I was over at Main and Central today and, to my surprise, found Lurch musing in response to a survey that showed that something like a third of Americans maintain that they believe the Bible is the actual word of God, infallible, immutable.
The mind can't comprehend it.
It's not that I can't understand that people can stand up and testify that the Sun rises in the West and sets in East and that the Moon is not a rock, but a big glob of Green Cheese -- I can understand that. What bothers me is that poop-head people with degrees in theology continue to mislead their flocks of sheeple and feed them garbage while they sit upon a treasure of wisdom gathered by some of the best minds the human race has had the good fortune to bring forth.
Correct that, I do, in fact understand. It has to do with meal tickets, benefits, pensions, expensive cars and, the best hustlers, gold mines...
Remember Jim Jones?
He once said, "Look at these hands, see how soft they are, they have never done manual work..." Well, that quote was from memory, so it might not be correct to the letter and punctuation mark, but it will do...
O my!
Did I compare religious leaders of today in any way to the fellow who made them kneel in the shade and drink the Kool-Aid? If I did, I should say, "I'm sorry!". Don't hold your breath though -- cause I ain't a gonna!
But let us put the snide and the snark aside...
Partly because I am a cantankerous old coot, I have long distinguished between belief and faith..
The bottom line is that too many beliefs are an almost sure sign of a lack of faith.
Who has more faith than a baby taking its first steps -- and who has fewer beliefs?
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5 comments:
Oh to be a baby again and have that kind of faith!!! Trust and faith are nothing to take for granted. Absolutely, belief and faith are very different concepts.
Thank you! The reason I first came to think of stressing the different connotations between belief and faith is because there is only one word in Danish "tro" (which we see in betrothal and trust) -- but in Danish you have different constructions and some of them get translated as belief and some as faith.
Carrying the thought further, it seemed to me that beliefs are quantitative, whereas faith is more a quality.
Thanks for the mention. I didn't realize I was ranting. I remember feeling quite comfortable and relaxed while writing that.
Gee, Lurch, to me "rant" has a somewhat milder connotation in blog than it does normally -- but I will change it to musing.
No, no. That's all right. I wasn't offended. It's my impression that you think in Danish, and then translate back, so I'm understanding of the differing meanings of words, as you pointed out above with the word "tro".
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