An Interesting Religion Blog
Sep. 16th, 2009 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philosoraptor42Ok, this isn't the first blog about religion for me to check out that isn't by an atheist.
1. There's an Islamic blog called "Chill Yo Islam Yo"who recently included a rather cool performance of the Tarawih and also led me to this rather cool video of an automatic wudu machine:
2. "WTFWJD" is a rather awesome liberal Christian blog. The blogger is a Catholic, but isn't afraid of posting images like this:
The most interesting entry was where they requested excommunication along with the young girl who was raped in Brazil whose rapist (and abusive step-father) is still recognised as Catholic. Apparently writing to the Archbishop isn't enough to cease to be Catholic...
This blog introduced me to the following video titled "Gay Marriage = Religious Freedom":
3. There's also "Slactivist" which is well know for it's comedy reviews of the Left Behind books.
4. - 7. Atheist Blogs that I'd be willing to recommend include:
"Pharyngula", "Greta Christina's Blog", "Blag Hag" and (I suppose) "The Friendly Atheist"
8. Another blog I follow is a scepticism blog called "Skeptico"
9. & 10. I also have a Sikh Blog called "SikhChic" and a Hindu Blog called "Hindu Blog", but they aren't so impressive. Worth watching I guess.
11. I'm also following a south asian blog called "Sepia Mutiny" which recently featured this comedy vid:
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):
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?
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?"
1. There's an Islamic blog called "Chill Yo Islam Yo"who recently included a rather cool performance of the Tarawih and also led me to this rather cool video of an automatic wudu machine:
2. "WTFWJD" is a rather awesome liberal Christian blog. The blogger is a Catholic, but isn't afraid of posting images like this:
The most interesting entry was where they requested excommunication along with the young girl who was raped in Brazil whose rapist (and abusive step-father) is still recognised as Catholic. Apparently writing to the Archbishop isn't enough to cease to be Catholic...
This blog introduced me to the following video titled "Gay Marriage = Religious Freedom":
3. There's also "Slactivist" which is well know for it's comedy reviews of the Left Behind books.
4. - 7. Atheist Blogs that I'd be willing to recommend include:
"Pharyngula", "Greta Christina's Blog", "Blag Hag" and (I suppose) "The Friendly Atheist"
8. Another blog I follow is a scepticism blog called "Skeptico"
9. & 10. I also have a Sikh Blog called "SikhChic" and a Hindu Blog called "Hindu Blog", but they aren't so impressive. Worth watching I guess.
11. I'm also following a south asian blog called "Sepia Mutiny" which recently featured this comedy vid:
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
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?
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?"
