- Oct 22, 2021
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- Canada
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- Male
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- Married
Hello.
Both my parents worked long hours on two jobs to make sure the kids got great education. So I myself and the street basically raised me. The other day my neighbour was idling his unlocked van warming it up with the key… I stayed there until he came out to tell him he should lock it or better yet install a remote starter if he can. When people tell me something, my first reaction, I don’t trust. I trust facts or try to make sure there’s at least reasonable ways to protect my interests. I never give to people who come to my door claiming to be from charities. Maybe they are, but those little badges are very easy to counterfeit.
In regards to religion, I often think about street smarts and book smarts. It seems to me some believers tend to live too much in their heads. When it comes to realities of life, they can seem to be somewhat detached. Do you notice this?
I see Christian missionaries abroad, they’re pretty much crooks, most of them. They treat locals like dirt, invest and trade, send fake reports back to their home churches inflating all they do. Basically, con artists. Churches never even think about any accountability, believing everything blindly. How is it even possible?
Or when I hear pastors preach about tithes and offerings, they promise a great return from God as if it’s a done deal…A guaranteed blessing… Like they say about investment into Apple or Amazon stock. Yes, if you’re well-educated, healthy with great skill set and in good economic environment, maybe. In a poor country for less fortunate or in a bad neighbourhood among the lowest class of people, and during a recession, maybe not so much… I personally know a family in Asia who sold their condo to gift money to their Charismatic church and ended up homeless. That church pastor fled to the USA with millions claiming religious asylum… Yes, he was somehow persecuted by the gov’t too… Or Mother Theresa, a saint to her church, but a much more controversial figure to the people of Kolkatta..
I sometimes try to analyze what it is… Some ideas seem so good and right and good-sounding and beautiful, but when it comes to realities of life, those ideas somehow don’t consider all factors. Maybe that’s the problem? For example, how sin is explained and what solutions are offered… That’s why I think religion has never been an effective tool in guarding morality and behaviour and we need certain institutions such as law enforcement and jails, with tools like handcuffs and tasers, or sedative injections for some…
If there is such disconnect, is religion even relevant?
My question isn’t about people, but about Christian teachings. Are they adequate for street smarts? Or are they more or less useless when it comes to what people have to deal with in their spiritual and day by day practical lives?
Is Christian faith, overall, a true reflection of spiritual and physical reality?
Both my parents worked long hours on two jobs to make sure the kids got great education. So I myself and the street basically raised me. The other day my neighbour was idling his unlocked van warming it up with the key… I stayed there until he came out to tell him he should lock it or better yet install a remote starter if he can. When people tell me something, my first reaction, I don’t trust. I trust facts or try to make sure there’s at least reasonable ways to protect my interests. I never give to people who come to my door claiming to be from charities. Maybe they are, but those little badges are very easy to counterfeit.
In regards to religion, I often think about street smarts and book smarts. It seems to me some believers tend to live too much in their heads. When it comes to realities of life, they can seem to be somewhat detached. Do you notice this?
I see Christian missionaries abroad, they’re pretty much crooks, most of them. They treat locals like dirt, invest and trade, send fake reports back to their home churches inflating all they do. Basically, con artists. Churches never even think about any accountability, believing everything blindly. How is it even possible?
Or when I hear pastors preach about tithes and offerings, they promise a great return from God as if it’s a done deal…A guaranteed blessing… Like they say about investment into Apple or Amazon stock. Yes, if you’re well-educated, healthy with great skill set and in good economic environment, maybe. In a poor country for less fortunate or in a bad neighbourhood among the lowest class of people, and during a recession, maybe not so much… I personally know a family in Asia who sold their condo to gift money to their Charismatic church and ended up homeless. That church pastor fled to the USA with millions claiming religious asylum… Yes, he was somehow persecuted by the gov’t too… Or Mother Theresa, a saint to her church, but a much more controversial figure to the people of Kolkatta..
I sometimes try to analyze what it is… Some ideas seem so good and right and good-sounding and beautiful, but when it comes to realities of life, those ideas somehow don’t consider all factors. Maybe that’s the problem? For example, how sin is explained and what solutions are offered… That’s why I think religion has never been an effective tool in guarding morality and behaviour and we need certain institutions such as law enforcement and jails, with tools like handcuffs and tasers, or sedative injections for some…
If there is such disconnect, is religion even relevant?
My question isn’t about people, but about Christian teachings. Are they adequate for street smarts? Or are they more or less useless when it comes to what people have to deal with in their spiritual and day by day practical lives?
Is Christian faith, overall, a true reflection of spiritual and physical reality?
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