Burn in HELL!
So. It's always good to start the day off by hearing that you're going to hell.
Especially if your response is, "It's only 9 am. How could I possibly be going to hell just yet? I mean, really, at least give me until noon."
Yeah. So we had a Pentecostal lady come to religion class. I kept waiting for her to get to all the cool parts-- faith healing, being moved by the spirit, Jesus loves you. But no. It was a constant barrage of death death death hell.
You're going to hell.
You're human. And hopelessly flawed. Also? Going to hell.
You practice another religion? You're still going to hell. Me especially, since I (and Hindus, apparently) worship demons.
You're a good person, you say? Doesn't matter. HELL!
Really. You'd think that if you were going to go to hell anyway (because everyone 'sins' in their mind), you'd at least resign yourself to the ride and enjoy life.
Also? Woman needed to get her bloody facts straight. She emphatically stated that drinking was a sin of the flesh for which one could be (guess what?) condemned to hell. Jesus, according to this woman, never ever drank wine.
Forget that whole water-to-wine wedding incident. He only provided the means of mortal sin to all his disciples, but he didn't drink it himself.
And the whole "this is my blood" thing at the Last Supper/Passover meal (wine is traditional for Passover, and more or less anything Jewish)? The one where Jesus partook of the 'fruit of the vine' according to Mark 14:25? It was apparently non-alcoholic wine. Right. 'Cuz they could buy Fre zinfandel at their local Jerusalem Safeway.
People have got to stop blindly following and start distinguishing between divine teaching and man-made bias.
And speaking of bloody: fundiewoman's niece (who is in the class), then treated us to a wound-by-gaping-wound reading of every last nail that was pounded into Jesus's body. It took like ten minutes. I thought Rac was gonna pass out.
So. I get that Jesus had an excruciating death (he was one of multitudes that were crucified), and that this agony is pivotal to the Christian doctrine of "he endured hell on Earth to save you from your sins." But this bordered on morbid obsession. And you know, I thought that Easter was the holiest day in the Christian calendar because he was resurrected. You know-- happy life-affirming thing. Why not put some more emphasis on that?
The whole experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Don't get me wrong. I've known some awesome, spirit-filled Christians. So many in fact that my heart's deepest desire for about four years was to be a good Christian with a deep spiritual connection to the Christian god. I wanted some of what those people had-- it lit them up from the inside. I just happened to find my path a little differently.
The shame is that there are so many people like that woman running around mangling perfectly beautiful teachings in the name of institutional religion. Then again, what else is new?
Especially if your response is, "It's only 9 am. How could I possibly be going to hell just yet? I mean, really, at least give me until noon."
Yeah. So we had a Pentecostal lady come to religion class. I kept waiting for her to get to all the cool parts-- faith healing, being moved by the spirit, Jesus loves you. But no. It was a constant barrage of death death death hell.
You're going to hell.
You're human. And hopelessly flawed. Also? Going to hell.
You practice another religion? You're still going to hell. Me especially, since I (and Hindus, apparently) worship demons.
You're a good person, you say? Doesn't matter. HELL!
Really. You'd think that if you were going to go to hell anyway (because everyone 'sins' in their mind), you'd at least resign yourself to the ride and enjoy life.
Also? Woman needed to get her bloody facts straight. She emphatically stated that drinking was a sin of the flesh for which one could be (guess what?) condemned to hell. Jesus, according to this woman, never ever drank wine.
Forget that whole water-to-wine wedding incident. He only provided the means of mortal sin to all his disciples, but he didn't drink it himself.
And the whole "this is my blood" thing at the Last Supper/Passover meal (wine is traditional for Passover, and more or less anything Jewish)? The one where Jesus partook of the 'fruit of the vine' according to Mark 14:25? It was apparently non-alcoholic wine. Right. 'Cuz they could buy Fre zinfandel at their local Jerusalem Safeway.
People have got to stop blindly following and start distinguishing between divine teaching and man-made bias.
And speaking of bloody: fundiewoman's niece (who is in the class), then treated us to a wound-by-gaping-wound reading of every last nail that was pounded into Jesus's body. It took like ten minutes. I thought Rac was gonna pass out.
So. I get that Jesus had an excruciating death (he was one of multitudes that were crucified), and that this agony is pivotal to the Christian doctrine of "he endured hell on Earth to save you from your sins." But this bordered on morbid obsession. And you know, I thought that Easter was the holiest day in the Christian calendar because he was resurrected. You know-- happy life-affirming thing. Why not put some more emphasis on that?
The whole experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Don't get me wrong. I've known some awesome, spirit-filled Christians. So many in fact that my heart's deepest desire for about four years was to be a good Christian with a deep spiritual connection to the Christian god. I wanted some of what those people had-- it lit them up from the inside. I just happened to find my path a little differently.
The shame is that there are so many people like that woman running around mangling perfectly beautiful teachings in the name of institutional religion. Then again, what else is new?