So I'm walking home from work (a middle school in Southern California) and right outside the gates are 2 Gideons. Now I don't mind Gideons in theory, give free bibles to people in hotels, without their interpretation of it. That works with me, what doesn't is handing them out to kids. They asked me if I wanted the "Word of God". Now please don't get me started on how I feel about the bible as the "Word of God" save that one for another day. So they offer me their minature kool-aid orange bible and I say no, and question the legality of giving away bibles to middle schoolers and doing it INCHES from their property. They claimed they were okay and I didn't fight them on it.
10 feet later...
Guess what happens when you hand a book filled with a couple hundred very thin pages in it to middle schoolers? Thats right, bible droppings. Little shreds of bible everywhere. Now at the bottom of this hill are two churches with their parking lots facing the street, and they too are covered in bible pieces. The students are everywhere, bibles in hand, cause kids love free stuff.
The students surprised the Gideons even more. First they shredded the bibles, then they used them as weapons, throwing the bibles at students that disagreed them or had spats with them at school.
The children reminded me of Stephen Bennet. He has read the bible and uses it whenever you disagree with him, constantly refering to his bible, throwing it in your face if you dare go against his beliefs.
Religion vs. The Bible
As I kept walking I started to think about the idea of a child with a bible. On the one hand, they are reading and the stories can be kinda interesting. My problems don't stem with bibles no matter what religion. The actual text tends not to be that bad, its those that preach it. Those that read the bible and decide that they can judge others with their new found knowledge. They somehow confuse the story of Jesus' life with that of their own. All of the sudden they can tell me my best friend is going to hell for being jewish, but not their own father for beating them and being an alcoholic.
So a child with a bible, able to read it without being told what to think, without some perverse freak telling them what they should think about it.... Yea I could get into that...
-L
10 feet later...
Guess what happens when you hand a book filled with a couple hundred very thin pages in it to middle schoolers? Thats right, bible droppings. Little shreds of bible everywhere. Now at the bottom of this hill are two churches with their parking lots facing the street, and they too are covered in bible pieces. The students are everywhere, bibles in hand, cause kids love free stuff.
The students surprised the Gideons even more. First they shredded the bibles, then they used them as weapons, throwing the bibles at students that disagreed them or had spats with them at school.
The children reminded me of Stephen Bennet. He has read the bible and uses it whenever you disagree with him, constantly refering to his bible, throwing it in your face if you dare go against his beliefs.
Religion vs. The Bible
As I kept walking I started to think about the idea of a child with a bible. On the one hand, they are reading and the stories can be kinda interesting. My problems don't stem with bibles no matter what religion. The actual text tends not to be that bad, its those that preach it. Those that read the bible and decide that they can judge others with their new found knowledge. They somehow confuse the story of Jesus' life with that of their own. All of the sudden they can tell me my best friend is going to hell for being jewish, but not their own father for beating them and being an alcoholic.
So a child with a bible, able to read it without being told what to think, without some perverse freak telling them what they should think about it.... Yea I could get into that...
-L
1 Comments:
I like your anaglogy about the man who will remain nameless to me:-) I also enjoyed the fact that you at least tried to make some kind of attempts at his blog. I try too. Most go ignored as I refuse to take the Bible literally and I am not gay. I am invisible to him. I like your blog!
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