Comments on: Is religion arbitrary? Hell yeah it is

By: don gaudreau

don gaudreau — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:18:17 +0000

OK, sorry but i didn’t want to type for myself. (I can just think it instead). Religion a shell, faith the substance; I would concur. I would add love first though because without love you could have a hater of people because of their religion, skin color, culture, status, appearance, disability, etc. There are so many examples of all people carrying out their hate to the point of genocide that had faith please forgive me that it is only a small sample of even this century’s list but we have Nazi Germany, Bath Party of iraq, KKK, Khmer Rouge… These differ from American colonialism since scholars cannot cite systematic genocide throughout the nation and instead now think that 90 to 95% of native Americans died from smallpox and other diseases their immune system could not fight. That is NOT a statement meant to minimize the slaughter of innocent people on both sides but certainly the Colonists bear the brunt of blame even when considering the warlike and brutal nature of many Indian “nations”. So, faith of whatever God you believe in is not enough in my opinion. And while religion is arbitrary, God is not. We just don’t have a clear enough picture of Him where we can all agree on who He or She really is. My humble offering of that answer that God through Yeshua or Jesus who hated the hypocracy of religious people is the closest I’ve found. I do however agree that my faith is rooted largely in my circumstance of where I was born, etc. Nor do I believe that right and wrong is arbitrary or relative. You may believe that there are not dozens if not hundreds of radio, cell phone, wifi signals streaming through your body right now but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. And just because something can’t be “proven” doesn’t mean it isn’t true hence my assertion that God and truth is NOT arbitrary or relative. The paradox of that is not the danger of one group believing that they’re belief is the truth, the danger is that they believe that with hate and not love for all people in their heart. I am sick and tired of the paradoxes of; 1 Religions looking down their noses at people who differ for whatever reason or worse, killing them. 2. “new age” people who think that “it’s all good” and qualities like honesty, faithfulness to a partner, willingness to defend the least of society, forgiveness, grace, mercy, righteous anger, personal discipline, humility etc. do not have absolutes within them. Otherwise, we can easily revisit the past even in a democracy to the point where we do unspeakable things for patriotism, or societal pressure.
If any of this makes sense, then great, if not, thank you reading it just the same.
Merry Christmas, happy Hanuka, etc. and may God bless you all

By: don gaudreau

don gaudreau — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:45:37 +0000

I don’t know if this thread is closed so…. testing 1,2

By: Dw3t-Hthr

Dw3t-Hthr — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:45:14 +0000

The Goethe line reminds me of what I often say about the mystical traditions in religions:

“Mystics all speak mystic.”

I’ve heard of ecumenical or interfaith gatherings where all the mainline folks were just having major arguments with each other over points of doctrine and rules and stuff — the things you called ‘religion’ above — and the mystics all quietly congregate and talk about meeting God.

By: Natalia Antonova

Natalia Antonova — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:58:34 +0000

“God is going to kick your ass you infidelic pagan scum!” – South Park.

LOL, I’ve actually been told that I’m “too much of a pagan” to ever be called a proper Christian. I like to think of “pagan” as in the Goethe definition – someone who sees important messages in most faiths.

By: Dw3t-Hthr

Dw3t-Hthr — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:51:48 +0000

Hrm.

Your description of “religion” is alien to me, but I’m not an Abrahamic monotheist.

By: rawi

rawi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:51:15 +0000

Haha, yeah I probably see more amusing trolls here than on any other blog. I’ve had interesting debates with a friend of mine who also says she attracts a lot of weirdos (in real life, not virtual), about whether or not this kind of attention can be “flattering.” We’ve had mixed conclusions.

By: Natalia Antonova

Natalia Antonova — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:24:13 +0000

Actually, lol, Dina’s Omar’s fault (like I said, I don’t blame you, Omar, I just think this entire thing is funny). He e-mailed to tell me he recommended this site to her so she may let go of some of her prejudice against Eastern Europeans. FAIL.

By: Natalia Antonova

Natalia Antonova — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:23:13 +0000

This blog is statistically proven to attract weirdos. A linguistics student once told me that it can depend on the name. Because I narcissistically named it after me – I think I get a greater proportion of it than some other people.

A lot of people search for “Natalia” & “Natasha” to get here, and then they have their troll eruptions all over the place.

Sometimes, it’s amusing. Like Dina over here.

By: Safiya Outlines

Safiya Outlines — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:40:32 +0000

Rawi – That’s a really good analysis. Thank you.

Natalia – I’m fine, just pleased to have escaped the strange forcefield around this blog which turns any criticism of you into bigoted trollery.

See folks, you can disagree with Natalia without insulting her ethnicity, background or personal life. It can be done!

By: Natalia Antonova

Natalia Antonova — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:47:53 +0000

I’m running out the door (was writing a eulogy for Michael Jackson last night – Rest in Peace indeed), but just wanted to say that I hope no one’s getting too upset with one another in my absence.

I think I personally have a very essentialist view of religion. I’d like to expand on that further, when I’m not running in circles like a headless chicken.

Peace.