Comments on Are you guilty of promoting disdain and prejudice towards others?

Go to Religion in the Modern World - Add a comment - Go to Are you guilty of promoting disdain and prejudice towards others?

Got it.

posted by JanesOpinion on January 19, 2006 at 6:35 AM | link to this | reply

JanesOpinion -- I was more or less saying much the same thing in this post

We all have a long way to go before we can start pointing fingers at other groups of people. I see and understand your point about the negative actions of a few being depicted as representative of your religion. Such is the plight and ongoing dilema of most large groups but there is more than a few bad apples to fix with Chrsitianity and other large religions in general. They are still working off of the outdated model where they must depict themselves as all that is good and right in this world, while all others must be characterized as being deficient of these qualities. That too was something I covered in this post.

posted by gomedome on January 19, 2006 at 6:03 AM | link to this | reply

Gome, all I was saying in a nutshell is that Christians have a long ways to go before we can claim bragging rights . . . in a lot of areas.  And the minute we start bragging, we will likely fall flat on our faces.  Applying this in a personal manner, I might write what I think is a wonderful, gracious sort of post on some sort of Christian something or other . . . yet blow it with a mean spirited comment.  We both know I have it in me to do. 

That said, it seems to me that it's only the negative side of Christianity -- the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker scandals and their associated ilk -- that pops up in the media.  Or the Catholic church scandals. You hear enough of that madness and you think all Christians are like that.  My eyes pop when I read all that cr*p, but I've experienced enough of the real deal -- Christianity in action, principles that are followed as Christ commanded -- to know that to be a Christ follower is both awesome and an awesome responsibility.

Crickey but it only took 20 minutes to write that (and I question whether it will make sense to you).  My brain is toast, I must go to bed.

G'night.

posted by JanesOpinion on January 18, 2006 at 9:39 PM | link to this | reply

JanesOpinion - that was a pretty good comment.

It sort of had a balance to it, I sensed what you were trying to say, more than the comment made sense to me but that too is progress. I also sensed a bit of restraint and anger management.....All I can do is try to encapsulate the theme I think you are trying to communicate to me. "don't attempt to carry the banners of rightiousness, if you cannot handle the weight" ....Exactly. These are just simple nuances of definition, if I in fact got the theme of your comment right.

posted by gomedome on January 17, 2006 at 7:05 PM | link to this | reply

Gome, divorce is certainly something we "fundies"

should be ashamed of and be in repentance over.  At the very least, the numbers are a stigma against Christianity and reflect poorly on the belief we say we have in God. 

One thing I appreciate about your blogs, and many similarly minded, are that they tend to point out (rather succinctly, I might add) all the foibles and short comings of Christians.  Pride has been a downfall of many a good Christian, but one cannot be too proud for long when reading one of your blogs.  Another verse quoted less often is the once famous "pride goeth before a fall." 

Definitely something to keep in mind when feeling puffed up in superiority over you unbelievers, eh? It would be rather imprudent to make some exalted claim only to figuratively fall flat on my face.

posted by JanesOpinion on January 17, 2006 at 6:14 PM | link to this | reply

Melody -- in that particular case the snake represented nothing symbolic

Just good plain old fear. I almost stepped on it as it was laying in the sun after molting. I figured that if I caught it, I had a better chance of not being bitten by it. We identified it later as a Northern watersnake, 800 miles North of what was thought to be it's northern most territorial range.

posted by gomedome on January 17, 2006 at 5:00 PM | link to this | reply

GOME, Pardon my French...

Meant to type "Does it symbolize the devil or something phallic?"   Oops, Melody

posted by CunningLinguist on January 17, 2006 at 4:29 PM | link to this | reply

Gome

posted by CunningLinguist on January 17, 2006 at 4:26 PM | link to this | reply

No.

posted by muser on January 17, 2006 at 2:36 PM | link to this | reply

muser -- would it help if I said the bloggers going to heaven are the ones

who commented on my blog regularly? I can put your name in the link rotation script at any time, all you have to do is agree to come to my blog and give me a click every day for the next 7 years. (or I could put your name in the next time I do an update of the script) ...but back to the blog subject. No one is exempt from promoting some form of disdain towards others. Sometimes it is even warranted, but what I was focusing on here was a group that do it routinely, without realizing they are doing it.

