Religious rant and other ramblings

[Scramby]

I have recently been introduced to the FSM and all his noodly goodness. I have the Gospel of the FSM and plan on proudly displaying him on my car, as soon as the emblem arrives. First and foremost, I consider myself a realist (DEFINITION: "a person who accepts the world as it literally is and deals with it accordingly." I believe that everyone in this world "should" have "something" in which to believe. Whether its god, or fate, or karma, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. And, I think the purpose of that belief is simply to have a place to turn when we're lost, or hurting, feeling alone, or when we're weak and just need a little strength. And this, I believe, was true when man first created god, which were in times when life was much harder then it is now. I think having someone, like "god" helped societies develop order in an otherwise chaotic exisitance. It gave them explainations for things they didn't understand. Why the rains fell, why people got sick, why "miracles" happened. And, in the same light, it helped govern and police society. "Follow the word of god or else." But, I also believe that society as a whole has come a long way since the time when JC walked the earth. We don't need to turn to the "all mighty creator" to explain things to us anymore because we have the widsom and intelligence and technology and understanding of science to produce the kind of answers and results that we require.

To me, religion and "god" and JC dying for all of mankinds sins just seems foolish. Take Jesus being born. A woman becomes pregnant, and not by her husband. If this scenerio took place today it surely would wind up on Maury and paternity tests would be done to find out who the father is. And should anyone suggest that the child is the son of god, the whole world would laugh, save for those who would be angered by this "obvious attempt to mock christianity." But, if thats what someone wants to believe, then so be it. Let them, that's their choice, its part of their "free will" that god so humbly bestowed upon them. And I'm not going to burn bibles, and desecrate churchs and call people who believe in god morons, because, I could be wrong. And I'll admitedly say that, because, that's part of what being a realist is.

But, in my experience, that type of courtesy isn't always shared. Proof being the exhausting list of hate mail regarding the emergence of the FSM. And, most recently, with my girlfriend. She is a devote protestant christian. Goes to church every week, sometimes more then once. Goes to Easter and Christmas Mass twice. Regularly gives to the church even though she struggles financially. The whole deal. And I knew that prior to starting a relationship with her and, perhaps it was my fault, but, I didn't think it would pose that big of a problem for us. Me, being a realist, knowing I could easily appreciate her beliefs, thought that she would be of the same mind set as to not try to impose her beliefs on me. And, while she doesn't directly impose upon me, its becoming more and more evident that her beliefs indirectly interfere with how our relationship works.

I believe that, no matter what your belief, you should at least appreciate that other people have different beliefs then yours and that, although you may not share their beliefs, should be open minded enough to a different idea of thinking, if for no other purpose then to allow yourself the opportunity to put yourself in their shoes to better understand them.

What has become obvious, is my girlfriend doesn't share this belief. On more then one occasion, her additude regarding any belief that didn't coincide with hers was immediately disregarded and often ridiculed. Point in case. I purchased Jim Carrey's "The Number 23" on DVD. I perused the special features, and there was a specific documentary regarding Numerology. I hadn't had much exposure to it, but, understood it was a belief that numbers dictated everything in life and could be used to represent people, their personalities, etc. I watched the documentary, and listened to the explainations of what each number meant and what types of people and personalities they represented and was intrigued as to how closely my numbers represented me and my girlfriends represented hers. Now, while I thought this idea of Numerology was fascinating, I also keep in the back of my mind that people will buy anything, so long as its presented properly and the person on the documentary was chosen specifcially for their ability to present numerology in exactly that way. When I tried to start a conversation with my girlfriend about numerology and the documentary, she quickly became irritated and commented something regarding numerologists as "idiots." The same thing happened when I mentioned something regarding scientologists. Again, a comment of "morons" or something similar was her retort. And finally, when I informed her of my decision to buy the Gospel of the FSM, she asked things like "Why would I buy such a book?" And "Am I acutally going to read it?" As if the idea of reading the book was illegal or against the law.

