Ash Wednesday

callen

hedonist said:

callen said:

even flow - question mark said:

@ the original poster. With no real offence meant:

If you are American and don't know that, I can see why you people have such a hard time with the Muslims and other "strange" religions to your country.

Why must I know/undertand/emphathize about others religions? Why is it my responsibility to understand why a rational person would put dirt on their face or kill in the name of god or self mutilate to show worthiness to a god? Hell, should I understand why the idiot snake handler got bit and killed?!?!?

I'm don't think comparing those with ashes on their foreheads with those who commit acts of violence toward others or themselves is fair.

I'm not into the PC thing either (I think common sense and compassion are enough), but why not try to understand? Don't you try to figure out other areas of people and life? Or if you've genuinely tried and can't, not put it down? Someone sneezes, I'll give them a "bless you", and it's fine by me when on the receiving end (even if prefaced by "god").

As to being blessed...there's a woman in my building who always gives that answer when I ask how she's doing. Turns out she's gone through some hellish health issues and is now well. Considers herself blessed and says so. Being offended by that never occurred to me; it actually puts things in perspective.

I understand why they do it just think it's silly which it is. Not offended in the least by anyone's practices. Find it funny the lady your referring to feels blessed as god put her through her hard times.

hedonist

One can feel / be blessed without believing in god.

(And sometimes, those hard times can make one appreciate the upswings that much more; I do, and I'm agnostic.)

cp3iverson

callen said:

I understand why they do it just think it's silly which it is. Not offended in the least by anyone's practices. Find it funny the lady your referring to feels blessed as god put her through her hard times.

Yes but she may also look at it like shes still here because of her God. I respect every religion as long as it's not pushed in my face door to door. Whatever gives you a path to do well (and to do good)

Cosmo

I'm one of those people that believes in the freedom for people to choose whatever religion they choose to follow... which also includes choosing to follow no religion.
I guess my religion is the one that doesn't have all of the answers... because the one thing I know for sure is that we don't have all of the answers. One of those answers is, 'Does God Exist?'. I know that we don't know and any institution that tries to tell you otherwise is more than likely, trying to sell you something.
...
Now... the one thing I would like to understand is this... since Jesus was in Jeruselem for the Jewish Passover week and was crucified for blasphemy during the Passover observence (while the lambs were being slaughtered at the Temple... shouldn't Easter, His Resurrection, be 3 days after that Passover date? Why is Easter, Jesus' Resurrection, on the First Sunday after the First Full Moon after the Spring Equinox? This works out most of the time... but, sometimes, like in 2016... Easter will come before Passover.
I also understand that the Pagan celebration of return of Spring comes around the Equinox. These celebrations focused on the rebirth of the land to ancient crop growers and signs of fertility... sacred eggs and rabbits, known for their prolific birth rates... still persist today. Those celebrations surrounded the worship of Earth Goddesses, not in line with having other Gods than Yahweh.
I'm not complaining... I love Easter because i love the chocolate candies shaped like eggs and bunies. And I love the invention of the indestructible 'Peeps'. I just hope that people would look into the foundations of their religion and get a better understanding of how their church was formed... including the political and power struggles... rather than just taking in what the church doctrine tells them they must obey. Figure out WHY you must obey and the justifications given... and by the men motivated to draft and enforce the doctrine.
Personally.. i believe the teaching of Christ are the most important thing about His story, not that He be burdenened with all of my Earthly sins. If I were to follow His teachings... i would not commit sins. Something I think would be a good thing to strive for.
...
Just as a note... i am not a Christian. i do not adhere to Catholic/Christian doctrine. i do not claim jesus as my Saviour... as a personal possession of mine.. nor do I burden Him with my poor decisions and actions I make during this life. i just think Jesus carried a good message.

callen

cp3iverson said:

callen said:

I understand why they do it just think it's silly which it is. Not offended in the least by anyone's practices. Find it funny the lady your referring to feels blessed as god put her through her hard times.

