Exams are up and approaching fast, I know next to nothing about what Im meant to know from lectures I didnt attend; I have a ton of unread notes given to me via concerned friends sitting on my already cluttered desk; just got told in church today that Im going to hell unless I start repenting from being human and once again brutally reminded by my biological mother that a goal-less life is a meaningless one. What's worst - I'm bored. And Im worried, worried of not being worried of what Im meant to be worried about. I'd like to believe I aint alone in this predicament; Im sure there's someone out there, if not several, who feel the way I feel - people who are generally disenchanted with the happenings in their lives, detached or numbed, if you may.
And so my best friend came along and told me to start a blog.
And so I have.
For the first time.
Religion... The preacher today, as all sundays, was asian and walked up on the dias after a brief but warm introduction from our church pastor. He was medium sized, about into his late forties and carried his bible about him like a gun. 'I was asked to preach to you about the issue of fasting, however, today -.' There was an audible pause. 'Today, I would like to speak of you're spiritual lives and I may sound harsh, but all I say comes from Jesus, from the old scripture.' He waves the bible in his right hand menancingly.
'HYPOCRITES!' The congregation seemed to jump in unison. 'LIARS, SCOUNDRELS, WOE UNTO YOU! This is what Jesus says to those who claim a christian identity unwholeheartedly.' The preaching continued on with a comparison of the dedication Islam/terrorist suicide bombers and our faith in God. There really isnt much to lose if you have nothing much to lose in the first place is there? You don't really hear millionare allah-believers running off with C4 strapped around them. Besides, didnt those dudes choose to die cause they wanted to go to a better place - aka cowards that couldnt really face life? And you'd think teenage-emo suicides couldnt get anymore destructive. To die in defence or for a cause is one thing, but that situation is meant to find you to have any meaning at all, not for one to create it. I've always felt, from a christian stand point, that to simply die for God was easy; after all your gonna go to heaven. It's living for him that I'd imagine would be hella tough - Anyone can die, its living that takes courage.
'WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN CHURCH? WARMING THE SEATS? HUH?' I jerked from my thoughts as I focused back at the amusing purple-faced malaysian. 'ARE YOU JUST HERE CUZ YOU FEEL LIKE IT? CAUSE THE WEATHER SUITS YOU?' An aged asian lady beside me shuffled noisly in her seat with greedy eyes of masochism, drinking it all in. They like it with chilli. I began counting the moles on my sister's arm.
All in all, the message had it's truths I suppose, but in the end of the day it always brings me back to the same thoughts of the funny things called Humans. We are selfish by nature, we're so selfish, we're even willing to be selfless because we're that selfish. People are selfless for selfish reasons, a byproduct of societal systems and teachings that there's more to gain from being 'good' in their eyes. If giving money to the poor was frowned upon by your parents and peers, you'd never do it. If not helping an old lady didnt cause you to feel bad about yourself, you'd not do it. We are driven to behave in certain ways so that we can live better lives and more importantly, better live with ourselves. Similarly, we believe in God cause there's heaven to go to, or if you're a pessimist, there's hell to avoid. Is selfishness such a bad thing? *shrugs* I dunno, but it certainly has helped me understand the things that happen in life and catch that ball when life throws a low, unexpectingly hard one.
Wow, 50 minutes spent and I felt I've accomplished something. Maybe I should try getting through Ilectures (online recording of subject lectures) one more time. Maybe I'd even succeed XD!
Courtesy from Jason Chan
Those that have paid the price of freedom, relish it most.
Artist's depiction of the spell: Blastwave
Ain't it fancy? Play World of Warcraft now.
8 comments:
Gratz on joining the internet cult.
As for today's sermon, I do agree with you on some points. However, the terrorist bombers do not 'choose to die because they're cowards'. In fact, I was always under the impression that it was their monumental belief and faith in THEIR god that drove them to such extreme behaviors. They strapped bombs around themselves because they believed it would offer them salvation. Not because they couldn't bear to live.
Plus, the immature notion that killing opposing religions/races was also a main reason to be a kamikaze.
So ironically, they have more faith then us!
Ttyl in 5 mins~
me.
A man that dedicates the highest peak of his devotion to his god to the few milliseconds of pain he suffers (if he suffers any at all) for the promise of better salvation is a coward in my books. I think they're line of thought is closer to that of: 'If there is nothing much to live for in life or look foward to, why not grasp at that paradise at the cost of abandoning something that doesnt hold much promise to begin with?' Like I said earlier, you dont see highly successful men running straight for the c4 to teach the world a lesson do you? When you want to belive something to be true, there's no end to what you will believe and hopelessness has a knack at doing just that :)
I hope that has answered you're confusion my naive little sister.
A man who has strong (and often, fanatical) faith in his religion and has no qualms dying for his beliefs is a coward in your eyes?
What about the saints and martyrs from antiquity?
I guess you could argue that the majority of them were persecuted, et cetera. But most of these suicide bombers truly believed that it was their god's will, and not because they just wanted out.
'When you believe that something is true, there is no end to what you will believe" = true. But you don't have to make it sound bad! XD I think that a belief held this strongly should be respected, at the very least.
<3
*sigh* Once again you have failed to see my point. One wonders if you even understand everything that's typed. Never to fear, as a loving brother I shall shed some light upon this issue.