It is her additude that really opened my eyes to just how resliante people are to change and how stubborn and close minded they really are. I don't understand why people get so offended by new ideas. And I know for the fact that I could never get her to admit the fact that theres a "chance" god might not trully exist. Never in a million years could she ever admit that. If "anything" is possibly, which I trully believe, then, why can't god not exisiting not be possible?

I'm reminded of the scene in "Jackass" where a guy is dressed up in a halloween devil costume carrying a sign that says something like "Satan is Good" or something and it provoked a reaction in someone so powerful that they assaulted the guy in the costume. People are so offended by something so trivial that they have to resort to violence? What's next, a mail bomb to the FSM headquarters?

The world, and the people in the world need to have their eyes, and their hearts, opened and their beliefs reevaluated. They need to see that there are 6 billion people in this world and not everyone is going to share in their beliefs, and that's okay. But, they need to stop saying things like "Just because you don't believe in god, doesn't mean he doesn't believe in you." and trying to act like they don't care what we believe in when they hypocritically take up arms the instant something comes about that challenges their religion or beliefs. You sure give a lot of attention to something you say you don't care about.

And for those out there who sit on their high horses, pointing your damning fingers down on us Pastafarians for our belief saying it's a mockery, and that it's a ridiculous idea to believe that a deity resembling that of a bowl of pasta could trully exist.. all I can say is that I pity you. And ask that you quietly go worship your "Invisible friend for grown ups" and his son, the bastard son of a whore in peace and leave us to our own lives, and musings.

Maybe that was a little too much. Oh well. I'm tired of being nice. And I'm tired of people not saying what needs to be said and saying it the way it is.

So, what do I do? How do I deal with people that so arrogantly look down upon people like me because I don't believe in God? How do I tolerate people who don't show me the simplest of courtesy by simply allowing me to believe, or not believe, in what I chose and to not judge me for it?

FSM, give me strength.. and some garlic bread.

[DaveL]

We are inclusive lot here as our battle is with ID, not religion in a broader sense. But you have touched on some important points there.

The Great Noodly One doesn't give much 'beer heaven consideration' to sanctimonius idiots. However, he does find their behaviour hilariously funny and hopes you will too. He created them for his own celestial amusement, so don't get to riled up by them. The true creator can create all the stupid gits he darn well likes. End of story.

His all time belly laugh of late was seeing Tom Cruise make a goose of himself, gestapo saluting an L.R. Hubbard painting on youtube, (now taken down - probably because it was too funny for words).

Quote: The Great Noodly One: Man that short guy was a tool! That salute was so funny, I almost wet my celestial underpants!

Welcome aboard matey!

[Scott the Pirate]

(a LOT of stuff)

Alterations mine.




Excellent points all...feels good to rant a bit doesn't it?

[Valanthe]

That is does. I try to ignore bigoted idiots for the most part. If you let them get to you, it only leads to ulcers. But if Rev. Phelps' crowd comes to my town, I plan to have a little fun with them, as my brother and sister Pastafarians have done in the past. Closed-minded idiots can't stand ridicule, hee hee hee...

[Qwertyuiopasd]

I just laugh. It's not always easy, but all you have to do is not get too angry about it all. Ultimately, other peoples stupidity usually can't hurt you. And if it does, we have a legal system to take care of that.

Just remember, getting pissed off at people for getting pissed off at you for not believing in X, Y, or Z is just as bad as them getting pissed off. So, when you start getting pissed, do what you just did. Pray to the FSM, have some good food, and avoid the sources of stress.

[Valanthe]

I generally find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the more hardcore guys. I don't get upset that the Westboro people are xtians, I get upset because they're hateful bigots. I wish these people would actually consider real life for once instead of retreating into hate and intolerance. I fully recognize that you're not going to like everyone you meet; this is a given that not everyone can get along with everyone else. I'd just rather see people take the time to get to know someone well enough to say their personalities clash rather than to automatically hate someone for their belief system or lifestyle, or something of that nature.

