A couple of weeks ago I was coming home from work on a Saturday night (I don’t work often lately because of school but they called me in) and decided it’d be easier to pick something up than to cook a meal at 3am. For late-night food I like this place called “Taco Cabana”. They have a brisket burrito and it is…divine.
This other guy was wearing a shirt that said “preacher” on it and was all Jesused out with necklaces. (Seriously, what’s with all the huge crosses people? I thought Jesus already bore it for you…isn’t that how the story goes?). Anyhow…actually, no. I have one more side rant.
What’s with all these Christians getting tattoos of the cross and scripture? As with most Christians they obviously either have never even read the bible or don’t follow it (yet will profess its truth). God’s pretty clear on these issues. Leviticus 19:28 “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.” Notice he adds “I am the Lord”. That’s so you don’t get it confused with all the other voices in your head. And as for all the icons of Mary, and manditory Jesus gear of crosses as earrings or pendants, “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth“ Deuteronomy 5:8. For Heaven’s sake people, it’s the fucking 2nd commandment. How am I supposed to take you seriously if you can’t even keep/don’t even know your second commandment?
Enough with the ranting. This was actually supposed to be a post that is somewhat sympathetic to Christianity. Where were we? Oh yeah, the preacher guy… Anyhow, the preacher guy gets up, walks over to depressed Taco Cabana guy, puts his hand on his shoulder, looks into his eyes and says something like, “whatever you are going through right now just know that there is someone who loves you with all his heart. He has infinite love for you and will always be there for you.” There was so much sincerity in his voice. He really really believed it.
Watching that transformation was a major epiphany for me. Up until that point in my life trying to understand why anyone could possibly believe in any religion was beyond my imagination. I just could never understand. But here was my mistake. I always looked at religion from a more intellectual point of view. Even as a youth, I could not wrap my mind around the idea of a personal God. Too many things just did not make sense. But in that one fateful moment at Taco Cabana I understood why Christianity has such appeal. In my analysis I was missing the human element of religion. Who doesn’t want to have some super power friend that loves them (sort of) unconditionally, looks out for them (even when he’s “testing their strength”), and even (somehow) died for the mistakes they hadn’t even made yet? And Love and Hope. What human being doesn’t want those two things?
I’ll leave it at that.
Wrestling with Philosophy 