Anyone non-religious here? Please be nice!

[Pupsnpullets]

I saw a play this weekend written by a well-renown writer, which is struggling to get off the ground. It's called 'Daughter' by Bradley Rand Smith and it's the premise that Jesus, Yeshua ben Joseph, has come back as a woman. Now can ya see why it's struggling? The first line in the play is "I said I would return. I did not say I'd return as a man."

It was an awesome play performed by 3 women and it didn't come from any one spiritual/religious viewpoint. The concepts portrayed were pulled from ancient texts, the bible, native american teachings and a whole bunch of other sources I'm not even away of, and it was so uplifting and joyful. It wasn't angled to the gay population either, which wouldn't be altogether surprising as I saw it in Palm Springs, Ca.

I blogged a little about it (see my link below) but there's also a youtube excerpt from about a year ago available too.

http://www.youtube.com/thedaughterseminar

 

[deb1]

warning, there are a couple of curse words in this poem.

The name of this poem is, I Am Sorry, I Am A Christian. It is NOT antiChristian. If anything it speaks about loving others instead of being judgemental. It is very beautiful.

http://videosift.com/video/I-m-sorry-I-m-a-Christian-Chris-Tse-spoken-word

 

[powellflock]

Quote:
Thank you for putting my beliefs into words. There can still be morals and principals followed without the necessity of attending a service once a week. I live with God every day when I go outside and enjoy the beauty around me and appreciate everyone and everything in this World.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I'm not much for theater normally but this sounds like something I could support. Just the basic plot (and the fact it is struggling) speaks to the assumptions of most religions.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I finally got around to watching the Tom Hanks movie set in Vatican City (just could not find anything else to watch that I hadn't seen a thousand times). I was struck by the opulence. Which, of course, started me wondering about why so many religions seem to set such store by wealth, as in the accumulation of it? How does that "glorify" god? After all, these folks claim He created everything quite deliberately, that nothing "just happened". By that reasoning, if He wanted greater wealth, all He'd have to do is create it, so why all the "tithing" business? Why all the stress about how much people put in the collection plate? And why don't people themselves seem to remember that by their own beliefs, He made the world's wealth and can make more any time he wants to? Why do they allow themselves to be pressured into making huge donations of His OWN wealth to His OWN church? (Assuming that they do believe that their church IS His own church.) I do not understand "religious" people and how they think.

Rusty

 

[deb1]

Quote:
I saw a documentary that showcased some Buddhist temples. All the statues were covered with gold but the monks were very active in feeding the poor. I think that people sometimes give donations to what they think is important. For some people that means giving to religious institutions that have offered them comfort. I understand the desire to beautify a house of worship. But it is a little disconcerting to see so much wealth in one place.

What bothers me is the assumption that if you give to God, you will get something back in return or that if you tithe the money has to go to your church. Giving to God should mean that you can give to charities instead of your house of worship. My former pastor told us that giving to charity was extra. He said 10% of BEFORE TAXES income should go to the church first. He assured us that church membership was not based on the tithe but if we trusted God and were 'real' Christians, of course we would give.

My neighbor was having a tough time financially. Her husband was out of work and they had difficulty even affording food. They were on the brink of loosing their house. A friend of hers assured her that if she would only tithe to their church, God would bless them financially. That boggles my mind. A person is on the brink of loosing everything but instead of giving them money, a person tries to guilt them into giving away a hunk of their income. My friend did not listen to this advice and is now doing quite well financially.

 

[EweSheep]

I do not like tithe, they are just as bad as politicians with their pork barrel projects.

Glad your neighbor is doing well financially, it shows that God is not always the one you need to get money from directly. After all, it is the people themselves that spread the wealth around.

 

[EweSheep]

Okay folks, Christians and all............

I got my open Facebook message on my sister's sis in law that she wrote on her Facebook:

Been disturbed all day. At work we were told we were not to talk about our religion anymore because it might "offend" someone. Wow....what about everything else that is talked about that offends me?? I just keep thinking of a friend telling me "they will never make me stop talking about my God." This has been bugging ...me all day and i dont know what else to say...

Just to be fair, I wrote something like this which she deleted it. I wrote: Workplaces have their rules and religion is one of those touchy subjects that can offend other non religious OR someone with a different religion. Is it fair for one to listen to one to praise the Lord and announce it loudly and often? I certainly respect your "freedom of speech" announcing your religion but be respectful toward your co workers about it. They may not want to listen to it and I do enjoy a good debate about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit vs science/apes/Darwin and evolution. If they want to debate, take a curveball with them AFTER work and it would make you think as well. And just dont let it bother you but be respectful with your coworkers. Rules are rules.


She does not know that I am one of those non religious folks but I do respect her "announcements" of her happiness of the Lord and how people loved her. Her marriage is in trouble anyway and she found the church to be her strength which that is fine. She has two small kids. From her Facebook comments, it got to be too much of the "goodness of the Lord and how God gives her the help she needed" but she does not realize it is not just only God that is helping her but the mass of people of her church is helping her as well.

I think we have to be mindful about our workplaces and public places that are not church or religion based that we can not go on and preach our religion/beliefs OR our non beliefs as well. We all wanted a comfortable place to work without being harassed by either forums and I was trying to give a neutral response to it but she didn't like it, and deleted it. Well, its the truth and the workplace has the right to enforce those rules to make others comfortable by not talking about religion, etc. that offends the other party. She works for UPS.

So is there a way I can reword it so it would be accepting to both areas why she can not talk about religion in her workplace because it might offend someone?

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Quote:
I'm not much for theater normally but this sounds like something I could support. Just the basic plot (and the fact it is struggling) speaks to the assumptions of most religions.

That's just my point, Sunny. It is a non-religious play about a very religious theme. I'm not quite sure what is keeping people away but possibly the religious folk think it's sacrilegious and the non-religious think it is religious,

Anyway I enjoyed it immensely and I consider myself a believer in a non judgmental higher power, with little/no time for organized religion.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Quote:
Your sister in law has more going on with her than over enthusiasm for the Lord. It's possible she's using the Church as a diversion from dealing with her real issues ie her marriage. Spouting off constantly how the Lord is her strength and that he is going to save her is just fine, heck it may even be true, but it is also said that the Lord saves those who helps themselves. SIL doesn't seem ready for that at the moment. She seems insensitive to the most basic nuances ie being in danger of losing her job if she doesn't clam up. I don't think you will be able to get through to her at the moment, but I really do wish you luck.