Disclaiming my ‘disgust’
You've read it wrong. I wasn't condemning anybody Well, yeah I was only condemning particular divisions of society who have REDUCED the entire holy being (be it Christ, Buddha, Krishna etc) into a cruel and unloving being who will torturously send an unbelieving soul to hell just for the sake of them not believing.
Adoring God, whoever you prefer him to be, is not about living in fear, nor is it about making others fear.
There are other ways to spread the good word (whichever version you choose it to be), and telling people that 'you'll die and live in hell if you don't believe in my god' just isn't the way to go.
It seems as though Christianity is one that I've been talking about mostly, so allow me to talk about how Buddhists too make this fault.
At the place where I work, there's a small Buddhist community that spends every afternoon chanting the mantras. The old, the young, men and women alike, would be there chanting, chanting, and chanting, and sometimes, from where I'm sitting on the fourth floor, I can hear the 'soothing' rhythms of their chants. A few months later, I don't know if soothing is the right word when I see the way they choose to practise the Buddhist teachings.
In Buddhism, many practise the ritual of 'Freeing the Live', fang sheng. The men set terrapins free, while the women would set birds to the sky. The normal temple allows this practice on special occasions, or at least, the normal temples that I visit with my mother does this.
This place near my office seems to be freeing terrapins in the huge lake every other day. In the mornings when I drive to work, I would sometimes see a terrapin or two walking along the gravel. A closer look and you'll see these are not terrapins, but land tortoises. They do not belong to the lake. They'll DIE in the lake.
And yet these practising Buddhists are setting these poor creatures to their eternal damnation every single day, chanting the good Lord Buddha's name in vain, I say. Anyway I too wonder why they don't have to go to work, because the chantings go on in the late mornings, times when people should be busy working to earn a living, and live a good life.
Have you ever been 'evangelised' by a Buddhist who tells you that your brand of Buddhism is practised wrongly? Well, believe me, I have. And many would agree that there is a tug of war between temples to keep devotees to themselves. The concept of God is manifest in every living thing doesn't nearly exist everywhere. Even visits to particular Taoist mediums might tell you not to go to another temple anymore because they teach you the wrong things, or, the idols in that particular temple are not filled with the good spirits of the deities.
I chanced upon a blog recently that had this very troubling line, and this was said by a woman who has been a Baptist for I say, 50-odd years?
She said this, (unabridged) 'The best person in the world will go to hell if he has not accepted in his heart and soul Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.'
In response to my comment to one of her posts stating why the God will bar homosexuals from entering heaven (yes I quoted Leviticus to her), she said this to me, 'I hope you find that free ticket to eternal life and the peace that passes all understanding, just as I have.'
And she dedicates the entire site to proclaiming her love for Jesus. In that same site, she talks about how Allah is not a true God, that people who advocate euthanasia are anti-Gods, and that homosexuality, well, wrong wrong wrong.
She calls me 'a non-Christian who hates for Christians to tell her what God is about.'
I tell this lady, Jeannette, no. I don't hate for Christians to tell me what God is about. What I hate, is for Christians like Jeannette, who tell the rest of the world what God is NOT about.
I disagree with this person, because in my personal book of understanding, there are no tickets to heaven. No purchases required. And, living life right shouldn't be because of living life to achieve eternal life, or nirvana or etc. Living life right should be for the simple reason of respecting life, itself. This is why I sincerely cannot take people who accuse atheists and agnostics for living without morals or conscience.
What, indeed, is so wrong about living life right for the sake of living it right? Do we, as human beings, need to be so way-less as to be accused of being unmoral merely because, 'I do not believe in God.'
After all, believing in God is not equivalent to being a morally just person. If you need to pile your worries in God and trust in God merely because without God you are unmoral, then what kind of person are you? I call it quoting God in vain. When you say God-fearing, does it mean you are only a good person because you are afraid of God?
Whatever happened to the concept of being good just because? No strings attached. And definitely no, not because being good because God wanted us to be good.
If life were so miniscule as to living it right just to acquire the end of times in a 'peaceful' manner, and that be your reason for loving God… well… it's simply not worth living at all. Life is more precious than all that, and please…
Be human. It's more important than being anything else.
May 20th, 2005 at 9:46 am
WOw, well said even though this issue is always sentitive.
May 20th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Well said. I always steer clear of this issue because it’s always the “chicken & egg”/”he said she said” argument.
