Schmoozing My Religion
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Abraham at twentytwowords wrote… “When I asked about churches last week, some of you reminded me you’re not Christian.So…Non-Christian readers, what (non)religion are you?” That is 23 words.
PG answered the original post “home churched”. He decided to answer the follow up question. Unlike most of the others to answer, PG wanted to keep this under 22 words.
There is a tradition in the Baptist Church to make a “profession of faith”, usually when the kid is around 10. For various reasons, PG never did this, and was never baptized. PG decided when he was 17 to quit attending. He has been to Briarcliff Baptist one time since then…he worked for Redo Blue, and delivered a set of plans to the church office.
PG went back and forth on the religion issue. In 1979, there was a week in Camp K, a moonie facility. After reading, thinking, and prayer, PG chose to live in harmony with esus worshipers. Jesus was like an eccentric, though lovable, relative.
There were seven hellish years working closely with the Bully for Jesus. By the end of that experience, PG was alienated from Jesus. He wished to never hear the J-name mentioned again. Living in the Jesus happy United States, PG could seldom go 24 hours without having Jesus shoved in his face.
After a another temper tantrum by the BFJ, PG wrote down two sentences. “I am not interested in your opinions about G-d, The Bible, Jesus, or life after death. My opinions about G-d, The Bible, Jesus, or life after death are none of your business.”
There probably is not a religion that PG could fit into without a lot of shoehorning. Atheist is out, because PG suspects that there is a G-d. What form she takes is a matter of dispute. As for belief, PG questions that belief is the proper approach to G-d.
Agnostic sounds like something you would blow out of your nose. Judaism is a party that PG is not invited to. Buddhism makes some good points, but PG is awfully occidental. As for christianism, PG sees Jesus in the words and deeds of his believers. In his seven years at redo blue, PG saw an estimated 1400 hours of loud, hateful ministry. I am not talking to you!
As for the obsession with life after death that infects Jesus worship, PG feels pity and disgust. This is not a good focus for a religious practice, nor does it excuse verbal abuse. PG has ideas about life after death, but this post is waaay over 22 words.
PG decided that this label thing was not going to work. Labels belong on jars, and PG’s hair is a half inch over jarhead level. The best solution was to write a list of beliefs. The good news here is that numbers do not count against the total of 22 words.
1. My beliefs are my business. 2. Practice outweighs belief. 3. G-d probably exists. 4. G-d does not write books. 5. Jesus has nothing to do with Life after death.
This is 25 words. Three words need to go. Line 4 states that G-d does not write books. This implies that G-d does, indeed, exist. Line 3 can be eliminated, and the answer reduced to 22 words.
















One of my all-time faves, Luther. So succinct, as they say! (Envy, envy.)
Thank you. 22 words is still a great blog, but they no longer have the 22 word rule. The owner of 22 words is Abraham Piper. He is the son of John Piper, a super-preacher who has said some very rude things about you and me.