by Luther Reads
After a deliciously satisfying Thanksgiving dinner, I sat mostly quiet as my Christian family discussed the role or prayer in their lives. Every single person had a different idea about how to pray and what those prayers actually do. To my understanding, the nature of prayer hasn't changed for thousands of years and it's one of the most talked about aspects of the Christian walk, so I was baffled by the disagreement.
I asked if this lack of consensus or clarity was problematic to anyone, but they all just respected each other's perspective. There was a genuine sense that each person has to view prayer in the way that works best for them, and I realized that perhaps the lack of widespread dogma about prayer is what makes it so powerful. Hmmm...
Christians also disagree about the Bible, prophecy, miracles, and all the other ingredients of Christianity. And by-and-large, this is all... okay. Even the very nature of God hasn't been nailed down (see what I did there?). Each Christian is entitled to believe about God what they need, and outside of the most intolerant corrodoors of Christendom, again, this is... okay.
So, I too have accepted a belief about the nature of God, based on who I am and what I need God to be in my life: nonexistent.
*****
About the Author:
Luther Reads marked himself safe from 2020
Showing posts with label bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bible. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Metaphorically Speaking
by Luther Reads
"When I was a kid, I thought quicksand would be a much bigger problem."
That's the text of a meme that comically rings true to me and so many others who grew up in the 80s and 90s. It was the TV shows, right? Quicksand was everywhere, and I watched with great concern, hoping to learn what to do and what not to do in preparation for the inevitable day when I would have to be rescued, or rescue someone else, from quicksand.
Fast forward 30 years, and I haven't come across any quicksand. Sadly, I probably never will. But I now accept that the quicksand was a metaphor for the very real struggles that we face in life. Quicksand can come out of nowhere, just like so many of life's problems. You need help from a friend to get out of quicksand. Need I say more?
These are just some of the many lessons that quicksand, as a metaphor, can help us to understand.
Oh, the stories in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible are also metaphors.
*cue the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song*
***********
About the Author:
Luther Reads doesn't like long walks on the beach. He likes swimming in the fucking ocean that's literally right there!
"When I was a kid, I thought quicksand would be a much bigger problem."
That's the text of a meme that comically rings true to me and so many others who grew up in the 80s and 90s. It was the TV shows, right? Quicksand was everywhere, and I watched with great concern, hoping to learn what to do and what not to do in preparation for the inevitable day when I would have to be rescued, or rescue someone else, from quicksand.
Fast forward 30 years, and I haven't come across any quicksand. Sadly, I probably never will. But I now accept that the quicksand was a metaphor for the very real struggles that we face in life. Quicksand can come out of nowhere, just like so many of life's problems. You need help from a friend to get out of quicksand. Need I say more?
These are just some of the many lessons that quicksand, as a metaphor, can help us to understand.
Oh, the stories in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible are also metaphors.
*cue the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song*
***********
About the Author:
Luther Reads doesn't like long walks on the beach. He likes swimming in the fucking ocean that's literally right there!
Monday, February 3, 2020
"I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual"
by Luther Reads
A few years ago, church goers openly mocked the non church goers who said, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." The church goers thought that phrase was an excuse to be lazy and stay home from church. But now the phrase isn't being ridiculed because so many people finally realize that churches are problematic for a lot of people.
More and more people see the deep flaws baked into the church hierarchy and structure, so much so that calling a Christian "religious" is like cursing them out. The rampant pettiness, cliquishness, legalism, and judgementalism among religious people has become too much. People backstabbing each other for positions, mismanagement of funds, abuse of power, misinterpretation of scripture, false spiritualism, etc, etc, and another etc. A thousand et ceteras, actually. Church folk be trippin!
A pastor friend of mine once defended this kind of behavior by saying that churches are still full of humans. He said, "People accept that kind of behavior at their job, but are shocked and disappointed to see it at church even though we're all still human." I thought the purpose of Christianity, and therefore church, is to make better humans out of us. So if church folk don't behave any better than the people at my job, I'd say that's a poor advertisement for attending church. But I digress.
Here's what I don't understand about the "spiritual" people, because many of them still read the Bible and pray to Jesus. Who do they think wrote the Bible? Who do they think compiled the Old and New Testament? Who do they think controlled the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus for thousands of years? The church! The religious people. The backstabbers, abusers, and misinterpretors. If the church's hierarchy is problematic now, then it was problematic back then. Ain't nothing changed. Jewish leadership compiled the Old Testament, and Catholic leadership compiled the New Testament.
"But God!" they say. Most Bible readers believe that God intervened in the development of scripture to keep it free from humanity's foolishness. Okay, so is God still doing that? Because I can write my own interpretation of the Bible, sell it on Amazon, and God won't stop me. The Quran and Book of Mormon are both attributed to God and he didn't stop them. Christians believe that free will was given to all humans, even the religious people who wrote and translated Bibles, and shaped the story of Jesus. Any biases, selfishness, and pettiness that they harbored went right into the Bible.
But don't take my word for it, read the book for yourself. From rampant chauvinism and patriarchy to the burning alive of non believers, it's all in there and it's quite messy. But above all else, it's predictably very human.
***********
About the Author:
Luther Reads has recently come to terms with the staying power of the Oxford comma.
A few years ago, church goers openly mocked the non church goers who said, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." The church goers thought that phrase was an excuse to be lazy and stay home from church. But now the phrase isn't being ridiculed because so many people finally realize that churches are problematic for a lot of people.
More and more people see the deep flaws baked into the church hierarchy and structure, so much so that calling a Christian "religious" is like cursing them out. The rampant pettiness, cliquishness, legalism, and judgementalism among religious people has become too much. People backstabbing each other for positions, mismanagement of funds, abuse of power, misinterpretation of scripture, false spiritualism, etc, etc, and another etc. A thousand et ceteras, actually. Church folk be trippin!
A pastor friend of mine once defended this kind of behavior by saying that churches are still full of humans. He said, "People accept that kind of behavior at their job, but are shocked and disappointed to see it at church even though we're all still human." I thought the purpose of Christianity, and therefore church, is to make better humans out of us. So if church folk don't behave any better than the people at my job, I'd say that's a poor advertisement for attending church. But I digress.
Here's what I don't understand about the "spiritual" people, because many of them still read the Bible and pray to Jesus. Who do they think wrote the Bible? Who do they think compiled the Old and New Testament? Who do they think controlled the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus for thousands of years? The church! The religious people. The backstabbers, abusers, and misinterpretors. If the church's hierarchy is problematic now, then it was problematic back then. Ain't nothing changed. Jewish leadership compiled the Old Testament, and Catholic leadership compiled the New Testament.
"But God!" they say. Most Bible readers believe that God intervened in the development of scripture to keep it free from humanity's foolishness. Okay, so is God still doing that? Because I can write my own interpretation of the Bible, sell it on Amazon, and God won't stop me. The Quran and Book of Mormon are both attributed to God and he didn't stop them. Christians believe that free will was given to all humans, even the religious people who wrote and translated Bibles, and shaped the story of Jesus. Any biases, selfishness, and pettiness that they harbored went right into the Bible.
But don't take my word for it, read the book for yourself. From rampant chauvinism and patriarchy to the burning alive of non believers, it's all in there and it's quite messy. But above all else, it's predictably very human.
***********
About the Author:
Luther Reads has recently come to terms with the staying power of the Oxford comma.
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