Yes but she may also look at it like shes still here because of her God. I respect every religion as long as it's not pushed in my face door to door. Whatever gives you a path to do well (and to do good)

Yeah well find it funny how God blesses after he takest away...but oh well.

Had conversation with co-worker...making $200K plus a year and topic of homeless came up...her exact quote..... "well the way I figure it, I dont' need to worry about the homeless cause god will take care of them".... almost fell out of my chair but had to bite my lip.....how conveinent.

Anyway we can go round and round on religion...but this was just supposed to be about ash cross on the face.

Peace

even flow - question mark

callen said:

even flow - question mark said:

@ the original poster. With no real offence meant:

If you are American and don't know that, I can see why you people have such a hard time with the Muslims and other "strange" religions to your country.

Why must I know/undertand/emphathize about others religions? Why is it my responsibility to understand why a rational person would put dirt on their face or kill in the name of god or self mutilate to show worthiness to a god? Hell, should I understand why the idiot snake handler got bit and killed?!?!?

Most people who offer up an argument/disucssion usually know a wee bit about the couter point. That is why you should know a tad about it.

You probably believe in the big bang, yet nobody has offered up what was before it. Maybe you'd like to take a crack at it without refering to god, or saying i don't know. People like comfort and religion offers that to them.

To skip away from the PC police. We had a dude at work who we nicknamed "ash wednesday". The kicker was he was muslim and his head had a permanent mark from having hit the ground from praying so much. He even got the twist on the nickname. God love people who can get along.

rgambs

we all get along! we come to the interwebs to vent frustration to understanding, open people, so that we don't vent face slappings to the fools we have to deal with in real life

cp3iverson

Heres the truth.....the vast majority of religious people are not the extremists that you see on the headlines. Most live ordinary flawed lives with their own spin on things. More of a take this but not that and apply kind of thing. Religion is simply a tool to help them lead a decent life. Thats why I never buy into the Catholic bashing or the Muslim bashing. You have to be an idiot to think all Muslims are the same or that all Catholics or Christians are are foxnews worshipers. Everyone has their own political views and life views. Funnily enough it's the people hurling insults that come off as closed minded. Lol.

unsung

cp3iverson said:

Heres the truth.....the vast majority of religious people are not the extremists that you see on the headlines. Most live ordinary flawed lives with their own spin on things. More of a take this but not that and apply kind of thing. Religion is simply a tool to help them lead a decent life. Thats why I never buy into the Catholic bashing or the Muslim bashing. You have to be an idiot to think all Muslims are the same or that all Catholics or Christians are are foxnews worshipers. Everyone has their own political views and life views. Funnily enough it's the people hurling insults that come off as closed minded. Lol.

Perfectly said. Kudos.

mikepegg44

Traditions like these bring people, often strangers, together in a way that makes them feel a part of a community. My wife is Catholic, I am certainly not, am agnostic if anything, but when I was talking with a priest deciding whether or not to allow I asked him about the rituals. Part of it is the history behind it, the symbolism, but another part of it is that a catholic can walk into any church around the world, and will feel at home because of rituals and traditions like this. For me that opened my eyes a bit, I mean, everyone has their religion, whether it be the environment, Pearl Jam, football, theocratic organization (for lack of a better term), everyone has a religion and everyone has customs.

As for customs like Ash Wednesday, there is a comfort in it. There is a sense of community involved in a world that is becoming increasingly isolated by techonology.

as to the OP, I would think most things you have never encountered would be foreign to you, and it is up to you to find out more about it, or simply just assume everyone is crazy like I do...I look at these things through the eyes of my 3 year old, who is participating in a lot of these catholic customs for the first time and her interest and enjoyment and curiosity is quite infectious actually...it certainly has softened my stance on the importance of a religion in one's life and opened my eyes to the fact we all have, and to some extent, need a "religion".

