kind of stuff I think about whilst puffing on a cigar...
today around noon, I decided to venture out to this cigar shop that I have driven by a couple of times. must have been my lucky day, or maybe my charisma was able to charm not one, not two, but three sticks away from the owner. while I was talking this guy's ear off some parking lot evangelist must have been making the rounds out in the tarmac.
"where will you spend eternity?"
that's what a leaflet tucked neatly under my windsheild wiper asked.
thankful that it wasn't a parking ticket, I snatched it quickly and took a look at the propaganda. it's a quaint little anecdote about how if I don't accept jebus as my savior, I will eek out a lonely existance only to burn in hell for all eternity.
ok...so by this logic, all I have do is accept jesus cristo to cure my loneliness. if I had known j-dogg could hook me up with some bearded taco meat, I'd have bought into christianity a long time ago.
the pamphlet, however, didn't do a good job of convincing me of changing my evil ways. most of it is just so difficult to buy into. dig the first few sentences:
on a late night television show a popular playwright was asked whether making a lot of money concerned him. the studio audience went dead silent when he answered, "no. . .what does concern me is the fear of dying."
most of us, like the studio audience, are too uncomfortable with death to think clearly about our own eternal future. but the fact is that one day you and I will die.
my problems with this are as follows:
a. when has a playwright ever been popular enough to be on a late night tv show? this is impossible, I refuse to believe that some typewritter jockey got on letterman before I did. shit, I wrote a hit play! you haven't seen me on tv...not yet.
b. what kind of assy host would ask a question like, "does making a lot of money concern you?" on these pr fests? these people are here to obviously plug something, not answer loaded philosophical questions.
c. nobody who would answer that question by talking about dying would be allowed within a hundred yards of any late night show couch. mr. emo must have been listening to
the smiths as he scarfed down that entire plate of pot brownies in the green room. if you are going to be shocking, you could at least flash your boobies like drew barrymore did that one time on letterman.
d) if you are trying to convince me of something, you should try not to start out so dark. next time, start out by saying, "in heaven, every girl says "yes" and your pants are fitted with a button that provides instant orgasmic pleasure." that's effective persuasion right there, muchachos. I'd totally dust off my brioni and be down at the church in seconds had I read that. now I'm all bummed about being lonely, dying and smelling all that burning flesh. it makes a fella want to give up.
also, in a futile attempt to be clever, the cover informs me that reservations are required to get into heaven. oh really fool? if I spent time building a personal relationship with god, I'd think he might wave me past the bouncer.
now I'm not attacking bible beaters in general here. I think it's great to have a sense of spirituality. however, there's an axiom that says one should not go to a doctor that needs to advertise. I think the same should go for religion. how effective can a pamphlet placed under windshields in a parking lot be at changing someone's belief structure?
honestly, there's no use passing out pamphlets or even arguing about religion. people have their opinions and are usually going to stick to them. nobody can ever win an arguement about religion because there is no concrete evidence to support any angle.
choose what you are going to believe in or what you aren't going to believe in for yourself. don't let some pretend righteous high school drop-out dictate your beliefs. I personally think that having a personal relationship with god is just that, personal. I don't need a priest to tell me what's right from wrong, especially in light of all the allegations of depravity that have recently surfaced. priests are human too, we are all naturally flawed.
ok, I will stop being a theologian for today.