Weekend Assignment #129: Write about something that makes absolutely no sense to you, or that you find almost impossibly ironic. This covers a lot of ground so let me make it simpler: Write about something you just don't get. You've rolled it around in your brain, you've thought about it, and it just doesn't add up. Yeah. Tell us about that thing. From the enduring popularity of talentless celebrities to people who put mayonnaise on their french fries (yes, I'm looking at you, Belgium), there's got to be something out there that makes you go, "huh?" Or, for the kids, something that makes you go "WTF?"You know what makes absolutely no sense to me? Virtually everybody grows out of their childhood beliefs in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, but the majority of people never grow out of their belief in God. The evidence supporting the existence of any of them is about the same. The stories about them, all three, are equally fanciful. In fact, the stories about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny tend to have fewer contradictions and internal inconsistencies than those about God. I mean, have you read The Bible? Yeesh! Yet something like 85% of the people in North America believe in a God they cannot see, smell, hear, taste, or touch. That absolutely makes me go "WTF?"
Extra Credit: There's a song playing in your head right now. Tell us what it is.
Extra Credit: Dear God, by XTC. (Actually, I far prefer the cover of this song done by Sarah McLachlan. It adds her hauntingly beautiful voice, and loses the new-wavy 80s groove. Much better.)
Dear god, hope you get the letter and...
I pray you can make it better down here
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image
See them starving in the street
'Cause they don't get enough to eat from god
I can't believe in you
Dear god, sorry to disturb you but...
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image
See them fighting in the street
'Cause they can't make opinions meet about god
I can't believe in you
Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!
Dear god don't know if you noticed but...
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book
And us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look
And all the people that you made in your image
still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain't, and so do you
Dear god
I can't believe in
I don't believe
I won't believe in heaven or hell
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well
No pearly gates, no thorny crown
You're always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown
Those lost at sea and never found
And it's the same the whole world 'round
The hurt I see helps to compound
That father, son and holy ghost
Is just somebody's unholy hoax
And if you're up there you'll perceive
That my heart's here upon my sleeve
If there's one thing I don't believe in...
It's you
Dear god
There. Now it's in your head, too. Maybe it can do some good there.
tags: Memes, Weekend Assignment, Skepticism, Music
25 comments:
Will attempt your assignment. Must say never liked lyric to this one, tho love her voice. Tired of hearing ppl blame God for everything they can't understand. Too easy. CATHY
Gosh Paul, you do believe in the tooth fairy, at least, I hope.
Oh Paul, Paul, Paul.... you just couldn't help yourself, could you?
THIS is the quintessential AWV post... LOL
be well,
Dawn
Hey, what do you want from me? He asked a question, I answered it honestly. That's what makes me shake my head in disbelief. It makes no sense. I can't grok it.
-Paul
Who's grok??
Alway's loved this song. Both versions.
You sir are simply showing your bias against 80's music, as you have done too many times. (not necessarily on AWV).
One part I always hated though, were the lines,
"You're always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown"
Whether you believe in God or not, "He, She, IT" has never let us down.
People let people down and shite happens.
Except on the golf course.
Then of course, it's all God's fault.
If it wasn't, it would be all mine and I don't believe I could live with the shame!!
Brent
the blame game
nat
Paul, what are your thoughts for how life started then? There is no proof by logic either way, but I'm just curious. Do you believe in matter can create itself since nothing existed prior to it?- Big Bang start up theory, hehe.
Any type of the "start of life" theories falls under faith, unproven and yet many believe different things.
Raven,
The claim that there was "nothing" prior to the big bang is nothing but speculation. We have no idea what there was before the big bang, but, quite frankly, it was unlikely to be nothing.
-Paul
My friend wrote something about that a while back ago. It sorta confuses me too. What really confuses me more is, how we can't explain why we still believe without no proof what so ever..
Ah well...good entry
~jackie
I can't believe you do the tooth fairy with your son...you atheist! lol lol lol
be well,
Dawn
Dear Paul
ummm...
