I asked Jen to pick the image for today, and she opted for the "stone wall". Of course, this is no stone wall viewed from below, it's the water in Sullivan's Cove viewed from above! I took this one just next to the tilt bridge near the fish punts. That must read very oddly to a non-English speaker, one would imagine.
Easter Monday, and I have still managed to avoid chocolate eggs. It will be quite an accomplishment if I make it right way through unscathed.
I noted in the comments thread about a work colleague of a reader who was offended by my bemusement at the whole Easter tale. Now, I respect everybody's right to be offended at whatever they like, but like that Jesus fellow apparently said himself, do unto others and all that jazz. You see, I can happily endorse that Byrds track Jesus Is Just Alright, because Jesus sounded like a nice fellow. I can't say that there is too much different about our respective approaches to life.
So, in the spirit of Jesus, I'm happy for others to ridicule my beliefs too, particularly if they involve ramming down one interpretation of a way of living (and dying) that is very much about power relationships, the game of Chinese whispers that is oral history regarding events of more than two thousand years ago, a distinct whiff of sleight of hand all that mean I can't visit a supermarket on Friday as I normally would.
I feel this even more strongly when people (usually men, as most doctrinal religions have some way to go with regards to gender equity) trot out nonsense like Leviticus to justify treating person A differently than person B because of some old folk tale. Don't like blokes getting jiggy with other blokes? Don't get jiggy with other blokes then! Don't want to lay with your missus "in her uncleanliness"? Don't like shellfish? Pork? Hey, wait a sec, we don't worry so much about that these days. So much for the sacred word of God!
I'll be honest with you, God in the Old Testament is a real arsehole. If doesn't like the look of you, BAM, there's a pox on your house, locusts in your field and your lovely wife can be stored in a decorative salt shaker.
How's that for divine right?
I'm a child of the Enlightenment. I can't help it. It's German Idealists all the way for me baby and God may well damn me if I'm wrong, I'll wear it. Humans you see, difficult buggers, they create God/s because they need it/him/them, they kill them when they don't.
Faith?
As much as you can, I have it in people. Not much else one can do.
Comments
Yes, I am a Christian, and I found your post today. And I am offended just as you will more than likely be offended at my post, but I feel I must mention something just in case no one else has the guts to take a stand for our Holy, Righteous, God.
1) The laws. There are two different kind of laws in the OT (Old Testament). The Customary laws (laws that were for their protection since they did not have the sanitary protections we have today) and two the Moral Laws (i.e. laws like the 10 commandments).
The moral laws are important and still affect us today. We all have a moral compass inside of us telling us what is right and wrong. The Bible has written in it all the things that we know already without reading it which is right and wrong.
1) How many lies have you told in your life? We all know that lying is wrong. We detest it when others even white lie to us.
2) Men and women get hurt when their significant other goes off and cheats on them. The Bible says not to commit fornication or adultery!
Those are just two examples. And I will leave you there.
My Resurrection celebration yesterday was a time to remember how Christ fulfilled prophecy that was written about 500 years before He did that. Lots of things happened in that moment that could not have happened by random chance. To learn more or get a good alternative view on the history... read More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowel.
If you read through all this... thanks for reading and taking time for me to share my thoughts.
~ME~
The key thing though is that it is your faith. It isn't one shared by myself, nor countless others. Some of those others happen to believe in different versions of God/s.
The modern state needs to separate a religious notion of law with a legal notion of law. Personally, I don't need the existence of a God or Word of God (Bible/Torah/Quran etc) to afford me a moral compass, I already have one. Some of it does not conflict at all with any of these religious texts (murder, honesty, fidelity), some are (equality of sexes, religious diversity, abortion rights, individual rights to pursue one's sexual preference and not suffer discrimination).
Just as I would not expect the state to apply my moral framework in total, I expect that it will not do so for any particular religion.
I do appreciate that Easter and the resurrection tale is important for those that believe it, just as any of the holy days of any other religion are. They do not hold that weight for me, however. Insisting that they should (as one often finds at this time of year), is frustrating.