So last night I had to take my grandfather to this event at his church. Apparently, some traveling christian choir made up of family members from Missouri was performing. I was reluctant to go, mainly because I am not a religious person and I knew it would be awkward if I went. Which it was. But being a musician, and the fact that my grandfather really wanted me to go with him, I figured I could tough it out this one time. But now I'm kind of glad I went, because to some degree it was kind of comical sitting in the pews of this tiny church with a bunch of old blue collar white people, all saying "Amen" after everything and raising their hands praising their savior. When you actually sit back and just watch these people, you realize how crazy they all are.
The father of the choir would start to preach in between every song. But it was never about anything related to what the bible says, or even the religion in general. All he would talk about was how everyone needed to spread the word of god. He even went so far to say that people should send out pamphlets to family members or even just random people they didn't know. This is a baptist church by the way, not mormon haha. So here I am thinking to myself, "Wow, these people are really scared that their religion is dying." Which I think is true. With the advancement of science, and the fact that more people are becoming non-believers, they are feeling like their backs are against the wall. I could almost sense an anger or frustration while I was sitting there listening to this old man talk about his encounters with non-believers and how he was sorry that they were all going to hell because they didn't "accept" jesus.
Which brings me to my next point. Out of all of the issues I have with religion, one of the main things is the fact that if you "accept" jesus as your savior then you go to heaven, but everyone else who doesn't goes to hell? Huh? So, you mean to tell me that all of the children in the world who die of starvation or other causes, who are barely old enough to think for themselves are going to hell because of something they didn't even know about? Is it their fault that no one told them about your religion? Is it their fault that the may have been raised to believe otherwise? Do you think god will really hold judgment against infants who can't even decide for themselves? Someone once told me that in gods eyes, Hitler and Mother Theresa are the same as long as they both believe in jesus. Bullshit. But I guess to each his own. Which is what I love about us. The capacity for individual thought makes us human.
But when the preacher man comes selling insurance to a lost soul like me, I'll say "If you see me on fire, just let me burn".
The father of the choir would start to preach in between every song. But it was never about anything related to what the bible says, or even the religion in general. All he would talk about was how everyone needed to spread the word of god. He even went so far to say that people should send out pamphlets to family members or even just random people they didn't know. This is a baptist church by the way, not mormon haha. So here I am thinking to myself, "Wow, these people are really scared that their religion is dying." Which I think is true. With the advancement of science, and the fact that more people are becoming non-believers, they are feeling like their backs are against the wall. I could almost sense an anger or frustration while I was sitting there listening to this old man talk about his encounters with non-believers and how he was sorry that they were all going to hell because they didn't "accept" jesus.
Which brings me to my next point. Out of all of the issues I have with religion, one of the main things is the fact that if you "accept" jesus as your savior then you go to heaven, but everyone else who doesn't goes to hell? Huh? So, you mean to tell me that all of the children in the world who die of starvation or other causes, who are barely old enough to think for themselves are going to hell because of something they didn't even know about? Is it their fault that no one told them about your religion? Is it their fault that the may have been raised to believe otherwise? Do you think god will really hold judgment against infants who can't even decide for themselves? Someone once told me that in gods eyes, Hitler and Mother Theresa are the same as long as they both believe in jesus. Bullshit. But I guess to each his own. Which is what I love about us. The capacity for individual thought makes us human.
But when the preacher man comes selling insurance to a lost soul like me, I'll say "If you see me on fire, just let me burn".