door-to-door proselytizing
Today was a day for not going out, except once, to the grocery store. I was very proud of both of us because we decided to stick to a budget for food for the next two weeks. we overdid the budget and saved about $65 over what I expected to spend, so we did good.
So the real point of this post, since i have to have a reason to blog lately, is that today some people from a local church came to the door to offer an invitation to join them in heaven. I try to be nice to people who come to the door offering salvation. I have no idea why I do, but I figure if i respect their beliefs they'll respect mine. interestingly, most of the people who come door to door offering the intangibles have a meme in their belief that denies all other belief. I'm sure you know what i mean. This woman actually claimed the bible doesn't contradict itself. she said no person could have made up such wild stories. i pointed out all of the mythologies from around the world about gods and superhumans and so on, she said all that came later. I corrected her. She said the bible is the oldest, i corrected her. I said religions have been a tool of man for thousands of years and that they simply didn't resonate with me as true. she said if i'd heard the truth about her god and rejected it that i was definitely going to hell (she said this in front of her daughter who was accompanying her on this walk of enlightening). I said that struck me as odd, logically. Here's what occurred to me next: why would a god who represents all love and compassion ever want to send someone to eternal torments in the bowels of hell? i mean you can't be entirely made of love and not forgive someone who rejects you. you have to forgive them every time. too much of the identity of god is either a paradox or a ridiculously arrogant creation of man. it's just too much to swallow. now i'm not saying i'm an atheist. but there are commonalities within all religions that provide comfort and such to those who are afraid or mistreated, or provide justification to the violent and greedy, and many other good and bad things. This woman asked what i thought would happen to me after i died, and i said i figured i would just go back to into the world.. you know. from whence i arose. and she just looked shocked and disgusted. she asked if i thought i had a soul. i said of course i do. but i don't feel the need for that soul to last forever. and if it does, then that's fine too. i don't know what i'll want to do after i die, just like i'm not really sure what i'll do tomorrow. i have some ideas, but i'm sure they're likely to change... anyway.. it was odd. the weird part to me right now is i don't mind at all if she continues to go along believing what she believes.. and i don't mind continuing to believe whatever i want because when it comes to fantasy and faith you don't need any proof whatsoever. but i would never use my belief to justify aggression against others or anything like that.
stool softener for everyone!
that has nothing to do with my post, but i had to say it.
So the real point of this post, since i have to have a reason to blog lately, is that today some people from a local church came to the door to offer an invitation to join them in heaven. I try to be nice to people who come to the door offering salvation. I have no idea why I do, but I figure if i respect their beliefs they'll respect mine. interestingly, most of the people who come door to door offering the intangibles have a meme in their belief that denies all other belief. I'm sure you know what i mean. This woman actually claimed the bible doesn't contradict itself. she said no person could have made up such wild stories. i pointed out all of the mythologies from around the world about gods and superhumans and so on, she said all that came later. I corrected her. She said the bible is the oldest, i corrected her. I said religions have been a tool of man for thousands of years and that they simply didn't resonate with me as true. she said if i'd heard the truth about her god and rejected it that i was definitely going to hell (she said this in front of her daughter who was accompanying her on this walk of enlightening). I said that struck me as odd, logically. Here's what occurred to me next: why would a god who represents all love and compassion ever want to send someone to eternal torments in the bowels of hell? i mean you can't be entirely made of love and not forgive someone who rejects you. you have to forgive them every time. too much of the identity of god is either a paradox or a ridiculously arrogant creation of man. it's just too much to swallow. now i'm not saying i'm an atheist. but there are commonalities within all religions that provide comfort and such to those who are afraid or mistreated, or provide justification to the violent and greedy, and many other good and bad things. This woman asked what i thought would happen to me after i died, and i said i figured i would just go back to into the world.. you know. from whence i arose. and she just looked shocked and disgusted. she asked if i thought i had a soul. i said of course i do. but i don't feel the need for that soul to last forever. and if it does, then that's fine too. i don't know what i'll want to do after i die, just like i'm not really sure what i'll do tomorrow. i have some ideas, but i'm sure they're likely to change... anyway.. it was odd. the weird part to me right now is i don't mind at all if she continues to go along believing what she believes.. and i don't mind continuing to believe whatever i want because when it comes to fantasy and faith you don't need any proof whatsoever. but i would never use my belief to justify aggression against others or anything like that.
stool softener for everyone!
that has nothing to do with my post, but i had to say it.
