 | | | Status: Public | | Entries: 13 (Private: 0)
| Comments: 39
| | Start Date: Oct 15, 2006
| Last Update: Mar 6, 2008
| | Views: 1765
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| | Description: and other random things that I'm vehement enough to post about.
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| | | | | Prostitutes and Pharisees | | | Something that most people (apparently) don't get is that Jesus often preferred the company of religious offenders, social outcasts, and "irredeemable" sinners to that of the "religious elite". Now, I don't care what you believe, but if you've been around some of these wannabe Pharisees in the modern day, you don't have to be Jesus to start thinking the same way. Now, I'm a person of deep convictions. My faith runs down to my very marrow. And if you know me reasonably well, you can be sure of where my allegiances lie. But if you don't know me too well, I can come off as a laid back kind of person with potentially scandalous aspirations. At least, that's what I've come to conclude based on some rather unfortunate feedback today.
Now, I have a few personal philosophies that come into play in how I deal with people. One: if you don't believe like I do, I don't see why you'd want to follow any faith-based rules. I don't believe in putting the cart before the horse. Two: a lot of the so-called "issues" aren't really an issue. People who freak out over small things like Harry Potter and steak on Friday and having a bit of sake with my sushi and so forth irritate me probably a little more than they irritate you. Three: I can reasonably take flak from some of the more militant atheists, but I just can't stand a "Christian" who grossly and negatively misrepresents the faith.
So I find myself in a congenial work group meeting with three other people. One mentions a South Park episode he had seen. Now, I don't care for some of the South Park episodes and some of the humor and subjects they use, but I've found more than a couple to be very funny and pretty spot on for the message they were trying to convey. One of the other members, however, (a Catholic girl) starts berating him for watching the show, calling it and him a "disgrace to America" and other completely inappropriate things. So when I kinda gently imply that she back off, she starts berating the both of us about our supposed personal habits, trying to touch off some argument (and failing each time).
So it escalates, with her accusing the both of us of things and our flat denial of her accusations until she accuses us of not being Christian. I assure her that I most definitely am Christian. (The guy tells her he's an atheist and asks if she wants to make something of it.) So then she goes after me solely, saying that I'm probably not observant. I assure her that I am. So she says "Oh, well you're probably one of those that sins six days a week and just makes sure they go to church on Sunday". At which point, I tell her that she knows nothing about me. Then she starts blathering about the pope. At which point, I'm losing my cool and I tell her that I'm Protestant and I don't give half a rat's *ss about the pope...in as many words. So at this point, she asks me if I want to "take it outside". I turned around and walked off, mentioning sarcastically as I left that that seemed to be a very Christian thing to do.
So the atheist and I had a great conversation and walked back from class laughing and talking. And I figure it's no wonder that Jesus chose the company that He did. Because radicals are bloody annoying. |
| New Avatar | | | I know this is highly irregular, but my new avatar is a girl. I know, I know. How am I supposed to confuse people now? I'm going to have to say, though, that I like the character a lot. Kou Shuurei is not your average girl. Unlike many female anime leads, she's not an airhead or a cute-but-batty character. Nor does she have overly exaggerated "features". Although you hardly notice since all of the art in the series is breathtakingly beautiful. Although I most love the series Saiunkoku Monogatari for the male lead, Emperor Shi Ryuuki (who is amazingly adorable), the one thing about the series that comes in a close second is that the female lead is a very strong character. Not only that, but she manages to retain a gentleness and distinct feminine beauty despite playing hardball in a man's world. She doesn't play by their rules but wins out instead by her persistent determination and powerful kindness. She's an inspiration for someone like me. Her diligence at breaking into the all-male world of civil service mirrors my own aspirations to break into the male-dominated world of evangelistic ministry.
I love the relationship between her and the men close to her in the series, especially Seiran and Ryuuki. Male characters like these that can find an equilibrium with strong women like Shuurei (able to show gentleness and vulnerability, but also strength and ferocity) are enchanting and they raise my expectations both for romantic interests and platonic companions. I love consideration. It's my Achilles' heel. And these guys have it in spades. The extent of this gentleness belies a more true kind of strength and power that they have that goes beyond mere sword-swinging. (They're good at that too, though!) I melt. And digress.
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| Our sue-happy nation | | | I rant about American culture from time to time. About the football obsession, or the watered down values and beliefs, or the rampant materialism. But what really irks me more than anything is the litigious addiction. People looooooooooooooove getting something from nothing, and whenever they burn their tongue on coffee that they ordered hot, or trip on a curb at Disneyworld, or get a crosswise look from someone of a different skin color, they think "hot d*mn I've won the lottery!".
From whence comes this idea of entitlement? What makes one person decide that a small inconvenience (or most usually, the random opportunity to make a plausible yet false claim of such) is worth the right to milk thousands or millions of dollars from another human? Are people really so miserable in this gluttonous nation that they feel it necessary to exact revenge on the universe at every possible opportunity? Do they hate their fellow humans so much that they feel each and every one should compensate them for the crime of existing? Or is it that they are so self-centered and selfish that they are entirely unable to consider that other humans have problems and emotions and worries? Perhaps this tendency to categorize other humans merely as inanimate forces of oppression makes these people myopic enough to only see frivolous situations for their cash payout and not for the mostly innocent people they are hurting to get that cash.
I've been thinking a lot about that in the last hour or so. This morning I got a call from the shop that fixed my car a couple of weeks ago. When I was leaving the shop, I had a minor accident with the shop's van. It did not damage my car and only minimally damaged the shop's. It was in the parking lot, and the van could only have been about a foot away before I hit it. It was so inconsequential that the shop did not want to file an insurance claim and told me not to worry about reimbursement. Unfortunately for me, the passenger in that van, one of the shop's customers, appears to be a card-carrying member of the sue-happy nation.