We are responsible for our action, our faith and our belief. Whatever I do is between me & my god. I don’t need a third person to come knock on my door telling me I’m going to hell because I don’t believe in their god.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:03 am
Blessed are the ignorant, theirs is a state of insidious bliss.
My Jesus forgives her Jesus’s pettiness. Nothing more scary then a misguided Christian with a blog.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:15 am
anyway if another christian, or buddhist, or muslim or whatever starts condemning me by telling me something as obscure as, ‘then i have no choice but to leave you behind because God said the gates to hell are wide but the road to heaven is narrow.’ …
i’ll say this, ‘if heaven is filled with people like you, then better hell than heaven. at least i’ll have hell of a good time.’
May 20th, 2005 at 10:30 am
http://www.huntingthesnark.net/index.php?p=12
Not the first time it’s happened, and not the last. Religion is, as I have stated in my blog, a personal thing. Condemning someone because they do not subscribe to your religion is not right.
May 20th, 2005 at 11:31 am
wow, you’re really in a religious kind of phase right now, aren’t ya?
Like I said before, I think religion is a point of view, and everyone has the right to believe in something or not.
And I ABHORE people who try to shove their beliefs down my throat. I HATE people that preach and proclaim that a certain god is the ONLY ONE and without Him you are doomed. If anything, it puts me OFF that religion.
Fanatics are NEVER good.
May 20th, 2005 at 11:41 am
hhehe… like i said in the snark’s blog, these people have reduced God into your happy MLM product, or worse still, your life insurance… with the price of damnation.
and eyeris: dunno. growing up a lot of tribulations mah. also because i’m too damn free these days hehehe.
May 20th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Religious teachings can numb one’s mind if taught as dogma, instead of challenging you to think about them, and to decide whether to practise them or not.
I’m a Buddhist, and the teachings are supposed to be pondered upon, although apparently many choose to just accept them without much questioning.
May 20th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
I fear you are twisting my words to your own advantage, i.e. “In response to my comment to one of her posts stating why the God will bar homosexuals from entering heaven (yes I quoted Leviticus to her), she said this to me, ‘I hope you find that free ticket to eternal life and the peace that passes all understanding, just as I have.’”
I have never said God will bar homosexuals from going to heaven. I have said God considers the act of homosexuality to be a sin but loves the sinner. If an active homosexual professes faith in Christ I am not to judge the state of that person’s or any person’s soul. Judgment of a person’s soul is not for me or for any human being, but rather for God. This includes homosexuals as well as heterosexuals. I think maybe you should decide on what faith you want to follow and then follow it. You seem to want the salad bar version of faith.
May 20th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
Just to put into context the comment I made to you I am going to paste the entire comment here:
“As I said in the original post I do not hate homosexuals. I have friends who are homosexuals, but the act of homosexuality is a sin as I understand the Word of God.
I am not trying to “buy a ticket to heaven.” That ticket was bought long ago on the cross of Calvary by Jesus. He offered me that ticket free of charge, just as He offers it to everyone. I love Him as I would love my father. In fact, since I only met my father a couple of years ago I believe God made that possible for more than one reason. One was so I would know the man whose genes I share. The other was to show me if I could love a man who didn’t want anything to do with me for so long and who denied me for so long, and love him unconditionally, I could understand the love of a father. Understanding that fatherly love now, how much more I love my Heavenly Father who never deserted me, never denied me and has known me since before He made me.
How I would love to be able to put my hands up to the face of Jesus and hold His face in my hands as I did my father the first day I met him, taking a long look to drink in all his wonderful features so I could never forget them as if I would never again see him. This is what I did the day I met my father because I thought I would never again see him. I can hold His face in my hands by reading His Word.
The Bible was not written by me, but is the inspired Word of God. Inerrent Word of God. I am truly sorry if you don’t agree with the parts you don’t like to hear, but God doesn’t change. Call me a Levitican if you wish, but do not doubt my love for God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I would just say that before you mention the speck in my eye to remove the log in your own.
I hope you find that free ticket to eternal life and the peace that passes all understanding, just as I have.”
May 20th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Hello Jeannette, first of all welcome to my site.
