3.14.2011

The Apparent Purpose of Lent



My concern isn't specifically for this girl. I do not know her, her history, or her motivation. However, there is an evident mentality here, one that I have had to renounce in my own process of deconversion.

Seven years ago, I might well have agreed with her, or at least given lip-service to that perspective while inside I died a little. I certainly was around people on a regular basis who would have agreed completely.

What terrible twisting of the bible has taken place in order for Christians to rejoice at the suffering of others? How is it possible to so overlook the mission of love that Jesus, according to the bible, seemed to be on?

I'd love to say I'm completely stumped as to the answers to those questions, but unfortunately I know all too well, and am ashamed to admit it.

15 comments:

  1. Holy. Crap.

    How the bloody hell is an earthquake a sign of God's love?! Wouldn't that be more like a sign of God's wrath?

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  2. I disagree with it being a sign of God's love or wrath. The first thing I though of was when Jesus asked his followers if they thought that the people that were executed by Pilate during worship were more evil and deserved it or if the people that the tower fell on were more evil...he answered that no, that is not why these things happen. It is not 'punishment'..... it is not, in fact, from God....

    I remember being inside the bubble where people thought this way. Still makes me a little angry....

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  3. Shelly - I have since learned that this girl is parodying fundamentalists, but the attitude exists nonetheless. I have been around them, I was around them after 9/11. That god would shake the foundations of the earth so that people would know him, and all that jazz. Yep.

    Katherine - it sounds like you know what I'm talking about.

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  4. Holy shit!!! That's all I have to say about that

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  5. LOL....My comment was going to be Holy Shit but I see that its already been taken and so has Holy Crap so....DANG! This makes me so...scared, sad and sick.

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  6. I know. The mentality is so unfortunate.

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  7. This video is a great example of Poe's Law.

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  8. It's OK. We don't know how she got out of her cell, and to that web cam. But she is locked down, in her straight jacket, and back on her meds.

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  9. Yes Barry, it is. But so what? Because I know the mentality is real and she makes a good point with it. Wackos abound.

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  10. Good one, Nate! Did you guys pray over her, too? :)

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  11. That's why it conforms to Poe's Law. It's a parody, but in this case the parody almost exactly matches the reality. I wonder if she realises that?

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  12. No, I get it. No idea if she realizes it.

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  13. When you're a believer and you've been led to think that god is in control of everything, you have no choice but to twist reality so it matches your perception of an all-controlling deity.

    I get a headache remembering the brain gymnastics I used to do to explain god's presence in everything.

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  14. That's a really apt description, Lorena. And yes, I was an expert at those same gymnastics. :)

    God has to appear be in control of everything, because if he's not, then what?

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