There, I said it. Feels good to get it out...
My snarkiness aside, I must say that watching pie being flung over the semantics of atheists vs agnostics is one slice too much for me. (burp).
Though I haven't ascribed to 'the Christian Faith' in so many years, my brain is filled with snippets of scriptures; a situation will arise and I will pluck a proverb from the grey matter. Don't ask me where in the Bible it is located. Thank dog that extraneous information has been filed in the corner of the basement.
So here is the one that comes to mind after a most bizarre Labor Day Weekend at the GOS:
Why do you see the sawdust in your brother's eye, yet do not see the plank in your own?I've seen the sawdust and the planks in all of us more acutely than ever over the last few days. Have you gone to the mirror and checked your eyes?
Last night, as the battle raged over non-Christians and their lack of humanity [wait, what? their lack of...wow. gobsmacked], my attention was drawn to a less-noticed diary in Community Spotlight.
I was drawn to the title. Jehovah's Witnesses? Somehow, this sect is being brought into the conversation, and my own ancient history bade me read. I appreciated Daishi's attitude as he engaged those Witnesses. Then I started reading comments, and began to cringe at what I was reading. After all the meta, after I had hoped the community at large would begin to heal (and focus on Nov.-not 2016, people!), I was just reading more judgement and bigotry.
But I'd seen it before, a few years ago in a diary about the witnesses knocking on the door. People chimed in to brag or gloat (I guess?) about the tricks (mean tricks) they played on the Witnesses as they went 'door to door.' They steamed and fumed about their lives were so totally hassled, nay ruined, by the Witnesses on a Saturday morning. They misinterpreted what JWs believed and gave misinformation as a result. They were beginning to sound like fox news and the gop.
So it happened again last night. If you're interested, go over and read some of it. Religion (or the lack) is, it would seem, all the rage. There were other lines of discussion in the diary, I will add, that I did not participate in. But as a whole, it all points to a pattern of sawdust and other lumber products.
Why do I, as a Pagan Agnostic Taoist, care about a diary about Jehovah's Witnesses?
i was excommunicated for this: i finally took blood transfusions while giving birth to my son. i was 28. lost practically every ounce i had. i came as close to dying as anyone could. in fact, i technically did.That intimacy I have with death at the hands of an authoritarian and patriarchal religion did not make me a Pagan Agnostic Taoist (you do realize-I'm not, really...I'm nothing). It did not make me harbor a hate of the cult (as some, including my Methodist parents, called it), or make me resent religion in general.
The opposite, really. I know better than I ever could before the power of religion (and political belief, for that matter). I know how utterly human we are to believe or want to believe so badly that we don't see 'the Truth.' (JW inside joke.) And because of that existential struggle, how can I judge? How, especially, can I be unkind?
From one of my comments:
...we must 'deal with' people all the time. in all aspects of our life. my personal space can be invaded while i'm walking down the street or while on dailykos, i found out. fact o life.you don't want a jw preaching in your living space. cool. say that respectfully and shut the damn door. dealt with, done. don't play mindfuck antics. it's unkind and dare i say, undemocratic.
i'm just trying to show that we as humans (and as dems, i add), must be trying to be better at being a human being (or dem).
would some of these people treat a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesperson the same way?
a vacuum cleaner salesperson...isn't that really what a preacher is (jw, xtian or otherwise)? ya got a product, you believe in it, you want to tell others about it, so they'll buy that eternal cleaning of life?
so, not interested? smile and shut the door...oh, here comes the chick with the magazine subscriptions, smile and shut the door...girl scout cookies? come on in.
4:27 PM PT: An update appears necessary, I'm afraid.
I want you all to know that I so appreciate anyone who comes into my diaries, such as they are, to share your thoughts . But I feel the intent of my diary might be missed by a few here. I encourage you to read Daishi's diary (h/t to Daishi, btw), and the comments made not just by me in that diary. You'll learn some fascinating legal and theological stuff, too. (Psst-they're going to keep knocking.)
This is not a place to rehash how your life has been inconvenienced by Witnesses. That was the point of my diary.
Thanks to all