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The crwth Tapestry for Stalin Enthusiasts
Posts
He was on the shitter!
Religion and spirituality is as varied and nuanced as the human experience.
As a general principle, I care more about about how a person's actions guided by their beliefs impact the material world around them than how they profess to have arrived at those beliefs.
Whether you have faith isn't as important as what you profess that faith drives you to do. There are many people out there of different faiths who I have admired for the strength of their convictions.
Throughout history, and persisting through our present day, people professing faith in all kinds of religion invoke their faith to justify doing terrible things, while others professing the same faith oppose those terrible things and advocate for good things instead.
I am not trying to diminish anyone's religious beliefs by speaking in broad generalities, I am just trying to articulate my own feelings without inadvertently coming off as though I am being judgemental about any particular belief system.
Having said all that, this thread is supposed to be about evangelical Christianity specifically, right?
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
This whole thing is worth reading, but this bit in particular stuck with me when I first read it years ago:
You know how we teach new drivers to stay in the center of the lane by looking down the road into the distance, and not by looking at the road right in front of the car? Believing in something unknowable is like that. It doesn't matter if the thing you believe in is real - hell, maybe it's better if it's not! - as long as it helps you stay in the center of your lane.
See also Terry Pratchet, on believing the big lies.
(After I drafted this post I checked to see if David Foster Wallace has ever been credibly accused of abuse or sexual harassment, and lol, of course he has. I am Disappointed but also not surprised because charismatic men, amirite? But I didn't know about it until ten minutes ago and what I said about his commencement speech making an impression on me is still true.)
Same honestly, I just bite my tongue a lot more lol
And honestly it's hard not to say that if there were a god we should probably attack and dethrone it
I don't question what people get out of religion or faith, that's always made sense to me (and always kind of fascinated me, as an outsider) but I do question folks who are way into the structures surrounding it -- churches and whatnot
I know folks who have individual churches/temples/synagogues that sound amazing, really welcoming and wholesome and compassionate and inclusive, but my general experience of the world has made me feel like those are rare!
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
There is a church on my road (oldest baptist church in the county, I think) which is no longer actually a church, it's been deconsecrated or whatever and someone has bought it to turn into a house and art gallery.
But it still has a graveyard. This person has a graveyard in their garden. Which I think is pretty rad.
Goth cred 1 billion
What guides your behavior? To what ideals do you aspire? What ideas, if any, do you hold to be axiomatic?
Those are all "worship" in the sense it's used in the quote.
Does Jeff Bezos worship money? He'd probably say no if I asked him, but I say he absolutely does.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
"you're not actually an atheist because you have a set of ethical beliefs that you 'worship' in the same way that religious folks worship their gods" just isn't all that convincing to me
I think there's a genuine definition mismatch here between what I think "worship" means and what other people think it means. Which is fine! But I didn't mean to be like, "Acshually, here's why you're secretly religious, checkmate atheists," so I'm sorry it came off like that!
edit: like, even when I was Christian I didn't really "worship" God the way people seem to be thinking of worship. I believed in him, sure; but my church always emphasized how God much preferred us to live our faith/values rather than engage in performative worship, so.
Which is great given how much latent Zoroastrianism and paganism are in Christianity!
like, I dunno there probably isn't a Heaven and a Hell, but if there is, it's Jesus and the saints and the pearly gates. Hell is probably Dante's whole deal because I like the aesthetic.
but like, I have some good luck charms.
I inherited a little medal that purportedly contains a bit of Anthony of Padua's robe, the patron saint of lost things (also my confirmation saint, because he seemed like a really cool guy), and I keep it in my wallet and I've never lost my wallet so that's a thing to think about.
ghosts probably aren't real, but I've been in some places that were definitely haunted.
you have to have something or you go crazy
We are one of an inconceivable number of like civilizations all spread out and isolated, never to interact with each other and probably never able to be visited by a more advanced “god” due to the universal speed limit
It says a lot about the embedded religiosity in our civilizations that my statement would be seen as the controversial one vs even the very benign agnosticism in the surrounding posts, let alone what the devout would say
I grew out of Modest Mouse in a big way, but I think about that phrase a lot.
DOIN' THE COCKROACH YEAH
edit: hallelujah it's rainin' men hallelujah
I got in trouble because I would draw totally awesome Diablo 2 angels on the bible workbook they gave you
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
big swords, mostly.