Trying To Do God's Job

[Guest Taoist_Saint]

Just a fun little article I thought I would share:

Kirby: Playing God is a job that's already taken

Robert Kirby

Tribune Columnist

Robert Kirby

Salt Lake Tribune Columnist

Following last week's column on homosexual marriage, I received a letter from a woman telling me that her son's "gay sins" were on my head.

According to the woman, her son gave her the column and said, "See, not all church people think like you." It was all the proof she needed that I was encouraging her son to be gay.

"Have fun in hell," she wrote.

Wow, that was quick. And here I thought there was supposed to be some kind of heavenly trial, spiritual tribunal, or even a long celestial appeal process.

This is not the first time I have been consigned early to hell. The first time was when I was a teenager and the father of a girl accused me of leading his daughter astray even though it was common knowledge that she was an experienced guide.

Apparently, I will have plenty of company in hell. Actor and director Mel Gibson thinks his own wife may be going there.

Mrs. Gibson's obvious sin is that of not being Catholic.

"There is no salvation for those outside the [Catholic church]," Gibson told an MSNBC reporter. "I believe it."

OK, let's call the roll. Episcopalians and liberal journalists are not worthy of salvation. Who else? Oh, Mormons. According to the Plaza street screechers, we're a special case of evil.

Wait, since I'm a Mormon and a liberal journalist, is there a special ring of hell for me? You bet.

Hell isn't just one place. It is a huge multilevel corporation of horribleness. There's plenty of room for lots of others.

Don't forget the Jews. They supposedly rejected Jesus, who, even though a Jew himself, apparently won't be going to hell.

Lutherans are definitely going to hell, all the way from my youngest brother to Joe Zerbey, boss of the Newspaper Agency Corporation. Ditto Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers, Methodists, Rastafarians, Muslims, Buddhists.

OK, this is getting boring. Is it me or is way too much of religion taken up in deciding who isn't going to heaven?

We worry about it as if it were up to us.

We're so preoccupied with the issue that we have tried to use color-coding to track ancient sinners who were cursed. According to certain theologies, it's possible to look at a particular group of people and, based on the color of their skin, know that their ancestors screwed up really bad.

Or maybe not. The fact that my descendants continue to pop out Caucasian is proof that this either doesn't work as well as we think, or that it never worked at all. Or, worse, that we got the color chart backward.

What's truly ironic is that people who don't even live their own religion very well still have a solid opinion about the fate of people in other religions.

"My wife is a saint," Mel Gibson told MSNBC. "She is a much better person than I am. Honestly. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it's just not fair if she doesn't make it. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it."

OK, a new first rule for religious tolerance. Everyone shut up and stop trying to do God's job for him.

[elinz]

This brings up a good point:

If you knew that someone were secretly and systematically

killing people and yet they were doing it in such a stealthy

manner that you could never prove it in court.

What would you do?

If it were the mafia you would need to train special agents

to go undercover and gather enough evidence to be able

to convict the person.

But what if the "killing" was done by getting people to make

choices that would destroy their reproductive system. And it

was done in full view so that no undercover agent could get

anything that wasn't visible.

Now it gets harder. You have to convince others that what

is accepted as "normal" for the day is actually about as real

as the "Emperers Clothes".

Then what can you do?

If you speak up you look like a fool.

If you don't, another person "dies".

Sometimes things are not as they seem... B)

[Guest Taoist_Saint]

I'm not sure I follow your parable

But I assume it had something to do with homosexuality.

I don't think that article had much to do with that topic.

Kirby was just saying "Don't judge people...that's God's job."

[Guest curvette]

"SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE! IT'S PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPLLLLLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Jenda]

Originally posted by curvette@Feb 17 2004, 05:31 PM

"SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE! IT'S PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPLLLLLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I am going to have to go rent that movie. It has been so long since I saw it that I can't remember it.

[elinz]

I was trying to get across the idea of "creep".

You've probably heard this story before:

"If you place a frog into a pot of water at room temperature

and slowly heat the water the frog will stay in all the way

until the poor thing dies"

"But if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will

jump right out because it can sense the change"

That's sort of how the US is now, we let things creep

slowly further and further to the point at which the

nation will eventually fall apart.

