Meh_Gerbil
May 8th 2004, 06:41 PM
THEME:
The theme of this post is hypocrisy. It has nothing to do with converting non-believers or discouraging believers. It has nothing to do with attacking anyone on this site for anything they may or may not have done in this life, a previous life, or in a dream after devouring too much pizza. I'm posting it here because I want to know if there is a Christian/Agnostic consensus on this topic.
RANT:
Part of growing up is matching what one says with what one does. This matching of actions with words can be a very enlightening process. For the sake of people on this site I’ll post an example of this in my own life that is the least likely to cause offense.
While I was a hard-core fundamentalist I grew tired of trying to convert people because I ‘loved’ them. It didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t ‘love’ them, and upon reflection, it occurred to me that I had a long ways to go to get to the point where I really loved my own family as I should. What I mean love is the self-sacrificial kind of love. This would be the kind of love that acts with no expectation of recognition and to no benefit to itself.
Why is it that people feel comfortable toying with the spirituality of another human being when they wouldn’t likely slow down on the interstate for that person while they are stranded alongside the road changing a tire? (Hint: Head Hunting)
Another example, one that will likely offend is all the recent bluster over the torture of prisoners in Iraq. I’ll leave it for you to evaluate for yourself but here is my own self evaluation: I don’t care. Witness my latest purchases: I bought about $700.00 in books from Easton Press while this was going on and I intend to spend a great deal of time reading those books. I have NOT written a letter, phoned a Congressman, or started a protest. By evaluating my own life, it is quite clear I care MORE for those books than the situation in Iraq. Question: What kind of Christian do you think I am? It’s not pretty, is it?
How often do I come to a message board and shoot my mouth off about a topic, less because I really care, and MORE because I like listening to myself righteously condemning someone or something?
Way too much.
Now humans are limited. I think everyone is capable of caring about things like Iraq and so forth, but we simply don’t have the time or resources to act upon it. That being said, Americans are the richest and most influential people on the planet so if we cannot afford to care who the bloody hell is going to?
As I get older, I get less and less concerned with rhetoric. For example, if you are demanding slave reparations while enjoying a pair of slave labor Nikes or a $79.00 slave made VCR then you’ll just have to excuse me for letting your shoes and VCR drown out your shrill demand for money for the decedents of former slaves.
Is it actually fair to hold people to these sorts of standards? Let me answer the question with a question. If I were to declare, in a single sentence that I couldn’t possibly care less what happens to insurgents in Iraq I think a lot of people would condemn me for saying that. Okay, I’ll accept that fact I’m a heartless bastard. What have you done about the problem besides condemn me?
So add this to my list of recommendations for living which is as followings:
1) Ask questions, doubt, dig, and discover your faith. Enter the after life with what you believe instead of as the mindless spiritual rape toy of someone else.
2) Spend less time listening to others and more time watching what they do. Let what they do be your guide.
Turn the gun on yourself, allow it to reveal what you really are. It is the first step to becoming something better. This isn't a tool to depress anyone or get into a state of loathing oneself, rather, it is a way to indentify weaknesses in the 'say' vs. 'action' alignment and correct it. Prolly take a lifetime to do that.
The theme of this post is hypocrisy. It has nothing to do with converting non-believers or discouraging believers. It has nothing to do with attacking anyone on this site for anything they may or may not have done in this life, a previous life, or in a dream after devouring too much pizza. I'm posting it here because I want to know if there is a Christian/Agnostic consensus on this topic.
RANT:
Part of growing up is matching what one says with what one does. This matching of actions with words can be a very enlightening process. For the sake of people on this site I’ll post an example of this in my own life that is the least likely to cause offense.
While I was a hard-core fundamentalist I grew tired of trying to convert people because I ‘loved’ them. It didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t ‘love’ them, and upon reflection, it occurred to me that I had a long ways to go to get to the point where I really loved my own family as I should. What I mean love is the self-sacrificial kind of love. This would be the kind of love that acts with no expectation of recognition and to no benefit to itself.
Why is it that people feel comfortable toying with the spirituality of another human being when they wouldn’t likely slow down on the interstate for that person while they are stranded alongside the road changing a tire? (Hint: Head Hunting)
Another example, one that will likely offend is all the recent bluster over the torture of prisoners in Iraq. I’ll leave it for you to evaluate for yourself but here is my own self evaluation: I don’t care. Witness my latest purchases: I bought about $700.00 in books from Easton Press while this was going on and I intend to spend a great deal of time reading those books. I have NOT written a letter, phoned a Congressman, or started a protest. By evaluating my own life, it is quite clear I care MORE for those books than the situation in Iraq. Question: What kind of Christian do you think I am? It’s not pretty, is it?
How often do I come to a message board and shoot my mouth off about a topic, less because I really care, and MORE because I like listening to myself righteously condemning someone or something?
Way too much.
Now humans are limited. I think everyone is capable of caring about things like Iraq and so forth, but we simply don’t have the time or resources to act upon it. That being said, Americans are the richest and most influential people on the planet so if we cannot afford to care who the bloody hell is going to?
As I get older, I get less and less concerned with rhetoric. For example, if you are demanding slave reparations while enjoying a pair of slave labor Nikes or a $79.00 slave made VCR then you’ll just have to excuse me for letting your shoes and VCR drown out your shrill demand for money for the decedents of former slaves.
Is it actually fair to hold people to these sorts of standards? Let me answer the question with a question. If I were to declare, in a single sentence that I couldn’t possibly care less what happens to insurgents in Iraq I think a lot of people would condemn me for saying that. Okay, I’ll accept that fact I’m a heartless bastard. What have you done about the problem besides condemn me?
So add this to my list of recommendations for living which is as followings:
1) Ask questions, doubt, dig, and discover your faith. Enter the after life with what you believe instead of as the mindless spiritual rape toy of someone else.
2) Spend less time listening to others and more time watching what they do. Let what they do be your guide.
Turn the gun on yourself, allow it to reveal what you really are. It is the first step to becoming something better. This isn't a tool to depress anyone or get into a state of loathing oneself, rather, it is a way to indentify weaknesses in the 'say' vs. 'action' alignment and correct it. Prolly take a lifetime to do that.