hit a curveball.