I had a rather weird encounter with
the mail the other day. Instead of coming home from day job to find
an LP mailer stuck in the door, I came across an envelope from a
relative.
Given the age of digital wonder in
which we live, getting a letter in the mail these days has become a
bit of a rarity so I thought it would have been an invitation to some
sort of family gathering that I would decide to not go to in order to
avoid standing in a corner by myself because I haven't had anything
to say to these people since the age of seven. Boy, was I wrong.
It was an invitation of sorts. The
letter was two pages, typed, on heavy grade paper that was almost
card stock and it was trying to convince me to come to white,
European Jesus.
The letter was asking how I could live
without Jesus/God and still find purpose in life without the goal of
an afterlife. It then took an odd twist toward the biographical as
if I had never met this person before. There were a few bible quotes
and lines from modern day snake oil salesmen type preachers. The big
finish was to promote Christian radio stations and websites for me to
seek out more information.
I should have known that something was
amiss during the last gauntlet of holidays that I had to run through. I was given a book that laid out the “empirical evidence” that
Jesus was in fact the son of God. I guess the book would have been
helpful if I were looking for “evidence” based on a premise that
is flimsy, at best.
With the limited amount of time in my
day that I can set aside for reading, am I going to read this book or
am I going to read something of my own choosing? Jesus book or the
next volume in The Dune Chronicles? The choice seems clear to me. But rather than let a book go to
waste, the pages were removed from the spine and used as my first
attempt at an art project. Lemons to lemonade, I say.
The thing is, I really don't care
about religion at all. If you find comfort in it and religion of
some sort helps you get through your day to day, fine, good for you. It never did a thing for me so I don't dedicate head space to it in
any shape or form.
I have never been offended by someone
that practices a religion unless they come at me with bullshit like
this. The “come join us” routine really pisses me off.
I don't go around asking people how
they can be a grown ass adult and still believe in magic and fairy
tales. I'd like to think in return that I would not be asked why, as
a grown ass adult, I don't believe in magic and fairy tales.
I understand that some people go to
religious services to feel a sense of community. I get it. People
want to get out of the house and feel like they belong somewhere. I
hate people and want nothing to do with them so I have no use for
that sense of community.
I have other shit to do throughout the
course of my day than worry about if I'm going to be rewarded with a
Scooby Snack when I die. Acting decently toward our fellow humans
should not be based on winning a prize when we all inevitably shit
our pants and die at some point. You do it because you should.
I refuse to align myself with people
that actively stand opposed to the majority of the rest of the
population. Historically, Christianity seems to come down on the
side of hate, bigotry, homophobia, misogyny and let's not forget
protecting child molesters. They have a very “If you're not like
us, then we're against you” way of doing business. Why would I
stand with that?
TV preachers demonstrate the humility
of Jesus by bilking millions of dollars off of their poor followers
every Sunday so they can build stadium sized churches and buy private
jets. Why would I want to be a part of that? Becoming an easily
manipulated follower that will act against my own best interests is
not something that piques my curiosity.
Jesus never helped me out of a bind. He doesn't go from town to town getting people out of jams like B.J.
and the Bear. Praying to an imaginary friend doesn't solve problems. Analysis of a problem followed by action is what will solve that
problem. When someone was coming after me for my child and
everything I owned, Jesus didn't show up to save the day. I did that
with the help of my friends, family and attorney. Why would I give
that credit away when I could use it as motivation to build myself
back up?
Now I'm in the position of having to
figure out how to politely tell this person to fuck off and that I am
not their special project in need of “saving.” Maybe their
wondering about how I get through my day without the need of a
religion is actually their own existential crisis that they need to
figure out without dragging me into it.
Again, I have to take into
consideration that there are more years behind us than there are in
front of us. There will be difficult times in the future where we
might need to be there for each other so I won't cut this person out
for the simple fact that we are family. But if this nonsense
continues, I'm not sure I'll be able to hold on to that approach.
And here I was thinking that I didn't
have anything to write about this week.
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