Oh God, Really?
We all know my views in organized religion but I would like to put that aside for the moment because I genuinely want to know why god’s flock of sheep are still stuck on pointless battles like gay marriage or trying to disprove evolution. Would their time be better spent thinning out the idiots in their own camp who give them a bad name? The people who use god as excuse for hate or the people who go on reality shows and pray that god will help them win a million dollars or politicians who say that god told them to run for president. From where I sit, on the outside, I can’t even feel pity for any sane, rational religious folks that may be out there because they do not stand up for themselves on this. They just let it happen and it is embarrassing, frustrating and more than just a little amusing.
Most of all, why is no one offended that these WEBSITES claim to help you find god’s match for you? No one finds that to be presumptuous and a little bit insane? If I was a Christian, I would be wildly offended by the idea that god is speaking to me through a website or some power hungry politician or helping some asshole become a millionaire by treating other people like crap, lying and exploiting themselves on TV. Stupidity offends me more than two people finding love or some girl who is not ready for parenthood taking steps not to be one through any means at their disposal.
If I believed in that book people say guides their lives I would want organize people to go after Westboro Baptist Church until they stop calling themselves a church. I would want to ask one of these politicians what the voice of god sounds like or when he took back the whole, meek inheriting the earth stance, because I thought that was one of the big ones. I am pretty sure that god has always been into people forking over any of their material wealth for a place in heaven. But what do I know, maybe now he wants you to “survive” on an island for a while to try to win a bunch of money. Once “judge not lest ye be judged” and “love thy neighbor” stopped mattering, I suppose the rest of it can be ignored now too. God doesn’t bother with miracles anymore because he is busy fixing people up and playing matchmaker online. Which also means he is not out there killing millions of children, spreading plagues and speaking to schizophrenic hippies anymore either. Which is nice of him and long overdue I would say.
While I may consider myself a pseudo-scientist or an atheist to use the more common term, it is because I like facts, I believe in evolution and see a brighter future in knowledge than I have seen in any church or religion that have ever existed. While I have on many occasions read the bible in many forms, I don’t really think I needed it to tell me right from wrong, after a while I would have figured it out on my own. If a person is only kind out of fear, guilt and shame then it is not really kindness at all is it? If you feel a light within you, why not own that instead of giving someone else credit? I am a good person because I chose to be, because it makes me feel good and because it is the way things are supposed to be.
If they could eventually redirect their hate and righteous indignation to battling the monsters within I could even find myself fighting with them. It is not that I am against the idea of faith, or those stories about some hippie schizophrenic spreading a message of love, kindness and understanding in the desert. Jesus seemed like a good enough guy but that message has been lost and distorted over time, clouded by hypocrisy, the will of mankind and traditional superstitions built on fear. If I have to face a higher power someday and answer for my actions in life I go confidently, unlike most that fear their god and doubt their actions instead of just enjoying it while it lasts.
The more I learn, the more I observe from the outside, the more I feel like humankind will always be hindered by the concept of god. When science makes this many advances in this short of a period of time, it become difficult to deny the impact. It makes me wonder how anyone can still let themselves be consumed by such outdated things like religion, how anyone could be so blind and willing to let such abject stupidity stand as the example for the whole flock. I wonder how people in modern times could not look back and realize it is time for a change. It is time to put the past behind us in favor of a dogma with a few less holes in it, a lot less death and maybe even a few facts instead of lies and mysterious, magic miracles that happened thousands of years ago.
As I get older I become more and more convinced that the closest I will ever come to that thing people search for with religion is when I am sitting on the beach at night, under the stars, listening to the waves and maybe smoking some natural herbs that had to have been god given because they exist. A loved one sitting next to me makes it all the more complete, all the more spiritual of an experience for me. This may be the wrong way to handle things in the long run but you are going to have a hard time convincing me of a better way if you are looking for gods match for you on a dating website. I found gods match for me when I wandered into a gas station drunk one night. You know, the old fashioned way. He and I took time to get to know each other and fall in love and that love is based on many more levels than just our religion or lack thereof. While I understand there needs to be common ground and common interests in a relationship, I wonder if religion still big enough or strong enough to be the only connection. Those shared values may be a good start but it seems like the opposites-attract saying must exist for a reason. Love needs mental stimulation as much as any other kind, life needs challenges to keep it worth living. Where is the adventure in following the expected path and never breaking from the mold?
Why would god want anyone to put something as important as that in the hands of web designers, advertising executives or chance? If you believed in him, why would you allow people like that to presume to speak for him or you, why does it seem perfectly okay for everyone to take the lords name in vein or worse? When will the puppets cut the strings and stop dancing to the same old tune? Stop fighting atheists and science and stop being so stubborn about progress and maybe admit to a few of the mistakes that have been made. I am fairly sure that science exists for more than disproving god’s existence so why not admit to the other side having a good idea now and then? Atheists do not hate people who worship the various gods, they just want to point out another side, some alternative ideas to consider. If they hate anything, I would say it is the length some people go to when arguing about god with non-believers, the stubborn blindness some people maintain so they never have to grow or change.
I can only speak for myself as an atheist but I think we could all work together if we were fighting a common enemy. We might even be able to solve a few of the greatest mysteries that neither side has been able to figure out along the way. If only we could bridge that great divide. To me, pimping out souls and capitalizing on love means that the monopoly on eternal life is finally up for grabs and it is time for science to take its turn defining, studying and proving all those things that religion tried to explain and dismiss with statements like, “because the bible says so.” If one side could allow that imaginary friends are possible and worth believing in maybe the other side could believe in things like dinosaurs existing or human rights. Then we can start working on the big issues if that works out.
Stupidity is one of the greatest of all sins, in this day and age there is really no logical excuse. Failure to try is the only real failure that counts in the end. Why not try to see the big picture from every angle there possibly could be? The only dumb questions are the ones left unasked so why have all these questions gone unasked?
I have to admit, after writing all this I am curious about these sites. In the name of science I might go on an undercover fact finding mission. The hard part is deciding what part to play. Do I set it up as the biggest cliché ever, do I be an honest-ish me or do I go as dark and evil as possible to see how long it takes before I get banned from the site?
They all sound fun so maybe I will do one of each on multiple sites. It will be a good exercise, a way to build characters for stories. Even though I have my perfect match, I want to know what THEY think my perfect, god given match would be. In the end I may feel bad about playing games but I think it will be interesting to see what points of interest god uses when making a match for someone. If my honest-ish profile it will also be interesting to see how many open minded people are out there. I think that honest-ish profile will get shut down just as fast as a dark, evil character will because discrimination is alive and well in this world.
It is a good sign that my theory about these kinds of people is correct when the only options offered are man-looking-for-woman or woman-looking-for-a-man. I think this is going to be interesting and deserving of a day to day chronicle of the adventure as it progresses. We can call it my first attempt at investigative journalism.
3/21/2013 7:40 AM
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