posted by gomedome on January 17, 2006 at 1:50 PM | link to this | reply

Hi Gomedome, I am reading "About Me"s today. I love your photo, I didn't

guess you would be so cute! I think we are all guilty of  promoting disdain and predudice at some level:

 I reckon if I told you I were fer somethin', then by inference you might say  I was predjudiced agin' or just plain  agin' the opposite, and then somebody on the opposite side might get all puffed up and mad at me for bein' agin' em. Why do some folks make every thin' so personal like? You seem to have some favorite bloggers goin' up to heaven on your side bar, but I don't think that you think I'm not goin' to Heaven just because my name is not on your list. But there are some, I think, who would make a case agin' you from "infering" from your cute sidebar that you are settin' yourself up as some sort of judge and pronouncin' that every Blogger on Blogit is goin' to Hell except for those that you have chosen to go to Heaven. So are you too promoting predujudice and disdain toward others in a round a bout way? Sorry, I couldn't resist...

posted by muser on January 17, 2006 at 1:43 PM | link to this | reply

Ariala -- I enjoy the differing perspectives as well, I also like to think

that my head isn't made entirely of wood and have learned a few things from others. There is also the entertainment value of what some people try to advance. I still upon occassion chuckle at the thought of the wannabe messiah who insulted so many people with his self righteousness, that he ended up being driven out of town under a hail of rocks.......okay, maybe I'm easily entertained.

posted by gomedome on January 17, 2006 at 11:29 AM | link to this | reply

Gomey, I'm not easily offended either for various reasons...plus, I enjoy

all the different perspectives out there, even if some make me laugh and roll. LOL

posted by Ariala on January 17, 2006 at 11:13 AM | link to this | reply

Ariala - on those points I have a big advantage in not becoming offended

First off, as a non believer in traditionally defined God, one becomes desensitized to all minor transgression pertaining to insulting one's beliefs. It is necessary to survive in a world populated by a believing majority and anyone who is easily offended would spend their entire existence being offended with a non believer's perspective. It is also rare to find a person, who's non belief has been derived from education on the subject, and has evolved over time, that has the same emotional investment as someone who has lived and breathed a specific religion.  

posted by gomedome on January 17, 2006 at 11:06 AM | link to this | reply

Gomey, I understand and I accept that about you. I believe there are nuts

on both sides of the issues, and I'm not proud to say that there are more on my side than yours.    Yes, I fully recognize that and I think it's because it takes less intelligence to believe in God and the Bible...even Jesus said that a person needed to become like a child to believe.  I've noticed from experience and observation, that the more educated one becomes, the less they believe in spiritual things as presented in the Bible.  That's fine. 

Just know that you and I are a lot a like, but we do have very different beliefs (obviously).  We may say stuff in our posts that differ greatly and may offend each other by implication of the philosophy presented, but I hope you know how I feel about you as a person, fellow blogger and friend.  My posts are never meant personally, but as we both know, everything is personal, though we may not mean them to be.

posted by Ariala on January 17, 2006 at 10:52 AM | link to this | reply

Ariala -- I can't argue with that as I use terms like that all of the time

I do not exempt myself from the group of people that diparages a differing set of beliefs than my own but I can say that I like to think that when am using such terms, I recognize them for what they are, where many do such things in a perfunctionary manner. Another consideration is that I have no intention of being a public tackling dummy for those who have flipped open a bible and have convinced themselves that they are somehow superior beings just for having done so. If I give in return, what I routinely receive from others, so be it. I'll be happy to stop voicing my opinion on the subject the day that I am not routinely disparaged by others because I cannot believe those things that others suggest I must accept. Both of us know that day will never come.    

posted by gomedome on January 17, 2006 at 10:45 AM | link to this | reply

Gomey, this is true, but it's also true that non-believers promote disdain

and prejudice toward believers by using words like myth, delusions, irrationalism and a host of other words that do anything but promote respect and acceptance.

Respectfully yours,
Ariala

posted by Ariala on January 17, 2006 at 10:35 AM | link to this | reply

Well Said and Addressed Areas that Need Discussion, Yet Rarely Spoken!

posted by Dr_JPT on January 17, 2006 at 10:18 AM | link to this | reply

good points

posted by Xeno-x on January 17, 2006 at 10:11 AM | link to this | reply