I do laugh my tail off when I see karma catch up with them, though.

[Qwertyuiopasd]

My Karma ran over your Dogma?

[Valanthe]

Karma in action is a beautiful thing. Dogma, not so much. I prefer Discordian catma, myself..

[Tigger_the_Wing]

Karma in action:

This was when hubby drove me up to A&E on Tuesday night. As we pulled up at the entrance a bloke was standing in the lobby between the two sets of sliding doors, just inside, lighting a cigarette!

As I struggled from the car (in a lot of pain and already not in a good mood, as you can well imagine!) I commented on how rude he was being; hubby asked him to step away from the doors.

The smoker moved, but got quite angry, complaining "You bloody non-smokers think you own the world". Hubby replied "We don't force our non-smoking on you!" and I responded, "At least we don't poison other people". Bear in mind that there is a smoking ban on the whole hospital campus, and plenty of 'No Smoking' signs everywhere; he was standing between two of them. I pointed to them out and said "And you can't read".

Well, I went into A&E and did all the tedious signing in while hubby went off to park the car. While he was gone, Mr. Angry Smoker came in. After looking at the waiting time list, he asked when was he was going to be called.

Here's the good part.

The receptionist said "We already called you. We had people walking all round, even outside, looking for you. You've been de-listed. We can re-add you to the bottom of the list if you like."

After hanging around for less than a minute, Mr AS left the building as hubby was re-entering. I don't know whether Mr AS came back, as I was called to a bed immediately. Ah, the joys of being a genuine emergency!

The average wait for non-urgent consultations is nine hours. Perhaps he should consider giving up smoking. At least in places where, for obvious reasons, it's banned!

[Valanthe]

Instant karma is the rarest kind, but it is a wonderful thing when you find it.

[Scott the Pirate]

Ha!

Just the other day at the grocery store i had a guy intentionally and rudely cut in front of me at the checkout... just in time for the girl to say "Sorry sir but i'm closing" as the girl in the lane next to it said to me "I can help you over here". He got in line behind me and said "Hey man, i've just got a few things. Could i go ahead of you?". I looked him right in the eye and said "Normally i'd say yes, but maybe you shouldn't have looked so f*cking smug when you ran in front of me in (i point at the other checkout) THAT lane. You saw me going in there and you know it."

I took my time.

[Valanthe]

Had a bit of instant karma happen today. The bf and I went out for a breakfast buffet. We got seated and were waiting to for the waitress to come by so we could order some coffee and let her know we wanted the buffet. A group of people who were seated after us got served first. It was a family group, and they looked a little better off than us, so I think the waitress was hoping for a big tip. They left before we did without leaving a tip.

[Scott the Pirate]

A friend loaned me his car today (techically yesterday)so i could get all of my last minute stuff done before we left town. On my way to West Duluth (i'm in a far flung "suburb") some jerk decided to tailgate me even though i was doing 52ish in a 45. When he finally passes me he flips me off and yells something incoherent.

Not 5 minutes later i see flashing lights ahead and who's pulled over? HIM! I saw that there were no cars behind me, slowed WAY down and gave him a VERY friendly smile-n-wave as i passed.

[Ubi Dubius]

A friend loaned me his car today (techically yesterday)so i could get all of my last minute stuff done before we left town. On my way to West Duluth (i'm in a far flung "suburb") some jerk decided to tailgate me even though i was doing 52ish in a 45. When he finally passes me he flips me off and yells something incoherent.

Not 5 minutes later i see flashing lights ahead and who's pulled over? HIM! I saw that there were no cars behind me, slowed WAY down and gave him a VERY friendly smile-n-wave as i passed.

Today, the car in front of me was going slow and I flashed my lights and honked. I floored it and passed the car, flipping off the driver. Just as I went around the next corner I got pulled over by a motorcycle cop. A few seconds later, the guy I flipped off drove by honked and waved. FML

Appearing on the same day? Coincidence? I think not!

[Scott the Pirate]

No way! Where was that posted from?!?!?