»
Main Forums
»
Passions in Prose
»
My Challenge
| Passions in Prose |
|
My Challenge |
|
|
EagleScorpion Senior Member
since 2000-03-08
Posts 1644Here, Now, Forever 
|
The "afterlife", as some call it, remains a shaky subject to talk about to most people. I have noticed that many people still cling on to this whole idea of heaven and hell, God and Satan, Good and Evil. Personally, I find the idea of eternal suffering both ludicrous and pretentious, and I challenge any of you who uphold this belief to reply to this and make yourself known to me because I'm ready to give you a piece of my mind. I am currently a cashier at Wegaman's Supermarket in Princeton, NJ. It wasn't longer than a month ago when I encountered a particular customer whom I cant get out of my head. Things were moving along normally for a Wednesday afternoon when this idiot decided he had something stupid to say to me. He was of normal height, wore glasses, and looked very depressed. I had just handed him his receipt when he handed a little pamphlet to me and calmly said, "You should take some time to read this over. It just might help you from going to hell." Surprised, I looked at him, and replied, "Excuse me?" "There is a heaven and a hell you know. You should be very careful." I smiled at him and said, "Well, you may believe that, but I'm sorry, I dont believe in hell." "Millions of other people didn't believe in hell either, but now they're all down there now." I just stared blankly back at him at a loss for words. At this point I was getting a little angry at this man. "Yea ok," I said to him as he walked away. I quickly skimmed through the pamphlet,(which was another one of those corny church pamphlets that try to scare you into joining thier religion), and promply threw it in the garbage. Now I was angry. For the rest of that day, I wondered to myself, "Geez, how many people out there are like that man? Are people really still that ass-backwards in their beliefs?" For the past three years, I've been living with the steadfast belief that we are ALL guaranteed "heaven". I even go as far to say that Hitler himself went to "heaven". I see it like this: We were all born as pure and innocent children. Who we are today is a direct reflection of the life we've lived so far. Given each individuals model of the world, we are ALL justified in anything we do. I like that. I like it alot. I like living my life optimistically! I like being able to not fear death anymore! Am I wrong for this?! Can you really be so pretentious and condescending to tell someone that thier lifestyle will cause them eternal suffering one day? How would you feel if I TOLD YOU NOT having sex before getting married is a sin? Can you really impose your ideas of "right" and "wrong" on me with no second thought? Who the hell are you to tell me these things? I'll spit in your face before I beleive what you tell me. Thats all I have to say about that. Again, any of you who are offended by this are CHALLENGED TO REPLY TO ME. I have sent you nothing but angels, and I have placed nothing but miracles before you. [This message has been edited by EagleScorpion (12-13-2002 10:36 PM).] |
||
| © Copyright 2002 Joseph Alexander Knob - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
If I had the time, I could write volumes on this subject, but I will say this, that although I too can become somewhat annoyed by people coming up to me and sticking those pamphlets in my face while spouting that I may be damned to hell, I try not to get angry at them. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, even if I personally believe that they are misguided. I also avoid getting on my own soap box because then I would be doing the very same thing that I felt they were doing to me. I usually just say to them, "Thank you, but I am not interested!"--and then I extricate myself from their presence and head for the nearest exit! ~ Love, Light, and Laughter Linda |
||
|
regards2you Member Elite
since 2002-10-01
Posts 3940California |
I don't give you the power to offend me. WHAT makes you THINK we are born pure and innocent children? How do you KNOW that? Hugs and warm regards, Pat  ..without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.. |
||
|
GOlDsparklESS Member
since 2001-12-13
Posts 428central nj |
Well, I think Joe means that we are born pure and innocent in the sense that we are fresh, new, clear, simple, free from excess. The people who believe in these various myths that seem to be circling around the globe certainly ARE ASS BACKWARDS, aren’t they? No perversion of reality can deny the truth- Religions, and their subsequent dogmas, were CREATED BY MEN to keep the masses contained in their limited consciousness. The men of generations past have succeeded; people continue to believe the myth and hang out flyers at Wegmans, just to escape the burden of thinking autonomously! Two thousand years of straight up BULL****. This is historically true; Biblical discrepancies abound. Like McDonalds, Christianity has evolved from a humble beginning into a vast empire. Jesus and his profound message blew a primitive mentality out of its shallow, anxious box. Here we had the opportunity to TRANSFORM THE PLANET, and yet a bunch of sodden, incompetent idiots slam-danced on THAT idea before it could take flight. What WOULD Jesus do? F***ing Armageddon. |
||
|
Eido New Member
since 2002-12-20
Posts 1 |
Heaven, hell, good, evil - who holds the benchmark by which to measure these concepts? For centuries every religion has murdered and deceived those that do not conform to their own doctrine. The early religions were quick to see that by controlling our internal good/evil benchmark they could control our actions and opinions. It pains me to read the guff some religions spout, "join us, do as we say and go to heaven". Why? If each religion is worshiping the 'one' God then what does it matter whether I worship under the rules of Catholisism, Judeaism, or any other mainstream religion - surely the 'rules' are the same. If each religion had its own God then are there multiple heavens and hells? My belief is that God is the hope and salvation that we beg for in our times of need and trouble - those quiet times when we have just laid down to sleep and the worries of our lives creep up on us from the shadows, or when we are or feel alone and vulnerable. God is inside us, the last port of call when no-one else is there for us to rest our troubled brow on and to whisper soothing words to chase away our troubles. God, to me, is not a being hovering just above the clouds listening to all our prayers, God is inside of us, each individual, each different, each with a different moral and ethical scale by which we measure good and evil, right and wrong, and by comparison heaven and hell. I remember the fable of Pandora's box and how she released all of the evils into the world, but trapped hope. Are we each a Pandora's box, all with that hope inside of us (some alas have a little more of the evil in there too), and is it to that hope, far down in the depths of our soul, that we turn when all else fails? Its late, I am rambling, but I have tried to share my outlook and I by no means wish to offend anyone's beliefs - each to their own (God). |
||
|
EagleScorpion Senior Member
since 2000-03-08
Posts 1644Here, Now, Forever |
Eido, welcome to passions! Wow! A first post as a reply to MY topic?!? WHAT AN HONOR!! WOOHOO!! i hope you find this place to be a good thing, for a good thing it is. Bless you. |
||
|
EagleScorpion Senior Member
since 2000-03-08
Posts 1644Here, Now, Forever |
(siighh) sometimes I grow excited at the concept of dying. I do not fear it anymore.. the only thing I fear is dying a horrible, drawn-out death.. but I am excited to find out what this thing is REALLY all about. (I cant wait to prove you wrong.) |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
