An Interesting Religion Blog

Ok, this isn't the first blog about religion for me to check out that isn't by an atheist.

( Blogs I recommend... )

Anyway, the new blog I discovered today called "The World Of Doorman-Priest" is written by a Lutheran Pastor working as an RE teacher. Today I was very amused to stumble on the following list of God-proofs (intentionally humourous):

The Argument from Personal Experience:

 

• My Aunt had a brain tumour
 
• She had a lot of medical interventions
 
• We prayed
 
• She got better
 
• Therefore God exists

 

The Argument from Christian Superiority:

 

• I'm not wasting my time on you Athiests. God exists whether you believe it or not
 
• Therefore God exists

 

The Argument with the Doctor:

 

• I am not taking my medication
 
• I AM God
 
• Therefore God exists

 

Benny Hinn's Argument:

 

• Telling people about God has made me a millionaire
 
• Therefore God exists

 

The Argument from miracles:

 

• In a train crash 400 people were killed
 
• A small girl survived, but lost both her legs
 
• Therefore God exists (Praise the Lord)

 

The Evangelical's Argument (1):

 

• Most people do not believe in God
 
• This is what the Devil wants
 
• Therefore God exists

 

The Evangelical's Argument (2):

 

• God loves you (John 3.16)
 
• How could you ignore that?
 
• Therefore God exists

 

The Evangelical's Argument (3):

 

• God exists
 
• No he doesn't
 
• Yes he does
 
• No he doesn't
 
• Yes he does
 
• No he doesn't
 
• YES HE DOES
 
• Athiest goes home in a huff
 
• Therefore God exists

 

And my own personal contribution, the Argument from Piss off and Die

 

• God exists
 
• No he doesn't
 
• You know, that offends me but I am praying for you
 
• No he doesn't
 
• YES HE DOES. GET OVER IT
 
• Therefore God exists
   

 

He also had a rather neat explanation of the his problems with the evangelical approach concerning hell and the atonement:

I have to confess, I had a little problem with Hell. If we didn’t accept Christ there was only one outcome. Not that the youth leaders or clergy made a big thing about Hell that I can remember. No, it seemed more to be an idea left hanging in the air, the Voldermort of Christianity. We were all aware of it but it was rarely spoken of as sentences trailed off while leaving an inescapable implication echoing in the silence. Of course none of this was helped by the terrifying visions of medieval artists as they struggled to express on canvass an apocryphal idea from print. Yes, the conversations trailed off with a conspiratorial finger to the side of the nose and visions of lakes of fire and eternal agony.

Much better to sing a chorus.

My problem was simple. My dad was a policeman and I knew the theories of punishment: protection of society, rehabilitation, deterrence and of course retribution. I think I understood instinctively that Christian teaching on Hell was in some way linked to the idea of retribution; well it wasn’t going to be linked to rehabilitation was it, what with it being eternal and therefore with no parole to give you the chance to prove that you had been reformed? But I had grown up with another understanding – that of the principle of the punishment fitting the crime. What could anyone do in our insignificant lifespan that could possibly justify eternal torment? So what with it seeming all a bit overblown and out of proportion I felt the doctrine shot itself in the foot rather.

“Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot.” They would say.

Yeah, well maybe.

“Anyway, all sin is sin against God. There is no victimless sin.”

I found it hard to see God as a victim – a generic victim that is not the victim in Jesus on the cross: that was only too real and I understood that bit. God as victim didn’t seem to fit in with Omnipotence and Transcendence and I found it hard to reconcile the idea of an equal punishment for, say, genocide and mild sexual fantasy following reading the inner pages of Playboy Magazine.

Or was it that we were all punished eternally but with different levels of torment? Perhaps if you weren’t that wicked it wouldn’t be the burning flesh falling from your skin and then reappearing only to burn off again in perpetuity. Maybe it would be more like, I don’t know, perpetual repeats of The Antiques Roadshow. Ah, but how would even an Omniscient God be able to distinguish between the various levels of sin? Was muttering darkly at my maths teacher for being obnoxious with me over quadratic equations better or worse than getting away without paying the bus fare to school that morning? And in the cosmic scheme of things did either of them merit that lake of fire and the demonic toasting fork?

“No, what it is, right, is that once you are there you continue to curse God because of the torment and so perpetuate the sin which requires additional punishment. It becomes a cycle.”