Labels: religion rant.
10 Comments:
There seems to be a lot of this religion/not-religion talk lately. Especially after the Jerry Falwell death and the Christopher Hitchens on FOX News thing.
I think it is good that you are polite to people and that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say and are willing to discuss it with them...even if they aren't willing to believe your side of it...hmm...interesting.
I would have just told them that "I already bought some from the people that came before".
Once. In Bellingham. Someone came to my door on a Saturday morning as I was getting ready for work and tried to start with the "the world is going to hell, just look at the way our youth is behaving today" spiel. I countered with the unforeseen Aristotle ballast, as he was quoted about the exact same thing happening in his time. She had not a lot to say about that. It's really a pity that more religious people haven't thought enough about it for themselves to intelligently discuss and defend with those who do think for themselves.
The only rationale they have for convincing others is their own way of thinking. You've gotta meet someone halfway, or provide some big tangible examples if you want to persuade anyone to your side of any issue.
Evil woman... if there's a hell (and any justice), these close-minded types of people are getting the front-row seats.
While there is a good place for rational argumente, it seems wasted on these door to door kinds of people. They aren't arguing rationally, and they are at least less likely to be prepared to listen to a rationally argued statement. It's wasted breath on either side.
On the less enlightened side, I would be inclined to post a sign about the attraction between water balloons and those proselytizing. Blunt statements meet blunt response.
I've somehow always been able to avoid those kinds of angry door-to-door types. In Seattle, we had a couple mormon kids bike around and talk to us, and I would use the typical "We're happy with our church" ommitting the subtextual "I go to church because my parents wouldn't give me another choice."
But they were always pretty laid back about it. I'm sure somewhere they were trained that shouting people down or explaining that they'll go to hell just isn't a good way to get people into church, and their real motive was still getting me to come to church, stop drinking caffeine and other such nonesense, but I appreciated the lack of aggression.
If it's not an open conversation where you can feel comfortable expressing your opinion, it's not a conversation... :P to angry, fist-shakey, voice-yelly, poopy mcpooperkins!
I wrote something awesome in response to all three of you, and then firefox crashed and i lost it. i'm far too lazy to recreate it. but know that i love you all for commenting...
when i said three below i didn't realize i had a fourth and unprecedented unmoderated comment... so yes. all FOUR of you.
I think the best door to door way to get people to church is to pass out free stool softeners. Yay!
I completely agree. if you unblock the bowels of the constipated suddenly their ears aren't too full of backed up poo to hear.......
which probably goes two ways...
Holy crap! (pun not initially intended, but once realized, VERY intended)
Kim's a genius. As Brett knows, I don't even trust a door-to-door salesperson hawking their services or material goods, let alone spiritual enlightenment.
BUT...if you give me something that makes me LIKE you (say...a spa gift certificate, free un-poisoned girl scout cookies, and/or relief from constipation), I'm probably going to be more likely to TRUST you, and therefore trust your product. Aka your flavor of religion.
Since it's me, I'd still have to refuse the offer of salvation (I'm fairly certain that at the very least I've guaranteed myself some sort of management-level position in hell, so why turn my back on a good thing?), but there are plenty of constipated lost sheep out there who'd probably be more than happy to pick their religion based solely on an offer of softer stool.
Apparently not all of the Mormon kids get the training... I remember one coming to the door as a kid, and when I said 'I go to Mary Queen of Peace,' they replied like this:
'Oh! You go to the flying saucer church!'
I will grant that the roof was shaped much like a clover leaf, but I don't think ET landed on my suburban Catholic congregation anytime when I was there. Though it would have made the Homily ALOT more interesting.
Post a Comment
<< Home