This morning, I got a call from the shop: the woman called them claiming that she had to get physical therapy and seeking reimbursement. I'm sure she was probably targeting the shop since the sue-happy know that they can usually milk more money from institutions than individuals. Unfortunately for the both of us, however, the onus naturally falls on me. Now, let me tell you: there was no way in hell that could have injured her. You get a bigger jolt going over a speed bump. Nevertheless, I still find myself in the unenviable position of having to deal with it.
This is not the first encounter with frivolous claims that I have had to deal with. On guy that my dad rolled into once after he removed his foot from the brake happily decided to pimp out his car on the money that he expected to get from my dad for scratching his bumper. Unfortunately, people in my family don't tend to lay down too easily. He put in a claim for several hundreds of dollars, but happily didn't see a penny. I intend to fight for a similar outcome. |
| Joel Osteen et. al | | | I don't recall that anyone's had the benefit of one of my televangelist rants lately, so I thought I'd go ahead and write one tonight. Now, most people that know me know that I think that televangelism is ruining Christianity. Scam artists like Benny Hinn and Prosperity Gospel suits like T.D. Jakes are some of the most visible representations of evangelical Christianity, and that representation is not good. Their material is not from the Bible, and the only purposes of their ministry seem to be to convince fat, complacent, barely-observant American Cultural Christians that, yes, they are God's favorite people and God wants them to live, not just in comfort but in disgusting opulence until they die and get a seat of honor in a heaven where all the right kinds of people are; and to milk their congregants to provide for the ABCs of life: Armani, Boeing and Cadillac. Oh how I loathe them.
But growing up around Houston, I'd have to say that the con artist nearest and dearest to me was Joel Osteen. His soulless mug used to stare down, arms crossed in smug holier-than-thou-ness from the billboards that clustered around the roads and bridges of greater Houston and I used to have to suppress the desire to stick out my tongue. Even when I moved far, far away, I could not escape his crass marketing. I can't go into a bookstore without seeing his hollow eyes and near-devilish smirk leering at me from the shelves. And of course, there's the nationwide telecast.
One might naively think that someone who has achieved such notoriety and acclaim would almost certainly have ample substance to justify such attention from Christian publicity outlets. But Christianity has a saying: "beware when all men speak well of you". Going way beyond the point of "seeker friendliness", Osteen not only omits all but the most superficial and out of context of references to the Bible from his sermons, but he speaks...repeatedly...on topics that would best befit a secular motivational speaker. In typical Prosperity Gospel style, he assures his audience that Jesus died that [horrible, torturous, mutilating, degrading, humiliating] death so that all the people that passingly, mentally acknowledged His existence could comfort themselves in indulgence, perfect health, good luck at the slots, straight teeth, attractive mates, and material affluence. His own outrageous affluence (thanks to his gullible adherents) and his almost suspiciously named Barbie-esque trophy wife would seem to back up the idea to the same people that usually assume that the preacher is generally way holier than everyone else. And he's a very good ear scratcher.
If the adverts at the bottom of the screen during the broadcasts and on displays at the actual sermons for Joel Osteen merch weren't insidious enough, his franchise has also put out a board game.
A board game, I tell ya. It's like a bad satire of Christianity. *shudder* Yes, ladies and gentlemen. We may be looking at the very face of the Antichrist. Or more likely, his false prophet. If Jesus were still in His grave, He'd be rolling over.
His sermons are predictable and empty. He starts with a bad joke. Makes a reference at some point to his wife. Includes the words and phrases: "best life now", "victORs not vicTIMs", "overcome generational curses" and other such wishy washy nonsense. Makes one or two out of context and superficial references to the Bible, just to make a point about how much God wants to make His favorite people fat and complacent. Flatters the audience. Belittles more scriptural points of view. Anecdote. Anecdote. Another pointless anecdote. Rambling on about totally secular stuff with vague morals and empty cheerleading. Toothy smile. Go-and-be-happy benediction.
It's like The Secret except with a little bit of .00000000000001M Christianity.
His is not the face I want representing my faith. Unfortunately, to far too many people, that's exactly what he is. |
| Why I don't mind so much... | | | It really used to annoy me that other posters always seem to assume that I am a man. It seemed that most people assumed that intelligent and coherent posting was related to physiological traits that I had generally thought to be unrelated to generating a good argument. Or perhaps my tomboyishness was just coming through in ways I couldn't notice.
Over time, however, I came to find it amusing and even made passive attempts to perpetuate the impression. But I've found that it is actually somewhat useful. Believe it or not, some people on these boards treat you with more respect if they think you're a dude. When they think you're a man, they don't send you snide little PMs that say things like
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Quote by: identity withheld to protect the chauvinistic Now be a good little girl.... | (Incidentally, that's one of the few times I've ever been accused of being "good"...)
Or comments right in the middle of a serious thread like
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Quote by: same, but edited for clarity Have you been a bad girl again? | Gender issues aside, high on my top ten list of pet peeves is being underestimated...for any reason. That it's for something as ridiculously immaterial as the location of my plumbing makes it all the more infuriating. If you have a problem with my argument, make a good counterpoint. If my ideology offends you, take it out on the weaknesses of my post, not on the imagined weakness of my sex.
I'm usually the last to jump on the Femi-Nazi bandwagon, but there are certain instances where one does begin to understand them a little, if not fully endorse. This is one of them. So this is a message to the people that want to answer serious debate with sexist tripe:
Put up or shut up. |
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