I admire you for your unwavering faith. Although I find it amusing that a grandmother of four who has been
baptizedsaved since the age of 12 find it necessary to reiterate your views which are obviously very differing from mine. I’m 25 this year, and I’ve made it clear to many of my readers, and myself, and my family, that I’m on a soul-searching journey. I attend church, but I don’t find it blasphemous to go to a temple, and respect the religions of my fellow men. I find it is very hard to live the way you choose to live, especially in this part of this world.However, your, double-comments, sincerely disappoint me. While previously I did not agree with your opinions and your way of adoring Him, I did admire your strength and faith and your undying love for God. When you posted your double comments, it makes you look… well… like how Caleb says, petty.
Jeannette, I wish that you would have more faith in your faith, and be more unwavering as you previously seemed to have been. I don’t see why it is necessary for you to rectify blatant oversights on your post by an infidel like myself.
After all, we can argue till the
cowsdogs come home, but I still think your version of ‘tickets’ to heaven, be they given free, cheap or at whatever price, is still not right.I hate to think that when the day comes and God amazingly finds me qualified to go to heaven (even if the gates be too narrow for my fat body to pass through), I have to pass a guard house and show him my ‘free ticket’.
It’s a bit, worldly, the idea of tickets, don’t you think?
May 20th, 2005 at 9:32 pm
You’re the one who brought up the tickets, not I. I have no problem going to a temple, Catholic church or any other church not of my denomination. That doesn’t change the way I believe. I do want to correct you on something. I said I was saved at the age of 12. I was baptized at the age of 16, and if you think this is petty, well…….it’s your site, you can always delete. I wish you luck on your journey through life as you seek what is right spiritually for you.
May 20th, 2005 at 9:37 pm
Madam,
Funny that you had to pick up what an infidel said and agreed that you have acquired a free ticket.
I wish you peace in heaven too.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:22 pm
“be human. Its more important than being anything else”.
I cannot explain how deeply this touches me. In a world where we pursue materialistic gains and true faith is lost in religion, perhaps we ought to remember that we are after all… only human.
Thanks minishorts.
Thanks
(I am a free thinker, meaning I believe there is room in this world for more than 1 belief, and I think that to claim “my god is the one true god” is just… wrong… )
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why i dismiss yours”
-Stephen F.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:45 pm
didn’t the BOOK was written by ’someone’, so maybe that certain ’someone(s)’ might have wrote it..well..somewhat distortedly? Just a thought..
*hiss* so happy being an atheist…:twisted:
May 21st, 2005 at 5:55 am
[...] the 18th of June. See, whenever you get busy, more and more things come your way. You have no peace. I don’t know what I’m typing now actually. Just bear with me. I think my t [...]
May 21st, 2005 at 6:31 am
minishorts, stop putting words in my mouth or in my typewritten words. At no point ever did I call you or anyone else an infidel. I specifically told you I am not in a position to judge the state of your soul. Stop lying! You may get chuckles and giggles out of it and you may even be able to fool your regular readers but you and I both know the truth, don’t we? Your comments have not been deleted from my site and people from here are welcome to come over and see what you actually said. You tried to get the thread off track and I wouldn’t bite so you just started talking about whatever. Then you apparently sicced your friends on my site to back you up but I didn’t want to argue with them either. Prove where I told you or anyone else you are an infidel and if you can’t please have the decency to apologize. Infidel is not in my vocabulary.
May 21st, 2005 at 6:36 am
I forgot one thing and then I’ll leave this site forever. I pointed out in my site that I had deleted your blog address because I read one of your rants (your word) and you used the f bomb so many times I felt it was not a place I wanted my readers to go. So you came back and tried to egg me on about your vulgarity when in fact you didn’t have the courage to keep the post open as before so people could see the real you but you protected with password protection. You have a lot of integrity.
May 21st, 2005 at 3:39 pm
This is the classic case where every word is taken not only literally but also narrowly, “God said it. I believe it. Case closed”. Seemingly there are much exchanges but little indication of dialogue we humanly capable of. The door seems slammed closed as soon as we put the righteousness hat on.
Quote from someone not so out of space: “No religious position is loyally served by refusing to consider annoying…. which may turn out to be facts…”.
Continue: “Neither ought we be concerned about the logic of others-even if they preceded us-preventing our own individual investigation. Much to the contrary, just as out forebears did not wish to indiscriminately accept the truth from those who preceded them, and that which they did not choose to accept, they rejected, so it is fitting for us to do so. Only on the basis of gathering many different opinions will the truth be tested..”
