Me, James Erb, and the nature of God
Posted by Julie in General Rant, Religion on 09 4th, 2009I spent most of my formative years as an active churchgoer. Then I pedaled off to college and was asked to challenge everything I knew to be true. In that process and in learning more about the many horrors we’ve committed in the name of faith, I lost mine. Not just because of the grandwizardmagicsantaclaus absurdity of it. Heck, two hundred years ago folks would have thought a trip to the moon was equally absurd. Nope, I lost my faith when I realized that religion is a purely human construct. It’s one more tool that the powerful have devised to control the unwashed masses. The corrupt prey on fear – fear of loneliness, of rejection, of the unknown. Because fear, if properly sown, can work to the benefit of those controlling the story. Scare the crap out of people and they’ll give you their last dime to keep the door bolted behind them. It’s the worst possible chicanery and it infuriates me. But that’s WAY off the point.
read comments (3)Jesus Neutron
Posted by Julie in General Rant, Religion on 06 3rd, 2009Is there a more absurd way to spend a Wednesday morning than in pondering the nature of God and religion? I pulled into my driveway yesterday afternoon and saw some piece of silliness hanging from my front door knob. Typically coming and going through the back door, I recalled the flotsam this morning and went to investigate.
It was an intricately die-cut door hanger sporting a crazy cartoon test tube with goony glasses and a jet pack inexplicably spewing pink bubbles all over saying, “Calling All Funologists!” I immediately licked my mental thumb and started working through the calendar wondering if one of my nephews was having some party or event I’d forgotten about. Nope. Then I noticed what looked like a logo tucked in the lower right corner. This event was being put on by something called Group’s Power Lab. There, in 10-point Comic Sans nestled below the company name and inside a Jimmy Neutron-style cartoon molecule, was the real meat of the thing: “Discovering Jesus’ Miraculous Power.” Did our favorite Jewish carpenter load all of his magic into a pink cartoon jet pack? I would have been less surprised to see Him as Felix the Cat, (“…Whenever He gets in a fix He reaches into His bag of tricks!”). Read the rest of this entry »
