a bit of rambling on religion
31 Jan 2003 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minkhollowThis kicked off in a comment chat on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fujinsama's LJ, and now it's here.
I'm a baptized Catholic, I go to a Catholic school... but I don't get a thing out of it.
Didn't get anything out of it when I did participate. Only do it at church church (like not school Masses) to avoid death from parental units.*
If there was anything left when I made it to high school, my religion teacher freshman year scared it out of me. He thinks the answer to *everything* is to pray about it. Including getting his second ex-wife to come back. He told the freshmen last year (not me, thank... somebody) that the Holy Spirit came to him in a dream and told him all the freshemn needed to take the second-semester exam, which it's possible to get out of if your grades average out right. A friend's stock answers in that class were God, Heaven, Jesus, and I Don't Know. (I think he threw in an occasional I Didn't Do It for flavor.)
The only useful skill I got that year was highlighting.
Most fo the ethical principles the church endorses that I agree with are common sense - killing a baby before it's even born is pointless, destructive, and a psychological nightmare for the mother afterward. But no matter who you elect, they won't be able to make it all go away.
Some fundamentalists REALLY scare me. I'd like to throttle the ones who won't give their kids medicine because "if God wants my kid to get better, He'll do something." Hellooo. That's why there are doctors!
And then there's the Pope. I understand when he's considered infallible, but not how he can be in the first place if he's human. (Maybe he's not human? XD)
The one thing I really like is the book of Revelations. It's very much of the trippy, you can pull all kinds of modern parallels to stuff out of it if you look right, and it's (at least partially) the basis for one of my favorite books.
However. The bottom line on Christianity, far as I can tell, was summed up rather nicely by Douglas Adams. Some guy got nailed to a tree for going round talking about how great it would be if people were actually nice to each other for a change.
That's the basis of lots of things, minus the nailed-to-a-tree bit. Mom was investigating Buddhism (Bhuddism? Something like that.), and I think she'd go for it herself if not for the vegetarian part. Very much of the carnivorous over here. Eh. At any rate, she likes the calm-peaceful-avoid-multitasking-and-excesses-and-suchlike end of it. Which also includes being nice to people, I'd imagine.
I don't know what I believe in, other than something and probably more than one of it. So, atheism is right out (for me, anyway). I like Greek mythology but I'm not sure I'd go in for worshipping them. Maybe, maybe not.
(On a slightly related note, I think the Greek gods marrying each other, with the knowledge that they were siblings, was Greek society's best argument against incest. I mean, there's no denying how messed up some of 'em were.)
* - Considering Mom's already told me she thinks I'll wind up in some sort of pagan thing, I think the parents will be cool with whatever I wind up doing. You know, as long as it's not destructive or suchlike. I'm (a) surprised Mom told me she thinks that and (b) impressed by how close to the mark she got.
So, yeah. If you read it and it rubbed you the wrong way, it's your own fault for reading it. I gave you the choice not to, did I not? If you reply here, I'll delete it; if you email me, chances are I'll delete that too. I'm not trying to start an argument so don't start one with me.
In other news. Found a really cool picture for the "peas is our professioune" icon. Will prolly attempt making it tomorrow, seeing as I've already pushed the half-a-bloody-hour thing much too far for one day. A mere technicality. :b
(Music, by the way, is a complete and utter coincidence. But a damn funny one.)
fujinsama's LJ, and now it's here.I'm a baptized Catholic, I go to a Catholic school... but I don't get a thing out of it.
Didn't get anything out of it when I did participate. Only do it at church church (like not school Masses) to avoid death from parental units.*
If there was anything left when I made it to high school, my religion teacher freshman year scared it out of me. He thinks the answer to *everything* is to pray about it. Including getting his second ex-wife to come back. He told the freshmen last year (not me, thank... somebody) that the Holy Spirit came to him in a dream and told him all the freshemn needed to take the second-semester exam, which it's possible to get out of if your grades average out right. A friend's stock answers in that class were God, Heaven, Jesus, and I Don't Know. (I think he threw in an occasional I Didn't Do It for flavor.)
The only useful skill I got that year was highlighting.
Most fo the ethical principles the church endorses that I agree with are common sense - killing a baby before it's even born is pointless, destructive, and a psychological nightmare for the mother afterward. But no matter who you elect, they won't be able to make it all go away.
Some fundamentalists REALLY scare me. I'd like to throttle the ones who won't give their kids medicine because "if God wants my kid to get better, He'll do something." Hellooo. That's why there are doctors!
And then there's the Pope. I understand when he's considered infallible, but not how he can be in the first place if he's human. (Maybe he's not human? XD)
The one thing I really like is the book of Revelations. It's very much of the trippy, you can pull all kinds of modern parallels to stuff out of it if you look right, and it's (at least partially) the basis for one of my favorite books.
However. The bottom line on Christianity, far as I can tell, was summed up rather nicely by Douglas Adams. Some guy got nailed to a tree for going round talking about how great it would be if people were actually nice to each other for a change.
That's the basis of lots of things, minus the nailed-to-a-tree bit. Mom was investigating Buddhism (Bhuddism? Something like that.), and I think she'd go for it herself if not for the vegetarian part. Very much of the carnivorous over here. Eh. At any rate, she likes the calm-peaceful-avoid-multitasking-and-excesses-and-suchlike end of it. Which also includes being nice to people, I'd imagine.
I don't know what I believe in, other than something and probably more than one of it. So, atheism is right out (for me, anyway). I like Greek mythology but I'm not sure I'd go in for worshipping them. Maybe, maybe not.
(On a slightly related note, I think the Greek gods marrying each other, with the knowledge that they were siblings, was Greek society's best argument against incest. I mean, there's no denying how messed up some of 'em were.)
* - Considering Mom's already told me she thinks I'll wind up in some sort of pagan thing, I think the parents will be cool with whatever I wind up doing. You know, as long as it's not destructive or suchlike. I'm (a) surprised Mom told me she thinks that and (b) impressed by how close to the mark she got.
So, yeah. If you read it and it rubbed you the wrong way, it's your own fault for reading it. I gave you the choice not to, did I not? If you reply here, I'll delete it; if you email me, chances are I'll delete that too. I'm not trying to start an argument so don't start one with me.
In other news. Found a really cool picture for the "peas is our professioune" icon. Will prolly attempt making it tomorrow, seeing as I've already pushed the half-a-bloody-hour thing much too far for one day. A mere technicality. :b
(Music, by the way, is a complete and utter coincidence. But a damn funny one.)