“I see.” I didn’t but I was learning not to rock the boat. (I gave that up as I got older.) I just didn’t equate God with being quite so petty and mean-spirited. That’s not to say that I felt we should get away scot-free: after all punishment seems a perfectly reasonable principle and I was eternally grateful to Jesus for taking my sins.

Being a teenager and a Christian, I was beginning to discover, was occasionally the cause of a headache.

A more recent post was about his wife's experiences in a charity shop. If there's a war on Christmas, why is it Christians trying to prevent it being celebrated?

Anna came home from work quite worked up and upset. Anna works at Oxfam in Headingley and has done for two years. She absolutely loves it.

This happens from time to time and it is usually related to shoplifting. Anna is a very moral person and the idea of shoplifting from a charity shop is one she simply can not get her head around.

"What sort of person does that?"

Today it was something different. They have been threatened. A letter was delivered (now with the police for forensics) which said: "This is a very polite but very serious reminder not to display Christmas cards until November 1st. We will put superglue into your locks if you do. Peace and goodwill." The organisation calls itself The Movement for the Containment of Christmas.

This is not an idle threat. They have already glued the locks of the Mind (mental Health) charity shop in the same parade of shops.

Peace and goodwill?

The wife sounds like quite an interesting character:

As my wife asked me: "What's the point of knowing about the atonement if you can't answer any questions about insect bites?"

One feels she may have a point.

...

"....so, if you lie about farting in bed, why should I believe you about the resurrection?"

Interesting Religious Discussion (because you've been so patient)

Ok, you spend ages without anything interesting to say about religion and then two points comes up at once.

First one seems uncontroversial, (from my side of the fence at least)
:
God rejoices at abortion:
I found the text for Rachel's Tears online and was sickened to discover that the rite for abortion is couched wholly in terms of sin and transgression. The Episcopal Church, by resolution, has long held that women have the freedom to choose an abortion. It is not considered a sin. That this new rite begins with the words, "I seek God's forgiveness..." and includes "God rejoices that you have come seeking God's merciful forgiveness..." is contrary to the resolution. Women should be able to mourn the loss of an aborted fetus without having to confess anything. God, unlike what the liturgy states, also rejoices that women facing unplanned pregnancies have the freedom to carefully choose the best option - birth, adoption or abortion - for themselves and their families. No woman makes this decision lightly or frivolously. But each needs the non-judgmental and non-coercive support of her faith community to make the best decision for her circumstances.

The wording of this liturgy focuses solely on guilt and sin instead of the grief and healing that may accompany a very difficult but appropriate decision to terminate a pregnancy. If anyone is paying attention at the General Convention, this rite should not be approved.

This statement was made by Rev. Nina Churchman.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. The Anglican Church does not condemn abortion as part of its doctrine. As such, a woman should not be expected to admit guilt if they have one. If an abortion is sometimes the right decision, why shouldn't God rejoice in it?

Slightly more awkward is the claim that everyone should refer to God as 'Allah' in order to encourage greater harmony:
A proposal by a Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands that people of all faiths refer to God as "Allah" is not sitting well with the Catholic community.

Tiny Muskens, an outgoing bishop who is retiring in a few weeks from the southern diocese of Breda, said God doesn't care what he is called.

"Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem," Muskens told Dutch television.

"I'm sure his intentions are good but his theology needs a little fine-tuning," said Father Jonathan Morris, a Roman Catholic priest based in Rome. Morris, a news analyst for FOX News Channel, also called the idea impractical.

"Words and names mean things," Morris said. "Referring to God as Allah means something."

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group, backs the idea as a way to help interfaith understanding.

"It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God," Hooper told FOXNews.com. "I don't think the name is as important as the belief in God and following God's moral principles. I think that's true for all faiths."

The positive elements are:

The term Allah causes far too much panic when it is just the arabic word for God. Wider usage would discourage the ridiculous phobia.

The concept of idolatory is common to the Abrahamic faiths and if people are so stuck on words they are inevitably putting irrelevant details in the way of what truly matters.

The negative elements:

It isn't going to catch on and news stories like this just fuel the old "ZOMG the Muslims are taking over" mentality.

Muslims don't need other religious believers to use their word for God. They need mutual respect. As nice as the sentiment is, I'm not sure it would do the trick even if it was adopted...


(So, do I cross-post this to atheism ?)