Fan is short for fanatic - right?
I hear that being a fan is good, but being a fanatic is bad.
If you go to church and say you believe something, "I'm Lutheran" that's good. If you're a religious fanatic (meaning, you really believe something and it affects your life) that's bad.
If you don't like fur because it's mean, that's good.
If you don't eat meat, wear leather or snake skin boots...well you're a fanatic, and that's bad.
It seems like if you kind of believe something...then that's ok. Lots of people show up at church once a week, drop 3 dollars in the collection plate, and bow their heads when they pray. That's ok. Even when the preist/pastor/rabbi is saying that God is God and we can talk to Him through prayer from the main stage...well that's ok.
Tell people you talk to God...they'll look at you a little funny. "But you were bowing your head too....when we were praying in church last week!" Tell them you read the Bible every day and they might wonder if you're a "Bible thumper"
"but if this book is true, it's life changing. Doesn't it make sense that I'd read it and have it affect how I live?" "Yeah, if you're one of those religious fanatics" "but it's just saying the same kinds of things they say at your church" "Yeah, but I just go there once a week" "But you have a big 'ol Bible on that shelf" "Yeah, but I don't read it!"
"So you believe that there's a God and that we should be connected to Him....every seven days?"
that's when you go from religious fanatic to Holy roller....still not sure what that one means...
It seems like if you believe that fur is mean, you'd also believe that leather is not very sweet either. And eating a burger is carnage. Wouldn't that also be true? Killing animals for fur coat is the same thing as killing them for steak and purses...(I'm not signing people up for Peta by the way...I'm just typing away while my sausage is cooking) Fur being mean is a nice little stance to take...but to give up burgers and leather belts? That's just crazy. That's fanatical.
Showing up at church is a nice thing to do...but to change your day to day life because of a relationship with God, that'd just be silly.
what am I, a fanatic...
I don't really know much about all this "religious" talk. I go to church once every 14 days.
ReplyDeleteI do know that the Phillie Phanatic is the worst mascot of all time.
What a holy roller.
ReplyDelete"You Christians look after a document (the bible) containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature."
ReplyDeleteMohandas Gandhi
I didn't know that being a vegetarian was fanatical. Who thinks that?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, that's right, I'm a liberal.
Gandhi believed that people should not injure other people or animals and that all religions should tolerate each other to bring about a peaceful world.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone not see that this person who was Hindu was more Christ-like than anyone. He lived what Christ preached (for example, he turned the other cheek even after a mob tried to lynch him). Jesus was the Prince of Peace. Gandhi respected the Bible yet it was not the basis for his religion. Peace = tolerance and without tolerance there can be no peace. Jesus wanted peace. That's why God made all of the laws for us to follow. So people would learn to live peacefully with each other and, with a peaceful mind, then be able to focus better on Him.
Furthermore, if you're a person who agrees with us making war with anyone, then how can you be listening to Christ? How can you not be outraged that we declared war?
Just wondering.
A fanatic, even a religious fanatic, isn't what makes people upset. It's more of a collective experience of when fanatics (and other "tics" like lunatics, heretics, and ticks) consistently hurt people in a similar fashion because of something that they believe that I think people get upset about. Nobody gets upset about a beautiful display of life-changing, life-affirming faith going on in the home of a neighbor. And rightly so. Everybody gets upset when that faith gets twisted into a justification to hate, discriminate, bully, ostracize and destroy.
ReplyDeleteThere is an abortion clinic down the street from me. Often the faithful gather to oppose abortion (which I think is a wonderful testament to faith and belief, though I don't know if I agree) and show signs of mutilated babies and dying fetuses on a route where school buses frequently pass, which seems inappropriate, and which would anger me if I had children. Is it horrible reality that we should be in touch with when making a decision about life and death? Yeah. Is it appropriate to expose kids to it. . .doesn't feel like it. Murph, would you be mad if your neighbor put those signs up in his front yard, where your kids had to look at them and be exposed to graphic death before an appropriate age? Bet you would. And it's the fanaticism that allows your neighbor to indiscrimately expose your children in the name of faith. I don't think that really represents Jesus' wish either. It's not Him, it's the fanatic.
A "bible thumper" to me is someone who expects the world to revolve around their beliefs about the Bible without considering that others might have a different opinion. These people speak at you instead of to you. I think most people are open to different ideas if they are spoken respectfully.
ReplyDeleteSara,
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to figure out if your question was aimed at me or to young Drew. I never mentioned war - although I wonder if someone listening to Jesus would have agreed that Hitler was going to keep on marching and the only answer was to fight back. I can't imagine what would have happened to the rest of the world...all in the name of tolerating that fella over there. Who are we to judge his ideas?
It'd be great if evil people didn't do evil things. It's be awesome if we didn't need to have the police, or the army. It'd be great if the police officer could just tell people to stop and not have to use his handcuffs or worse. It'd be great if we didn't have to threaten people with time spent in jail...but I'm not sure tolerating bad behavior would be at the top of your list if someone you love was harmed.
I wonder how tolerant we should be when someone breaks into our homes?
Tolerance as a blank check just seems like a simple answer that really, when examined isn't much of a fix all.
Tolerate rape? murder? violence? war?
Ok, about the $3.00...that's all I had. And I forgot my checkbook. And earlier I had to pay the paperboy. And the pizza guy the night before.
ReplyDeleteOk, I DID have a $50.00 bill but Adam's talk was good, but NOT THAT good.
Thank you for being tolerant of my comments...and the $3.00 thing..
Sean,
ReplyDeleteSorry, I wasn't really aiming at anyone in particular nor did I mean to insult anyone. I'm naturally philosophical (I think way too much) and this war really confounds me. No, I do not want to be raped nor would I turn the other cheek if I was. They'd make a Lifetime movie about me because I'd hunt him down, stalk him and kill him in the most painful way possible. And you'd be right that I would not be very Christ-like in doing so. I doubt my faith when I can't make myself do the Nestea plunge on Jesus. I am critical of following leaders when they publically boast about how based on Christ they are and then support the war (I like the bumper sticker "Support the Troops- Bring them Home") because I think Jesus wants us to free fall as a civilization. To fall on faith that He'll take care of us. And it has to start somewhere. When will we decide to trust each other enough? Does our civilization have to be perfectly trustworthy to get to that point? Why not start with a president who claims to be based in faith and makes bold, often unpopular decisions based on his claims about his faith.
You probably think I'm naive. Maybe I am. Am I confused? You Bet I am!
If Hitler had been alive in Jesus' time and tried to do what he did what do you think Jesus would have told his disciples to do? Now that's something to ponder!
Sara
Not really
ReplyDelete