Doctorb Science (bay@er7.rutgers.edu) wrote:
: You know, there are some pretty darned well-adjusted, happy, and
: good Christians. There are also some really miserable, hateful bastards
: who claim to follow that same religion. The same, I believe, holds true
: for Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, aquaria,
: Discordianism (yes--I've seen them here!), Satanism, yadda yadda yaddism. . .
Yep. Bertie Russell said something about kind people beliveving in
a kind diety, and bitter people believing in a vengefull diety.
(Shoot, I oughta look up that quote I don't quite remember... but
where would Usenet be if everyone did that!?)
: (Hey! Please take aquaria out of your list!)
(Hey! I've seen plenty of fish worshipers! They even have
their symbol on the back of their cars!)
: Anyway, my point is that it's not the structure of your religion, but
: (oh PLEASE don't let me say this) what's inside that counts (AAAR. I
: said it!).
: Let me try that again.
: Don't count on religion to make you healthy, or sane, or to make you
: want to live. Sometimes it'll work, or seem to -- heck, maybe it really
: *is* working. But it's just as likely that the acceptance that you
: JUST MIGHT NOT understand everything and be the ne plus ultra of
: existence is helping you cope as it is that Tlaloc the Aztec Rain God
: is straightening out your life.
Personally, I've seen more evidence for MesoAmerican raingods answering
prayers than I have for any other religion, but that's sorta
beside the point here...
: Maybe religion is a lot like firearms or alcohol or drugs: useful or
: at least harmless in the right hands; dangerous in the wrong ones. And
: extremely controversial.
: Strike the "maybe" part.
The idea that more than one religion might be true is nothing new.
Through most of history, in most places, people did not doubt that
the god worshiped by those weird people that lived on the other side
of the mountain was as much a real god as their own.
Even the Roman Catholic Conquistador Bernal Diaz, in his writings,
seems to have been genuinely afraid of the power of the Aztec diety
Huitilipochtli, although of course Diaz labeled the diety a "devil".
That many contradictary belief systems all succed in producing the
mystical experience and the feeling of certainty of salvation in
their believers is well documented.
One of the greatest realizations of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, IMO, is that
not only can you be "saved" by many different religions, but that
you can be saved by ANYTHING at ANY PARTICULAR TIME. And that your
personal savior does not have to stay the same throughout your life,
but can change often, even moment to moment.
This is the doctrine of the short duration personal savior, or
shordupersav for short.
Your shordupersav can be a saint or a deity, or a good friend who
helps you out in time of need, or a funny Usenet post read at a time
when you needed cheering up, a song on the radio, a roll of Mentos,
or damn near anything else.
Hope This Helps,
Frater Frogalogus
* Froggy@neosoft.com * "The Information Super-Frog" [dibs] *
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