WAKE up!!!!!!

Great post!

Many times the concept of God gets confused with the concept of Organized Religion."

One has very little to do with the Other.

The Other had NOTHING to do with the fist.

Think on it.

point taken ... i think.

i had in mind, when i read this post, the two concepts as distinct and separate. organized religion was constructed as a sort of self-glorifying, self-justifying, self-serving entity. well, maybe it didn't necessarily start out with those intentions. maybe there was some alutrism. but ... that is a stretch i think. organized religion is just moral politics. y'know what i mean?

the god thing tho. you're absolutely right. its distinct from this moral politicizing that is organized religion. i sometimes am inclined to think it speaks to the inherent weakness of human spirit.

thanx crash ... :D

clarify: "i had in mind when i WROTE this post ... "

/bark bark bark

its the little round bread and red wine silly!

/howl

i finally linked you back up now that the beta stabilized!

/grrrr

hey k9 ... thanx for the re-link.

har har about the bread and wine ... :D

It's like 5:30 am and I am still drinking my coffee and avoiding work. I like Crash's comment--I have been a victim of a lot of bullshit from organized religion and the bitterness still hasn't quite left, even though I do consider myself a Christian, albiet a weird one--ideologically we differ and I also am open and inclusive of other faiths. Nietzche asked the same question--you probably know that--he saw the God belief as weakness, and my stepfather, who was an atheist, also agreed. Belief in God can appear weak to the unbeliever, but I tell you, faith is not an easy thing and it often requires strength during hardship. Of course it begs the question: Don't you realize it's hard because it just isn't true and no one upstairs is going to help you. Precisely, that is always in the back of your head especially as things get worse and you feel abandoned. But call me crazy, but I've seen God in my life doing great things even when I couldn't have cared less. The religious zealots are irritating at best and downright unendurable at worst; I believe that is where most of the anger lies from those who claim not to believe or follow any particular faith. They bug me too. But they aren't God. There is a song called "God is in the Roses" by Roseanne Cash on her most recent album, Black Cadallac. If I can download it properly, I will send it to you. If not, I have a link where you can listen to it, but I'm still not awake enough to find it. She is a Buddhaist, and I too, find comfort in those teachings.

thanx for this.

i had a great comment and fucking firefox got lazy and stopped responding. grrrrrrrrrrrr.

ok. i have no use for organized religions. they are institutions basically that lie and manipulate. its damaging. i feel i was indoctrinated (catholicism) as a child. more than 20 years since i attended mass, i still recall 75% of the prayers recited during mass, in french and english. no one ever bothered to tell me what it all means. DID IT MEAN ANYTHING? i think its all about control. i think that speaks to the level of indoctrination and userism going in catholicism and organised religions in general.

i don't really see christianity (remember i look thru the lense i was given as a child) as any better than islam. when i see them in prayer in those tv clips, i flashback to being in church as a young child. seems the same to me.

i think religion is damaging. it has taken years and years to release the grip of guilt that threatens with words like hell, the devil, and blaspheme. and i do not see anything good there - in guilting people toward faith. in promoting bigotry in the name of god (homophobes - my mother has rejected her son, who is gay and dying of AIDS, because her priest counselled her to do such. FUCKING PRICKS!).

i can't imagine god would be pleased with this if indeed he did exist and appeared on this earth. recall the scene where jesus grew angry and destroyed the merchant's wares they were selling in/near the temple? and recall who he spend most of his time with? (the so-called sinner).

(i may think its a work of fiction, but i do know the bible quite well.)

i, too find some comfort in buddhism. i find the dali lama a wise man. he said once that there is no real power of prayer - ie praying to a god will not get you that thing you want in life. i agree then, that there is no one upstairs to help us out. WE ARE IT. we are that person upstairs.

as far as christianity ... i have the utmost respect for desmon tutu. i think we should ALL emulate this amazing man. he speaks with such wisdom and shows true dedication to humanity and open-mindedness.

the others are all just versions of people like dubya - walking the walk and talking the talk for personal gain.

as far as god. i'm willing to entertain the notion that he existed for a split moment in time - setting the big bang thing in motion, say. but i cannot accept that he exists now.

i have seen the circle of life - birth and death and more death. more than once i have seen both. i felt privileged to partake in such an intimate part of someone's existence, (ie nursing them to death) but never felt any passion for god. some women say you 'know there's a god' when you give birth. not so, in my experience.

i think we see what we wanna see. its like that person who goes undercover in a pyschiatric institution for whatever reason. he's sane. nothin' wrong with his mind or sanity. but the shrinks and the nurses take every single minutia of behaviour as a sign of his insanity/mental illness.

i think of faith in a supernatural entity such as god, like this.

not sure if you have been to this blog, enemy, but possibly you would find it interesting: wch. he quite intellectual, a buddhist, and his blog rocks!

thanx enemy ... i so value you and appreciate your connection. i would love a copy of that sone by rosanne cash if you can find it.

regards ...

:D

Have you ever read Thomas Paine's Age of Reason? I got a lot out of that book...

i'll check it out spring ... :D