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Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

Lord Help Me, It’s Another One of Those Missionaries

18 Jul

Well, seems like the missionary post won’t die. There’s a new comment by Shane, and here’s a key snippet:

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“I have invited many people to discuss this topic, and the fact is that most people are uneducated in their opinions. I don’t say this to disrespect anyone, but in a world of information-flow at our fingertips, we are sadly lacking in critical thought. We are offended at the idea that someone else might know better, that we might be wrong, that what I’ve been taught is flawed.

I am a Christian. I believe that there is only one way to heaven, and that is not through doing good deeds, being nice, making amends, or being ‘religions, but is by accepting Jesus Christ (the perfect, holy, and willing sacrifice) as our personal satisfaction for payment of our sins. I invite anyone to converse with me on this, and maybe we can seek the truth together.”

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Sigh. OK, here we go.

- “Uneducated in their opinions?” In whose judgement, yours? A bit on your high horse, aren’t you?
- I’m not offended in the slightest by someone knowing more than I do. The thing is, there’s no way to say who knows more when it comes to religion.
- As for you believing that there’s only one way to Heaven, great, good for you. Maybe you should look up the definition of “belief” again. There’s no way for you to prove that your way is the right way. What’s that? You say you DO have proof? OK, let’s go over what you have to offer.

1. The Bible = Useful tool, yes. The word of God, maybe. Still not proof that only one way is the right way.
2. The holy spirit inside you = Erm, lots of religions have a similar concept. Sorry, not proof.
3. You speak in tongues/have healed or been healed/felt a calling to minister = Not proof, just evidence of man’s enduring desire to make experiences more meaningful.

You see, it’s impossible to have a conversation with an evangelist. You try to bring up historical and logical points, and all they want to do is tell you that they have to spread the Gospel because a pink unicorn visited them and dropped off a personal invite to Heaven. (ok, I made a bit of that up) Talking about religion defies the very notion of critical thought, Mr. Shane. That’s why it’s an intensely personal experience, because it’s about belief, and things that can’t be proved, and mysticism, with a little bit of theater thrown in for effect. ‘

Frankly, the very idea of being re-born makes me laugh. Seems like a lot of the born-again Christians took that as a great opportunity to start racking up mortal sins again, you know what I mean?

And the last thing – “Don’t be so “right” that you lose your justification.” I’m not claiming to be right. I believe that the mystery and love of God is far beyond the ability of us mortals to understand, and I try to keep an open mind concerning all religions as practiced by individuals.

 
11 Comments

Posted in Religion

 

??? ??????? or, Do You Know Jesus?

22 Apr

I’ve had several prior entries about how much I detest missionaries. Another thing that infuriates me has occurred about four out of the five times we’ve met Moroccans here in the States…one of their first questions is
"??? ???????"

When the answer is “no” – my husband is a bit lax on observing the 2nd pillar – they don’t stop there. They continue to push and pry, asking “When will we go to jemaa together?” I’ve met them, and told them I’m Catholic, and they try to convince me that converting would be in my husband’s best interests. These people know little more than our names, and they’re trying to interfere in both our marriage and our relationship with God.

And that’s where my annoyance with religion lies. If the missionaries were in Morocco simply to set a good example, that would be fine by me – but their goal (as much as they try to disguise it with “good works”) is to convert others to their own religion. The same with the Moroccan Muslims we’ve met here, they consider it their spiritual duty to bother my husband – even though he probably has a much higher moral standard than they do.

I’m going to have a t-shirt made that says:


???? ??? ???????
?????
???? ???

 
9 Comments

Posted in Blogroll, Personal, Religion

 

Do Not Vote for the PJD!

16 Jan

“The Justice and Development Party, Morocco’s increasingly popular Islamist political party, has led the charge against “Marock,” claiming that it breaks a Moroccan law forbidding offense to Islam. The party plans to press the government on whether it has fully upheld the law.

“It’s a mockery of Moroccan spiritual life,” said Abdelkader Amara, a member of the PJD’s general secretariat. “It presents Moroccans as if they don’t adhere to their religion. But that’s not true.”