Some stories repeat themselves many times... B)

[Guest Starsky]

I love Kirby. Thanks for posting him!

[Guest curvette]

Originally posted by Jenda+Feb 17 2004, 05:42 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Jenda @ Feb 17 2004, 05:42 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--curvette@Feb 17 2004, 05:31 PM

"SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!  IT'S PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPLLLLLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I am going to have to go rent that movie. It has been so long since I saw it that I can't remember it.

Charleton Heston is sooooooooooooooooo outrageously cool. (even though he was a METHOD actor!)

[Guest Starsky]

Originally posted by elinz@Feb 17 2004, 05:45 PM

I was trying to get across the idea of "creep".

You've probably heard this story before:

"If you place a frog into a pot of water at room temperature

and slowly heat the water the frog will stay in all the way

until the poor thing dies"

"But if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will

jump right out because it can sense the change"

That's sort of how the US is now, we let things creep

slowly further and further to the point at which the

nation will eventually fall apart.

Some stories repeat themselves many times... B)

My uncle once told us that if you were flying a helicopter over the federal building (can't remember the state...but he lived in California) that you could see that the cement around the building was in the shape of a turtle symbolizing the 'moving slowly to over come the US.' It was suppose to mean that the evil powers work ever so slow as to not be detected by the good people until it is too late.

[Guest Taoist_Saint]

"Difficult to see, the dark side is"

-Yoda

[Guest Starsky]

Originally posted by Taoist_Saint@Feb 17 2004, 06:23 PM

"Difficult to see, the dark side is"

-Yoda

Yeah! That's it Tao...didn't connect the two before. :)

[elinz]

Originally posted by Peace@Feb 17 2004, 07:15 PM

My uncle once told us that if you were flying a helicopter over the federal building (can't remember the state...but he lived in California) that you could see that the cement around the building was in the shape of a turtle symbolizing the 'moving slowly to over come the US.' It was suppose to mean that the evil powers work ever so slow as to not be detected by the good people until it is too late.

That's why I was being cautious about the original article

blasting the weird quirks that crop up in religious circles.

The worts and wrinkles are true and annoying and need

to be improved, but focusing on them publically only

adds to the ammo of the secularists.

The battle is not sect vs. sect.

The battle is spiritual awareness (of any kind or degree)

vs. the spiritually blind.

The spiritually blind will through their blindness allow what

feels good to destroy them.

That's all I was trying to get across...

[Guest Starsky]

Originally posted by elinz+Feb 17 2004, 06:31 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (elinz @ Feb 17 2004, 06:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Peace@Feb 17 2004, 07:15 PM

My uncle once told us that if you were flying a helicopter over the federal building (can't remember the state...but he lived in California) that you could see that the cement around the building was in the shape of a turtle symbolizing the 'moving slowly to over come the US.' It was suppose to mean that the evil powers work ever so slow as to not be detected by the good people until it is too late.

That's why I was being cautious about the original article

blasting the weird quirks that crop up in religious circles.

The worts and wrinkles are true and annoying and need

to be improved, but focusing on them publically only

adds to the ammo of the secularists.

The battle is not sect vs. sect.

The battle is spiritual awareness (of any kind or degree)

vs. the spiritually blind.

The spiritually blind will through their blindness allow what

feels good to destroy them.

That's all I was trying to get across...

That was really well said...and is so true.

[Guest bizabra]

Originally posted by Peace+Feb 17 2004, 06:15 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Peace @ Feb 17 2004, 06:15 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--elinz@Feb 17 2004, 05:45 PM

I was trying to get across the idea of "creep".

You've probably heard this story before:

"If you place a frog into a pot of water at room temperature

and slowly heat the water the frog will stay in all the way

until the poor thing dies"

"But if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will

jump right out because it can sense the change"

That's sort of how the US is now, we let things creep

slowly further and further to the point at which the

nation will eventually fall apart.

Some stories repeat themselves many times...  B)

My uncle once told us that if you were flying a helicopter over the federal building (can't remember the state...but he lived in California) that you could see that the cement around the building was in the shape of a turtle symbolizing the 'moving slowly to over come the US.' It was suppose to mean that the evil powers work ever so slow as to not be detected by the good people until it is too late.

SNORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Starsky]

SNORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So you like surprises? Great!