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Religion when zealots dictate to God

aka The Temptation of God's Children at Rio Hondo College

Published: Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Updated: Thursday, June 30, 2011 13:06

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James Tapparo

Michael Chacon

"Well I went down to the demonstration to get my fair share of abuse. Singing, "we're gonna vent all our frustrations, if we don't were gonna blow a 50 amp fuse. You can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you'll find, you get what you need."( M. Jagger/ K. Richards)

I recently "went down" to a rather disturbing demonstration at the Quad given by some pretty "opinionated" self-declared "Christians." I watched over an extended period of time as a large group of well meaning, but often misguided student protesters and a small handful of decidedly offensive demonstrating zealots went hand to hand and toe to toe over their beliefs on what God and Christ want, over what God and Christ are like and over what God and Christ will do in the future.

Several campus administrators were in attendance and campus security officers were there in full force. One might safely presume that their very conspicuous presence may have been due to the increased possibility of an "undesirable" incident. After all, any day that "playtime" includes kids, gasoline and fire, there should be at least one responsible adult present with a cup or two of water "just in case."

For all of the anger, hostility, yelling, screaming, insults, and arguing that occurred in the "names" of God and Christ, it appeared that the only references used to support or refute any positions raised in the 2-hour melee were based solely on personal opinions tethered exclusively to personal interpretations of Biblical text.

Whatever it is that you might believe or have faith in, one thing that can be proved conclusively is this: The Biblical text clearly depicts both God and Christ as being perfectly capable of speaking for them selves.

There is no indication to be found anywhere in the scriptures that remotely suggests otherwise. The Biblical text makes it quite obvious that sometimes God and Christ choose to speak and other times they do not.

There appears to be no evidence available indicating any rule or law that requires or prevents God from speaking to everyone at once, choosing to be selective in whom God speaks to or simply choosing to remain absolutely silent. The initiative and prerogative to open an interactive dialog with others personally (or not) appears to rest exclusively with God.

In God and God/ Christ based religions, one will have little trouble finding enthusiastic worshippers quick to assert God'S power and rights. Unfortunately finding the same level of enthusiasm among some "so-called worshippers" to actually respect and adhere to those rights often proves more difficult.

It seems only logical that if God and/ or Christ desired anyone to really know something about them with definitive certainty, chances are that they would be very meticulous and careful about how their messages were effectively relayed from their lips to select ears.

For as much damage and misery as I have been led to believe that people have inappropriately imposed on others in the names of God and Christ, it occurs to me that perhaps we would all be better served if those who claim to subserviently worship these deities would spend more time listening for the voices of their declared masters instead of running the risk of drowning them out with war, inane arguments, accusations and unfounded opinions that won't matter anyway when and if the genuine articles decide to speak.

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