Tag Archives: faith

Reboots, Rumors, Religion, and a Kick Ass Waterslide

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Aside from the ongoing discussions about Guardians of the Galaxy, the story today that most caught my attention was a kind of scathing take-down of the currently popular “Prosperity Gospel” movement.

From what I can see, there’s nothing “Gospel” related in the prosperity gospel. In fact, it seems like it pretty clearly goes against just about everything that appears in the Gospels. I’m even hard pressed to see how they could possibly spin any interpretation of their basic call to action from anything I’ve ever read in the Gospel (and, being raised Catholic, I have some background knowledge on that).

As a friend of mine pointed out, the big thing that really gets me about this is this movement is setting people up to fail and, when they fail, they’ve not only lost their money and likely their hope (if not a bunch of social standing), they’ve also lost Faith.

Faith can be a really important thing.

It can give us something to hold on to during rough seas.

It can provide us with context to express the joy we find.

It can lift us up so we can reach levels we wouldn’t otherwise think possible.

Poison that by attaching it so heavily to the material world and the implicit message that if you don’t succeed, it’s because God hates you… and you negate all the good faith can do and leave only the worst parts.

It can teach you to hold a grudge.

It can spur you to vile acts (since you’re unredeemable, anyway).

It can hold you back as you endless seek the approval and forgiveness that’s just not going to come.

Faith is always a double-edged sword. All the prosperity gospel seems to do is hand the sharpened end to those who follow it. Most will get cut, some will be gravely wounded. Those that manage to get past the blade and grab the handle will then be fully conditioned to swing that sword to cut down others they see as easy marks–and ways of increasing their own material wealth.

Some things don’t particularly belong to the temporal world. Faith is one of those things. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it works best as disconnected from the physical world as possible–existing in a very personal space or mind and emotion that only tangentially nudges things in the “real” world.

It’s definitely not something that should be confuse the metaphorical gold of the purified soul with the all-too-real gold changing hands at the money lenders’ tables. Setting up in a sacred space didn’t go to well for those money lenders…

Anyway… here’s the feed…

 

Epic Rap Battles, Culture War, Yet More Problematic Politics, Some Interesting Decor, and the Requisite Number of Cat Posts

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

My sleeping and eating schedule this weekend was even more off from what most would consider “typical” than normal.

But, that’s what I get for going out to an 80s mega dance party on Friday, partying with rock stars on Saturday, and spending most of Sunday recovering and trying (failing!) to get back on a more useful schedule.

I really don’t know how you people who drink do it.

Lots going on in the news today… and some other interesting and problematic revelations over the weekend. It’s all in today’s feed (which stretches back to Friday).

Tell His Mom, Conspiracy Closure, Environmental Pope, Helium, Slow-mo Nature, and Raccoons

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Not too long after I got home form work on Friday, I turned right back around and went out. Then didn’t come back until nearly sunrise.

The only Memorial Day type thing I did this past long weekend was that barbecue on Friday night. Saturday and Monday were spent mostly just zoning out, letting my subconscious decompress and work through everything it’s been tasked with dealing with while I keep on keeping on with some semblance of a normal life.

The big break between bouts of couch sitting was to hit Spellbound for the first time since August. I used to be there every weekend. I should probably start going there more often, but without a car, I’m at the mercy of public transportation and feel trapped. No quick and definitive way to make an exit if I need to, no opportunity to stay out late and grab crepes with people down the street if I want to. I used to metro there all the time… then I got spoiled (and got used to numerous other aspects of going out there).

But, on Saturday night, I closed the place down, lasing a bit after most of the other people I knew had left.

And then it was back to the couch and A/C in the apartment. A setup that is much more indicative of how the rest of my life will likely be at this point.

Can’t really complain about the weekend. Kind of dreading how crazy tomorrow at work may be. But looking forward to the local premiere of a film a bunch of people I know made (and I chipped in to help pay for) after work tomorrow.

Anyway… here’s a long list off the feed going back to Friday morning.

A Bit of Science, Some Literature, A Tune or Two, and Some Crazy News

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I spent most of my day today, neck deep in code, tweaking Drupal API bits on a data entry form to bend it to the will of my client.

I am not exactly a programmer, so this isn’t my idea of a good time.

But, it needs to be done, and so it gets done. And there’s still a lot more to do, and a ticking clock hanging over every keystroke.

That’s how a lot of our life is–full of things that need to be done that we aren’t all that thrilled about doing. It’s a shame, really. I know people who love the bulk of what they do, but the bulk of people I know slog through the day, pulled forward only by the sweet promise of release from the drudgery of the day and the solace of a cold beverage or a few fleeting hours with their significant other/family/friends before they have to bed down and do the whole thing again tomorrow.

Time is, indeed, the most limited resource we have. (And according to one of the links below, it may literally be running out… that’s kind of trippy to think about… if you have a minute to spare.) Because of that, we should all be well aware of what we do with those precious moments we have where we are in control and can do what we want.

…and that’s about as deep as I have the time to go, since I need to get off to sleep as that code won’t write itself.

https://www.facebook.com/kierduros/activity/10152031641295981

Some stuff from the weekend and more

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I’m running exceptionally later than planned tonight.

In between doing stuff at work during the day and up until about ten minutes before I’m typing this, I’ve been involved, on and off, in two completely awesome discussions over in my FB stream. One’s been about faith, religion, and atheists, the other has been on people trapped in low-paying (minimum wage) fast-food jobs.

And I’ve also been working on getting some promo stuff lined up for this year’s Taste the World in Fenton Village event (which is happening on May 4).

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time at the second annual Awesome Con. I didn’t take a lot of picture, but other people did… some of them are in the feed rundown below. Mostly, I just had a great time being surrounded by fantastically creative and energetic people who were deeply involved with things they absolutely love doing. It was a good and refreshing change from the daily grind.

But, now I’m way over due to go to sleep for the extra early meeting I have on Tuesday. Soooo… here, here’s a bunch of stuff to scroll through.