This morning in the Corvallis Gazette Times on page B7 is a piece titled "Methodists launch 'rethink' and campaign." Next to this is the one titled, "Gay marriage backers trumpet the Mormon Church's work against it." Oh, good grief! The article about the Methodists say they are launching a new marketing campaign to get you to want to be a Methodist. They are going to spend 20 million bucks on the effort. In the next paragraph, it talks about the Evangelical Lutheran Church who has invested nearly 1.2 million bucks over the last two years in their marketing efforts. Good grief, I say. These churches are nonprofits and they are spending millions on media campaigns to get you convinced that they are the best one.
I grew up as a Lutheran and I've thought about going back but then I remember how Martin Luther was anti-Semitic and how I've talked to three different Lutheran churches in Corvallis giving them my resume and information about me trying to get them interested in me. It's like if I don't conform with some magical arbitrary something or other, they aren't interested in me so I have to wonder if they are the place I want to go anyway. I guess it is memories and nostalgia that makes me want to return.
I've thought about the Methodist church and I would feel comfortable there but is it the same thing only cloaked in different Sunday robes?
I don't like the idea that these churches are spending millions on a media blitz for marketing. This tells me something.
The article about gay marriage and Mormons and California's prop 8 says a lot too. Are people really NICE people who try to manipulate? I think not.
Religion is about the individual and trying to become a better person day by day. People can't help it where they were born. People can't help it if they were born gay or if they were born with a different skin color. If you believe in God, then I think that it is logical that God made everyone and loves everyone and wants everyone to win and wants everyone to be the best they can be. My big gripe with religion is that it seems like religious leaders want you to obey without question, not think, not figure things out. If you become like everyone else and not be an individual with your own unique gifts and talents, then what is the point? Sometimes it seems like religions want you to follow in lock step like mindless robots.
I enjoy listening to Joel Osteen on television who smiles and acts like he enjoys being a minister, unlike many ministers who are so serious and look like church is the last place they want to be. Joel Osteen encourages people to work hard to be the best they can be and to develop their talents. That's good.
If I were born in India, I would grow up in a different religion than if I were born in China. If there is a God and sometimes I really wonder considering how religious leaders and religious people act, I think God just wants us to be kind to one another and look out for one another. I think individual differences are precious and important. I think it's wonderful to be around people from different backgrounds and people who have different opinions because it helps me to grow and learn. I don't have answers but I'm a better person than I was five years ago. Isn't that what life is about? We aren't here on earth to tell someone else how to live or to say that someone else's way is wrong. We are here to learn and understand each other, to get along, to be kind, to be tolerant, to help one another.
I feel comfortable around Jews although their service is foreign to me because I didn't grow up in it. What about the Jesus question, you ask? Jesus was a good Jewish boy who questioned and wanted everyone to get along. I'd like to study kaballah.
When the Catholic church forces women to become pregnant without birth control in order to be a good Catholic, I ask what about all the children who are born into homes where they aren't wanted and where the family can't afford them. Is an abortion really bad when you consider the consequences of birth into a family of abuse or a drug addict mother or an alcoholic abusive father or neglect or severe poverty? What are the economic consequences of all the unwanted children who grow up without love and sometimes find a life of crime and violence? Until the Catholic church says they will finacially shoulder the economic burden of all the unwanted children, I think they should mind their own business and not frown on birth control.
Does a religious leader have the right to question the heart of anyone, especially when the religious leader has the problem with anger and doesn't even have his/her own house in order?
Religious people should be concerned with themselves and with their own behavior. Religion is about the individual and perfecting self, not about getting everyone to agree that their way is best.
Churches think they have all the answers but every time church leaders speak out in anger, it tells me they are trying to manipulate and they sure don't have a different line to God. I've known atheists who are more ethical than religious leaders. Everyone has a right to an opinion and the right to be treated with respect. People should be concerned with themselves and not trying to force other people to think like themselves.
I heard an Episcopal priest on television say that you can be spiritual in three ways--through ritual, meditation and prayer, and by spending time in nature.
Until more answers come, I'm going to continue spending lots of time on my 3.65 acres and continue to try to be the best person I can be when I come in contact with people. I think it's important to continually learn and grow. Maybe some day I'll have more answers than questions. Right now I have more questions.
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