Your 'martyrs and saints' were indeed perscecuted which was exactly my point! These men lived for what they believed in and when the time came, they gave their lives for that cause.
Your suicidal friends on the other hand, convinced themselves that blowing themselves up was the thing to do for their beliefs. Rather than live for their cause, they chose to go ahead and die for it asap. I don't really buy this divine will and besides, the person organizing the bombings are never the ones that do it.
So this dude lives for 20 years, go through hardships and learn about life and of a religion. A holy man of this religion comes up to you and tells you that the cumiliation of your entire life is to end it with a dozen other so called 'heretics'. Notice that if he was highly successful in life, had a successful family I would have accepted what you said. But one cant help but feel mildly skeptical when all these so called 'strong-in-faith' men are all from unsuccessful backgrounds.
To believe in a cause you have to live for it first for it to be of any good. Matyrs such as Paul lived for the cause always knowing that he would die for it if challenged.
['When you WANT TO believe that something is true, there is no end to what you will believe" = true. But you don't have to make it sound bad!] Sheesh, lrn2copy+paste properly. And I do because it is bad, especially when hopelessness is the motivator behind it. You'd call a belief fueled by hopelessness a true faith?
"You'd call a belief fueled by hopelessness a true faith?"
^ yes, I do. Partially because aren't all our faiths meant to stem from a 'hopelessness' that we feel? We feel hopeless in times of need and thereby turn to a divine being. Such belief and faith that the divine being will be able to help/restore our peace of mind is childish, and also, pure to a certain extent.
I don't believe that such hopelessness should be degraded and associated with suicide bombers.
I already told you that I understand where you come from, so there's not much to add here. I was just posting what I thought about suicide bombers and your fleeting comment about them choosing to die.
About living that takes courage in contrast to dying that is easy, I think I've heard that quote around somewhere...
Don't you think strapping bombs to your torso, riding a kamikaze plane into a building, planting a bomb in a bus that you're in, all require courage of some sort?
["You'd call a belief fueled by hopelessness a true faith?"
yes, I do. Partially because aren't all our faiths meant to stem from a 'hopelessness' that we feel? ]
You are right in this point, I think the phrase I was actually looking for was - "You'd call the decision of suicide fueled by hopelessness a true faith?"
I hardly doubt the mind of your average bomber is 'innocent'. We are talking about massacaring people you don't even know for the sake of a belief ochestrated by another fellow man. You get any pure and innocent child and shove a bomb in their hands, tell them what it would do to both them and the victims and I garuntee the first thing the kid will tell you is 'But I dont want to die...'
[the immature notion that killing opposing religions/races was also a main reason to be a kamikaze.]
Immature? Maybe. Innocent? Hell no. Sounds more like a that-religion-is-the-enemy-and-cause-to-my/our-current-shitty-life angst. Go read up on your politics. Suicide bombings have a motive - to get foreigners off local soil. For Allah, a better future for their family or paradise, suicide bombings, like literally all human acts are very selfish in nature.
There is a reason why its called SUICIDAL bombings, these are people driven to the edge of despair with no where to turn to but their faith.
[I don't believe that such hopelessness should be degraded and associated with suicide bombers.]
Once again I point you to the countless amounts of references I made of the millionares wearing bomb-suits (MWBS - im making an abbreviation for this since I'll prolly have to remind you about it again) which you have obviously failed to read. Believe it honey, cause forgive me for being a cynic but my money's in that those explosive beans didnt have much to live for in the first place. Faith driven by hopelessness (FDBH)
[About living that takes courage in contrast to dying that is easy, I think I've heard that quote around somewhere...]
It's a common philosophical thought in regards to suicides echoed by most who think about it. Running away from you're troubles or to an infinitely better place.
All your comments so far stem from two main schools of thought: 1) Its not that they're cowards, it's that they are pure in faith!! 2)Dieing a very quick instantaneous death is da best way to flex those courage muscles.
I guess if there's anyone who is naive and 'innocent' it would be you, humans arnt the glamorous knights in shining armor that would abandon a successful life at a snap of the finger. I may be making assumptions with no real proof, but you're claims have even less substantial proof since I dont see MWBS.
And you're gonna have to relook the word courage again. While no matter how shitty your life is, you'd still fear death, that fear is of that instantaneous moment. You are definetly going to die instantly, everything is ochestrated out for you (including heaven) AND you are not a MWBS. All you have to do is follow instructions given to you, go to a destination someone decided for you and press that red button. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES AFTER THAT, because you believe you're going to heaven painlessly(remember FDBH!).
I probably wont be responding to any more comments unless they come from a different angle because I think that we're going around in circles.
Peace.
hey fellow brothers and sisters in christ,
sorry i stumbled upon this blogspot, while i typed 'what do arts student do besides smoking weeds?' on google... I read the first few lines of your blog, but was distracted by the black background...sorry im afraid it reminds me of Mordor from lord of the rings!!! i think you should consider changing it to something more light on the eyes. geez man!! what the hell are you thinking...even though i havent fully read the content of your blog, i suspect your blog is full of light hearted banter and christian love and affection...unfortunately due to my tight badminton schedule, i need to head off to kick some miserable bastards ass!!! God Bless You All!!!
John 3:16....look it up
Creepy.....really creepy...
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