This is probably going to be a fairly long post, so bear with me. :-)
I myself don't care what they do. I absolutely hate hate hate those idiotic reality shows with the one woman or man and all the slobbering fools vying to be their "one true love". They offend me, because they demean what I believe true love is and ignore what marriage is supposed to be about. So I take what I believe is the most effective tact. I don't watch them.
Those are exactly the shows I'm referring to when I mention programs that offend me. Ugh. And things like "The Swan". Haaaaaate. lol
These people condemn me for my beliefs. How DARE they think they can tell me what's best for me, and how *DARE* they tell me I'm going to hell for airing the show. Every day, I look around and I see 100 reasons why not to be a Christian.
The ones who condemn you for your beliefs are pretty nasty customers-- you know I've run into several of them myself. :-) But other people find good things in the faith. There are several old quotes that apply here-- 'see what you want to see', 'take out of it what you put into it', etc. If people read the Bible and want to see examples of loving other people and doing good deeds, they'll see that. If they read it trying to find justification for being the next Fred Phelps, they'll find a way to see that too. It's not so much the faith that's the problem as the individuals.
I guarantee that if a show was created that acted as if treating black people as slaves in modern times was natural and okay, people would raise an ever living stink.
This is a good point. And I'm not much on the whole boycotting thing when performed by either side-- I'd much rather let the shows air if they can actually find financial backers, and then when/if it flops, those shows won't be funded again. I like the idea of things being judged by the audience rather than people who fund shows being intimidated by a vocal group who might not even represent the majority view of the people who'd check out the show.
'God' isn't going to solve all your problems. That is what you are for. And I'm getting to the point where I think it's cowardly for a person to fall back on the 'big guy in the sky' and say "god's going to fix everything!!!" If you have a problem, suck it up and deal with it.
I'm going to have to disagree here. It's just an opinion I take exception to; I love a lot of Heinlein's writing and in his Notebooks of Lazarus Long, along with one of my favorite quotes about religion, ("There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know, so why fret about it?"), there's a quote that reads, "History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help."
And I very much disagree with that. Because even atheists don't 'stand up to the unknown without help'. Some of them go for discovering things through science-- can't they just leave it unknown? Aren't they strong enough for that?-- or there's something else that they believe in that doesn't always have a 'rational' basis.
It's not cowardly for a person who has faith to look to God for strength during a crisis. To me, it's kindof the same thing as calling your best friend to talk things over and see what options there are. Yes, people could get through most wretched times alone. But why in the world would you even want to try?
I don't 'feel sorry' for someone who does or doesn't have faith. We all have our own paths to travel to find the best place for us, spiritually and emotionally, and for some people that means a belief in God, and for some it doesn't.
And I think that's it, for now. I'll probably think of something later when I'm in the car and can't get to the computer, knowing me. :-)
Okay . . .
I myself don't care what they do. I absolutely hate hate hate those idiotic reality shows with the one woman or man and all the slobbering fools vying to be their "one true love". They offend me, because they demean what I believe true love is and ignore what marriage is supposed to be about. So I take what I believe is the most effective tact. I don't watch them.
Those are exactly the shows I'm referring to when I mention programs that offend me. Ugh. And things like "The Swan". Haaaaaate. lol
These people condemn me for my beliefs. How DARE they think they can tell me what's best for me, and how *DARE* they tell me I'm going to hell for airing the show. Every day, I look around and I see 100 reasons why not to be a Christian.
The ones who condemn you for your beliefs are pretty nasty customers-- you know I've run into several of them myself. :-) But other people find good things in the faith. There are several old quotes that apply here-- 'see what you want to see', 'take out of it what you put into it', etc. If people read the Bible and want to see examples of loving other people and doing good deeds, they'll see that. If they read it trying to find justification for being the next Fred Phelps, they'll find a way to see that too. It's not so much the faith that's the problem as the individuals.
I guarantee that if a show was created that acted as if treating black people as slaves in modern times was natural and okay, people would raise an ever living stink.
This is a good point. And I'm not much on the whole boycotting thing when performed by either side-- I'd much rather let the shows air if they can actually find financial backers, and then when/if it flops, those shows won't be funded again. I like the idea of things being judged by the audience rather than people who fund shows being intimidated by a vocal group who might not even represent the majority view of the people who'd check out the show.
'God' isn't going to solve all your problems. That is what you are for. And I'm getting to the point where I think it's cowardly for a person to fall back on the 'big guy in the sky' and say "god's going to fix everything!!!" If you have a problem, suck it up and deal with it.
I'm going to have to disagree here. It's just an opinion I take exception to; I love a lot of Heinlein's writing and in his Notebooks of Lazarus Long, along with one of my favorite quotes about religion, ("There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know, so why fret about it?"), there's a quote that reads, "History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help."
And I very much disagree with that. Because even atheists don't 'stand up to the unknown without help'. Some of them go for discovering things through science-- can't they just leave it unknown? Aren't they strong enough for that?-- or there's something else that they believe in that doesn't always have a 'rational' basis.
It's not cowardly for a person who has faith to look to God for strength during a crisis. To me, it's kindof the same thing as calling your best friend to talk things over and see what options there are. Yes, people could get through most wretched times alone. But why in the world would you even want to try?
I don't 'feel sorry' for someone who does or doesn't have faith. We all have our own paths to travel to find the best place for us, spiritually and emotionally, and for some people that means a belief in God, and for some it doesn't.
And I think that's it, for now. I'll probably think of something later when I'm in the car and can't get to the computer, knowing me. :-)