Cosmo

mikepegg44 said:

Traditions like these bring people, often strangers, together in a way that makes them feel a part of a community. My wife is Catholic, I am certainly not, am agnostic if anything, but when I was talking with a priest deciding whether or not to allow I asked him about the rituals. Part of it is the history behind it, the symbolism, but another part of it is that a catholic can walk into any church around the world, and will feel at home because of rituals and traditions like this. For me that opened my eyes a bit, I mean, everyone has their religion, whether it be the environment, Pearl Jam, football, theocratic organization (for lack of a better term), everyone has a religion and everyone has customs.

As for customs like Ash Wednesday, there is a comfort in it. There is a sense of community involved in a world that is becoming increasingly isolated by techonology.

as to the OP, I would think most things you have never encountered would be foreign to you, and it is up to you to find out more about it, or simply just assume everyone is crazy like I do...I look at these things through the eyes of my 3 year old, who is participating in a lot of these catholic customs for the first time and her interest and enjoyment and curiosity is quite infectious actually...it certainly has softened my stance on the importance of a religion in one's life and opened my eyes to the fact we all have, and to some extent, need a "religion".

...
it is just too bad that Mankind has segmented God along religious lines. It would be nice to walk into ANY church around the world and feel at home. I mean, aren't ALL Churches, Cathedrals, Temples and Mosques homes to the same God? I don't believe God (for lack of a better term for some omnipotent universal source that is beyond the comprehension of the highest evolved ape on this planet) picks which religion He wants to be officially associated with. Mankind is the one who created religion to a god that is created in Man's image. That way, he can claim God as his own and forsake all others and killed them with no remorse because of the belief that God is guiding his sword againt God's enemies.
My personal belief is that we do not need religion to connect to God. All we need to do is connect with God. Go to the beach and watch the Sun set (or rise, depending on your coast) and talk to God in the church He built... the shoreline, the mountains, the desert a lake. Just find a nice quiet spot in Nature reflect on life. We really don't need someone else's direction to find God. I mean, what other institution do people just take what is said by another person and never question it? Your Government? No. Your educational institutions? No. Your parents? No. Your religion? Yes.
Seek God. You may never find Him, but you will find solice in your journey.

brianlux

mikepegg44 said:

Traditions like these bring people, often strangers, together in a way that makes them feel a part of a community. My wife is Catholic, I am certainly not, am agnostic if anything, but when I was talking with a priest deciding whether or not to allow I asked him about the rituals. Part of it is the history behind it, the symbolism, but another part of it is that a catholic can walk into any church around the world, and will feel at home because of rituals and traditions like this. For me that opened my eyes a bit, I mean, everyone has their religion, whether it be the environment, Pearl Jam, football, theocratic organization (for lack of a better term), everyone has a religion and everyone has customs.

As for customs like Ash Wednesday, there is a comfort in it. There is a sense of community involved in a world that is becoming increasingly isolated by techonology.

as to the OP, I would think most things you have never encountered would be foreign to you, and it is up to you to find out more about it, or simply just assume everyone is crazy like I do...I look at these things through the eyes of my 3 year old, who is participating in a lot of these catholic customs for the first time and her interest and enjoyment and curiosity is quite infectious actually...it certainly has softened my stance on the importance of a religion in one's life and opened my eyes to the fact we all have, and to some extent, need a "religion".

The bold lines above, Mike, remind me of something (hope I'm remembering this correctly) Annie Dillard said in one of her books about attending church when she live on the San Juan Islands. She said she did so not for the religion but for the community involvement. I think you can be an agnostic or even an atheist and still participate in community or communal rituals. My favorite along those line was a solstice celebration I went to many years ago.

Treyert14

CH156378 said:

Growing up catholic it was a good way to get a 1/2 day off of school..
I remember when I was older and in high school my mom would call and get me excused for half day as long as I would go to afternoon mass. So Me and my buddies would go blow a bunch of joints and rub those ashes on our forehead so as to make my parents think I had attended mass.

That's horrible lol