O RLY, Mr. Amara – you have intimate knowledge of how every Moroccan practices their religion? Somehow I doubt that.

“The most revolting scene, according to attackers of the film, is that Leila Marrakchi preferred to make her heroes discuss religious issues in bed, which is considered an unforgivable offence to Moroccans’ feelings.”

So, the next time my husband and I are having a discussion in bed, I should remind him that we can’t discuss religion because it will hurt his feelings? He should have a good laugh about that.

Rest of the story here.

 
14 Comments

Posted in Politics, Religion

 

What is “Crazy?”

16 Dec

Some people are surprised that I don’t think Ahmanijad is crazy. What I do think is that he’s calculating, devious, underhanded, disloyal, and several other pejoratives.

If you want true “crazy,” then here’s a story from my own religion, Catholicism. Religion + Politics = The Suck.

The Cadaver Synod

“One thousand one hundred and four years ago a criminal trial took place in Italy, a trial so macabre, so gruesome, so frightful that it easily qualifies as the strangest and most terrible trial in human history. At this trial, called the Cadaver Synod, a dead pope wrenched from the grave was brought into a Rome courtroom, tried in the presence of a successor pope, found guilty, and then, in the words of Horace K. Mann’s The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (1925), “subjected to the most barbarous violence.”

[bunch of papal history, and a brief bio of Formosa]

“On Stephen VII’s orders the putrescent corpse, which had been lying in its tomb for seven months, had been dressed in full pontifical vestments. The dead body was then propped up in a chair behind which stood a teenage deacon, quaking with fear, whose unenviable responsibility was to defend Formosus by speaking in his behalf. The presiding judge, Stephen VII, then read the three charges. Formosus was accused of (1) perjury, (2) coveting the papacy, and (3) violating church canons when he was elected pope.

The trial was completely dominated by Stephen VII, who overawed the assemblage with his frenzied tirades. While the frightened clergy silently watched in horror, Stephen VII screamed and raved, hurling insults at and mocking the rotting corpse. Occasionally, when the furious torrent of execrations and maledictions would die down momentarily, the deacon would stammer out a few words weakly denying the charges. When the grotesque farce concluded, Formosus was convicted on all counts by the court. The sentence imposed by Stephen VII was that all Formosus’s acts and ordinations as pope be invalidated, that the three fingers of Formosus’s right hand used to give papal blessings be hacked off, and that the body be stripped of its papal vestments, clad in the cheap garments of a lay person, and buried in a common grave. The sentence was rigorously executed. (The body was shortly exhumed and thrown into the Tiber, but a monk pulled it out of the river.)

Stephen VII’s fanatical hatred of Formosus, his eerie decision to convene the Cadaver Synod in the first place, his even eerier decision to have Formosus’ corpse brought into court, his maniacal conduct during the grisly proceeding, and his barbaric sentence that the corpse be abused and humiliated make it difficult to disagree with the historians who say that Stephen VII was stark, raving mad.”

 
3 Comments

Posted in Personal, Religion

 

German Evangelist Sentenced to Six Months In Jail

29 Nov

Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims

Reuters
Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 12:40 PM

RABAT (Reuters) – A Moroccan court jailed a German tourist for six months for attempting to convert Muslims in the southern resort of Agadir, officials said on Wednesday.

The court in Agadir, Morocco’s main tourist destination, found the 64-year-old man guilty of trying to “shake the faith of a Muslim,” they added.

The court also fined him 500 dirhams ($60) in its verdict issued late on Tuesday.

Court officials named the German of Egyptian origin as Sadek Noshi Yassa, who was arrested last week as he was distributing books and CDs about the Christian faith to young Muslim Moroccans in the street, the officials said.

Under Moroccan law “anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion” can be jailed for up to six months and fined.

The verdict came after local media reports that some Christians had launched a clandestine campaign to convert thousands of Muslim Moroccans to Christianity.

There are about 20,000 expatriate Christians in Morocco, most of them living in Rabat and Casablanca, according to estimates by European diplomats.

 
4 Comments

Posted in Blogroll, Religion

 
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