| Believe You Me! |
| Believe You Me! |
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You HAVE to agree with ME! I don't watch football. But observing the (mainly) male half of the species, it's interesting how they accommodate strong variation in opinion. Sure, violence periodically shows up. But sharing a good game on Saturday afternoon is something most men would enjoy. But if these SAME men have a reasonably devout religious life, surprisingly they CAN'T share too much beyond where they go on Sunday mornings (if that). Why? Women aren't a whole lot different, substituting chatting/shopping for sports. Religion (and politics) is a place you don't go (assuming you wanted to) and still remain friends. I don't know the reason, but people feel strongly about religion. The irony, and the subject of this discussion, is their actual lives are not 'that' religious! So why get excited? They literally care MORE about what each other DOESN'T think, than what GOD thinks (not really knowing God's thoughts of course). Compare this to the other hot-button area: politics. Some people have conservative outlooks and prefer a similar political worldview. Liberals in politics are likely to be liberal in their private lives. It wouldn't surprise you. But not so religion (or not nearly as much). Religion has much to do with families, tribes and even nations. Buddhist parents don't nurture Christian kids (and visa versa). 'Heaven' forbid. But the SAME parents are quite happy to be mediocre Christians/Buddhists, even becoming a little UNCOMFORTABLE, if their children become fanatical. Figure that. Now, this is all quite cute, but there's a serious side, since 'in theory', religion is heaven or hell, right? For something so serious to people's future, they HAVE to (1) keep quiet about it and (2) get upset should anyone disagree! Wow. Why, oh, why? I only naively say 'why', given the tremendous absence of any 'proof' for whatever they or their parents believe. I could understand their strong feelings IF they had strong evidence. Consider this. If I said 'gee, I'm not so sure about the sun coming up tomorrow', you'd probably smile. You might even want to inquire into what appears to be my insanity! This brings up the essential principle. The greater the evidence, the less the argument, indeed the less the emotion. The greater the absence of evidence, the stronger the arguments and emotions. Don't you find that an interesting principle? Let's explore some possible parallels. (1) We get into a heated argument about YOUR obviously flawed belief in the literal creation. From this, YOU can conclude that 'creation' doesn't have good evidentiary support, regardless of our opinions. (2) As we launch strong counter-arguments at each other, neither of us is willing to question the 'God' (ie the source) that produced such confusing evidence. No matter the conflicting details, it's never God's fault. Why? Because YOU believe it (whatever the argument). The problem isn't God ... it's your stupid opponent! (3) As strong as we believe something, it never enters our head that if there's a lot of obvious disagreement, that's a clue that we could easily be wrong (or at least it doesn't merit strong argument). (4) This returns us to the earlier oddity. As much as you or I toss small argumentive grenades at each other, NEITHER of us is strongly inclined to pursue our arguments in our lives. And each of us KNOWS that. We're definitional hypocrites. So, WHY is my or your opinion SO important? I'd like to say it is the immensity of 'eternity', but if you look at my daily life, that COULDN'T be true. Personally, 'I' think the issue goes back to families and clans. It's a symbol of shared relations. You're either 'with' me or 'against' me! So you better AGREE with me, gosh darn it. What about God? Well, he's on MY side, of course. I'm headed for heaven; what about you? If 'He' agrees with me, 'He' couldn't POSSIBLY agree with you. So there. NOTE: My family is strongly conservative, not even entertaining the broader tenets of their own denomination ('their' religion, since it comes from God, is NOT a denomination). But they do indeed fit well in middle-class America, adjusting the Bibical interpretations (God) as need be. As you can imagine, we have a few 'disagreements', thereby drawing a theological line, using the Brazos river in Texas as a general boundary. Our tempermental VW just can't seem to 'cross the Brazos at Waco'. Smile. |
| Copyright ©, 2008, dmbarnhart |
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