And that's the way you all become the Brady Bunch
Today I went to Church.
Church is great for a lot of reasons... not only is it the only place you can go to for less than 10bucks, but everyone is super nice to you, and you feel for an hour or so that you could really be part of something. And there is free coffee.
Being in a group of 'Believers' is an interesting experience. Being the new person is particularly interesting. It's a lot like how I remember being the new kid in class used to feel like -- everyone is a little curious about you, some of the nicer people see it as their responsibility to make sure you feel welcome and to introduce you around. You get invited to attend stuff that they need new members for. The Christians get to feel like they are 'doing the Lord's work' in recruiting you... it's win-win.
There's this story line in Fight Club... stop me if I've mentioned this before, it's one of my favorite movies... where Jack (played by Edward Norton) starts compulsively attending support groups -- AIDs, testicular cancer -- even though there is nothing really wrong with him (uuuunless you count lonliness, inability to experience emotions normally, and multiple personality disorder). He attends these groups so that he can physically and emotionally connect with people and cry. To get comfort. This is, basically, why I attend Church. I go when I'm lonely in my life. Like today.
Technically, I'm a non-believer. I'm spirtual, but it's mostly private and I don't go in for the whole "praise the Lord, Alleleulah (can't even spell it), and Jesus Saves" stuff. In fact, I'm sceptical pretty much whenever more than a dozen people get together for anything. Unless it's a shoe sale or a yoga class. I did a science degree and, I admit it, I feel intellectually superior to the faithful when that faith requires putting aside pretty basic scientific facts... like evolution.
But part of me gets something out of being with true believers -- people who can joyfully and unabashedly sing out loud about how great God is and how much they love and praise Him. People who hold their hands in the air and with smiling faces, sing about God as the Mountain, God as the Light, God as the one thing we can all count on and who will never let us down. I mean, I don't believe it -- God has let me down a whole bunch of times -- but I like the feeling of being with people who hold these beliefs just the same. I guess if you can refuse to believe in the fossil record, it's not that much of a stretch to believe that everything God does is for a reason.
Today the sermon -- spoken by a very ernest pastor (short hair, blue pants, slightly effeminate lilt in his voice) -- was about families. According to this pastor, the family is God's creation. His design. After all, as the pastor helpfully pointed out, God created everything, so he created the family. He used the Brady Bunch as an example of a family with good Christian values. I guess he's not aware that the guy who played the dad was a closet homosexual, and that the kids who played the oldest brother and sister were shagging each other between scene takes. Or maybe he does and it doesn't matter because, like the Brady Bunch, it's about looking like you stand for something more than actually standing for it. See what I mean? Sceptical and cynical.
Oh, and he shared that when he came to Belgium from St. Paul Minneapolis last year (the Pastor, that is, not God), his 18 year old daughter felt a bit abandoned... but, according to the Pastor, she ultimtely realized that "these were lies from Satan". Is it just me, or is that just a little creepy?
Anyway, this has gone into a bit of a ramble, so I should stop here for now. Basically it comes down to this: I need to figure out how to have a 'religious experience' without all the religion. Any suggestions?
Today I went to Church.
Church is great for a lot of reasons... not only is it the only place you can go to for less than 10bucks, but everyone is super nice to you, and you feel for an hour or so that you could really be part of something. And there is free coffee.
Being in a group of 'Believers' is an interesting experience. Being the new person is particularly interesting. It's a lot like how I remember being the new kid in class used to feel like -- everyone is a little curious about you, some of the nicer people see it as their responsibility to make sure you feel welcome and to introduce you around. You get invited to attend stuff that they need new members for. The Christians get to feel like they are 'doing the Lord's work' in recruiting you... it's win-win.
There's this story line in Fight Club... stop me if I've mentioned this before, it's one of my favorite movies... where Jack (played by Edward Norton) starts compulsively attending support groups -- AIDs, testicular cancer -- even though there is nothing really wrong with him (uuuunless you count lonliness, inability to experience emotions normally, and multiple personality disorder). He attends these groups so that he can physically and emotionally connect with people and cry. To get comfort. This is, basically, why I attend Church. I go when I'm lonely in my life. Like today.
Technically, I'm a non-believer. I'm spirtual, but it's mostly private and I don't go in for the whole "praise the Lord, Alleleulah (can't even spell it), and Jesus Saves" stuff. In fact, I'm sceptical pretty much whenever more than a dozen people get together for anything. Unless it's a shoe sale or a yoga class. I did a science degree and, I admit it, I feel intellectually superior to the faithful when that faith requires putting aside pretty basic scientific facts... like evolution.
But part of me gets something out of being with true believers -- people who can joyfully and unabashedly sing out loud about how great God is and how much they love and praise Him. People who hold their hands in the air and with smiling faces, sing about God as the Mountain, God as the Light, God as the one thing we can all count on and who will never let us down. I mean, I don't believe it -- God has let me down a whole bunch of times -- but I like the feeling of being with people who hold these beliefs just the same. I guess if you can refuse to believe in the fossil record, it's not that much of a stretch to believe that everything God does is for a reason.
Today the sermon -- spoken by a very ernest pastor (short hair, blue pants, slightly effeminate lilt in his voice) -- was about families. According to this pastor, the family is God's creation. His design. After all, as the pastor helpfully pointed out, God created everything, so he created the family. He used the Brady Bunch as an example of a family with good Christian values. I guess he's not aware that the guy who played the dad was a closet homosexual, and that the kids who played the oldest brother and sister were shagging each other between scene takes. Or maybe he does and it doesn't matter because, like the Brady Bunch, it's about looking like you stand for something more than actually standing for it. See what I mean? Sceptical and cynical.
Oh, and he shared that when he came to Belgium from St. Paul Minneapolis last year (the Pastor, that is, not God), his 18 year old daughter felt a bit abandoned... but, according to the Pastor, she ultimtely realized that "these were lies from Satan". Is it just me, or is that just a little creepy?
Anyway, this has gone into a bit of a ramble, so I should stop here for now. Basically it comes down to this: I need to figure out how to have a 'religious experience' without all the religion. Any suggestions?
posted by Penless Artist at 1:31 p.m.
2 Comments:
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This is how I get through life..... I am an educated person and believe in evolution.However, I do believe that science cannot explain everything. There are also different types of Christians I am a catholic and from your post I could tell that you probably went to a protestant church either baptist, methodist, etc...they think differently...as we all do. My spirituality is unique in the sense that God to me is energy...God is everything since everything contains energy.
There have also been moments in my life where inexplicable occurences occur...And I also believe that things happen for a reason because there is a certain order and pattern to this universe and thus our existence. I am also the type of person that believes that our destinies are already laid out but at the same time we have the ability to choose how we want our lives to be like. A good example of this is a parent who hears the child say that he wants to be a teacher and the next day the child says he wants to be a dancer , and so on...but the whole time that parent already knows what the child is goign to study and what tyep of life they are going to have simple becuase they know their child.
Thats my comment
Christine
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