She might sing well, but ummm... it's not God who does all of that stuff...
people die because we all do
natalie
What do you mean, Santa ISN'T REAL?! P.S. I believe in God too.. I'm sorry if that bugs the hell out of 'ya! Julie :)
Doesn't bug me, Julie. Like the assignment says, I plain don't understand it. I went to church and Sunday school as a lad. I've read The Bible through and through. Heck, my wife and I attended mass regularly for a while shortly after we were married. I've expended a significant amount of thought on religion, and it just don't make any sense to me. Given all the information, the same information that you've been given, I have come to the conclusion that belief in God is as silly as belief in Santa. And I've yet to meet another adult human being who believes in Santa, but...
-Paul
I just have to say that I live in a town where if your not a baptist your going to hell I have been told that many times am I wrong to think that that is completely stupid and narrow minded?
OK Paul, but wouldnt you agree with me that there is a start up plan for logic? A beginning and and end. A first, a last. A cause and affect, etc.
Whatever came before the very first molecule or atom or matter, how did that starting point exist in itself or by itself? I'm simply saying, that if scientists spent time in the beginning of their theories, at the start up plan, what they would see would resemble faith. Faith, believing in what you can't explain. Scientists don't spend time there for good reasons. How can science ever explain something creating itself, having a start, when nothing had to exist prior, to acknowledge a starting point.
But, Raven, I could just as easily ask you, "where did God come from, and what came before God?" Your answers to that question would be pretty similar to my answers to yours...with one significant difference.
-Paul
I hear ya ... I don't agree with you ... but I hear you. And I won't bash you. Christians who bash atheists aren't exactly winning them over, if you know what I mean. ;o) And some of the greatest Christian authors were former atheists.
I love Sara M's voice, but not this particular song, no matter how beautiful the arrangement may be. How can she sing this song and then sing "you're in the arms of the angels?" Strange ... maybe she doesn't know where she stands. Hard to have angels without God, and strange that she would believe in angels (which usually also go unseen) and then not believe in God.
One problem I have with "the world" or with atheists is that they don't believe in God, but once things go badly He is the first one we blame. ::sigh::
You may not believe in Him but He believes in you. Keep searching. Be well.
LORI
Who I am… underneath it all:
http://journals.aol.com/scotthlori/DiscoveringMe
Precious Metal (A Spiritual Journal)
http://journals.aol.com/scotthlori/PreciousMetal
I forgot to say ... I feel one of the many flaws the human race is is that we need an answer for EVERYTHING. Why is it so hard to accept that there are just some things beyond our comprehension?
Some things just can't be explained ...
LORI
Who I am… underneath it all:
http://journals.aol.com/scotthlori/DiscoveringMe
Precious Metal (A Spiritual Journal)
http://journals.aol.com/scotthlori/PreciousMetal
One of the things about that song, Lori, is that it is not written from an Atheistic point of view, at least in my opinion. It is written from the point of view of someone who *wants* to believe, but is having difficulty believing in as illogical and unlikely a God as that described by The Bible.
As for your comment about the human race's need to have an answer for everything, that is the reason we invented God in the first place. Because we are uncomfortable *not knowing* we have made up explanations for all those things we do not understand: God diddit!
-Paul
I stopped believing in all three around the same time.
It REALLY BUGS you... I can tell!! Julie
And when we lost Santa we gained a punitive person. At least Santa did make the yearly runs despite whether we were good or bad. Santa was more forgiving.This God that was portrayed will send you to hell and you will burn forever.No bargaining with this with this man. Oh...and the easter Bunny made yearly rounds also to our delight. Then this heavy duty book called the Bible is thrust at us and it goes against what we have been taught prior.Now we are promised acceptance if we will be condtional from the love of an uncondtional GOD ??????????
... and this, from a guy who is good, kind, generous, and morally responsible. Wait a minute .... Can this be ??? Tina
Tina , whom are you referring to ?????
I believe in Santa Claus! ;-) Where are those pins like in the movie...speaking of which the new one comes out in a few weeks! :-)
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