Talk Thursday: It's Not Rocket Science!!

So I've made reference to my Missionary Boys before.... I've got a new one that seems to love to challenge me... but I'm not sure how prepared he is to have me challenge him right back.

When discussing my NON belief in Hell or Satan or some such, he asked... "Don't you believe that everything has a counterpart? If you believe in Heaven, doesn't there have to be a Hell? And if you believe in God, doesn't there have to be a Satan?"

So I smiled sweetly and said, "Then you agree that there's a Goddess?"
His eyes bugged out a little and I continued, "Doesn't God make the rules? I don't think He's bound by the Marxist Law of Opposites."

Because no, the only Hel I believe in is the Norse goddess that was believed to protect and guide people to the realm of the afterlife, also called Hel. I KNOW!!!.... what are the odds that a Norse pagan mythology and Christianity would call it the same thing? Those pagans need to come up with their own ideas. Sheesh!

And Satan? No.... I can't believe in that theory either. Why would God, Jehovah, El-Elyon, Yeshua, Yahweh... the ever-perfect, Almighty Father, in His infinite wisdom create a being with enough strength to challenge him... then turn over so much power to him? Why would God, knowing us and our imperfections, knowing that we are born into this world as sinners, sanction us to an eternity of Hell for those sins? I ain't no rocket scientist... but don't tell me that a GOD, The God, can't have common sense...

And while we're on the subject.... tests? Why do people think that God has nothing better to do than sit on his throne and cast down trials and tribulations upon our heads? It's like some people really believe that God is a sadistic child with a magnifying glass on a hot day and we're nothing but His ants. This comes up because of my previous inquiry as to being punished for being sinners...... when we are born that way cuz God in His EVER-SO-INFINITE wisdom had the WHOLE freaking world to give to Adam and Eve... and put them right next to the tree that screwed us for eternity. A test? .... really? God's going to start it all by giving us a shot to fuck it ALL up? And I'm not sure when the war in Heaven started... but I know that angels came down and did a bit of frolicking with the dirty humanoids... so obviously post-Eden... My question here is.... God made man, put us in paradise, and Lucifer.. in the form of a snake, seduced Eve to the apple... and God punished her and her progeny till the end of time, and DIDN'T so much as give Lucifer a spanking.... ??? Who was REALLY God's favored child?

Why do Christians get so mad when you refer to the Bible as mythology? I certainly don't mean it as an insult. In fact, though I often point out that certain occurrences or ideas are not original to, nor isolated to Christianity- the fact that there are common themes and occurrences throughout most major religions is, to me, proof of some kind of Truth. In the same breath, the fact that so many, vastly different religions sprang from ideas based on the same Book, or parts of it, makes it impossible for me to say that any single one of them is The Right One.

One of my most favorite movies in the world is Dogma... I love this statement...
Rufus: He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, televangelism. But especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.
Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?
Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant.

Thank you Kevin Smith! One more.....

Serendipity: When are you people going to learn? It's not about who's right or wrong. No denomination's nailed it yet, and they never will because they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter what you have faith in, just that you have faith. Your hearts are in the right place, but your brains need to wake up.

Some people might have a problem seeing past Jay and Silent Bob to get the meaty messages of this movie... But Kevin is brilliant! and it just goes to show.... that It's Not Rocket Science!!!