And continue: “It’s no sin to feel doubt, after all, human beings are endowed with the capacity, if not the need, to doubt. The sin is to act on those doubts.”
May 21st, 2005 at 7:16 pm
well jeanette… when i wrote that post which you pointed out, was filled with the F word, you mean the FUCK word, I said that I would password-protect the post at the end of the day. But you didn’t know that and you jumped to conclusions. BTW, the password is another three-word expletive, it starts with the letter ‘T’ and ends with ‘G’. Its a very common cantonese foul slang. So, for those of you who bother to go back, yeah.
You don’t have to say out loud to me, ‘Minishorts is an infidel who blatantly doesn’t read my posts carefully’ to imply the same thing. It’s the same concept as saying that you don’t have to announce to the world that ‘I am annoyed’ for people to realize that YOU ARE ANNOYED. And since we’re at this, senseless, mindless fucking debate, may I bring it further to say that you don’t have to announce to the world that ‘Oh How I love Jesus’ to make us see that you are complete devoted to Him. I don’t know about you but as I would believe that as human beings, we have more sense than reading the literal words, although of course, some lines can be so literal they hurt. But I digress and apologize, not for being without integrity, but for, urm, insulting you, and Jesus, and hurting you in the process.
In Malaysia, where I live, where I blog, and where most of my very small collection of readers (mostly personal friends) read my blog, everyone is accustomized to minishorts being ‘Mordormouth’.
Integrity?
Since she’s not coming here again, she won’t get to learn about the bedtime stories. And how I got vaginitis and told the rest of the world about it. And how Rapunzel trots into my blog some days to tell us how to, urm, fuck a girl right.
Irony. Anyway, back to earth please.
I’ll tell you guys the next when I meet another levitican. Then we can all, urm, giggle our way to hell.
May 21st, 2005 at 8:02 pm
[...] s not accepted in his heart and soul Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.’ and later plods into your site and tells you that you lack integrity in several exclamatives. Well how is thi [...]
May 21st, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Now I get it, she is from the bible belt in US. Incidentally, a place where more hours have been spent watching “Desperate Housewife” than any other part of US while claiming to have visited church more than any of the blue states. Probably one of the most racist state in the US and has a long history of anti-back and still is today. Does “Thurman” ring any bell? A rich white christian guy who fought for the segregation of black and white while screwing his young innocent black slave. Basically these are a bunch of hypocrites who use the scripture as a veil to disguise her hidden agenda. What you believe and how much you love your idol is your business and please keep them to yourself. I, among many others, do not have to know or wish to see your constant referenece to your idol.
May 22nd, 2005 at 11:19 pm
Humbleman: Now should I, run off the track a little and do a little civil reprimanding (this is my blog, so I think I have a right to defend even errant commentors), if you don’t mind.
I don’t quite agree with this though. There are Christian blogs which are in fact, very inspiring and HAVE indeed made me open my eyes a little to recognize that there is indeed Christ. Obviously the one I pointed out has been nothing less than ‘appalling’. Quite terrifying, in fact, to realize that there are many, many, many others like this blogger. My reasons for not accepting the faith totally, like I’ve said previously, are personal… all right, there’s a spiritual element to this but even that, is personal.
Like I said, I just don’t like the way some people are skewing the religion and instead of making more believe, they’re just bringing in a bunch of turkeys to add to the pie. You might want to call it ‘evangelizing’ with another aspect.
Maybe I’m just trying to pry my finger into that little pot of undecided i-believe-in-a-bit-of-everythings… telling them, not to simply accept any religion that comes across. Take time in pondering. Faith should come from the heart, and no one should be force-fed into a religion.
May 20th, 2006 at 3:06 am
for all of you with Friendster- am pondering making a Anti fundamentalist/bigots/racists account and start a forum against bigotry, a website or something?Comments?
August 8th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
[...] You read in the newspapers about the abominable practice of fang sheng some Buddhist practitioners try to do every Vesak Day and how authorities and environmentalist volunteers try to prevent such acts from happening. You read in the local blogosphere how bloggers like Cowboy Caleb witnessed a fang sheng act committed at a local chinese temple or blogger minishorts witnessing how tortoises and terrapins are released indiscriminately into ponds and how environmentalist blogger budak abhors this practice. [...]
September 17th, 2006 at 1:56 am
hdtv
hdtv