falling from grace

“Ancient Greek religious art does not portray myth as is widely supposed, but rather the history of the human race told from the standpoint of the way of Kain. Like the Book of Genesis, Greek artists traced back their ancestors to a first couple in an ancient paradise with a serpent-entwined apple tree-only they believed that the serpent enlightened, rather than deluded, that first couple…”

I don’t even remember where this quote came from now, but it hit home for me for this reason: every time in my life that I have experienced a major pain, a major “fall”, I have grown spiritually and intellectually from that experience. It has been something that as I look back I realize gave me such insight and wisdom that I would not trade it now even if I had the power to.

Why wouldn’t that also be true for Adam and Eve? How can anyone learn anything living a perfect life in a Garden of Eden? If you want for nothing, not even knowledge you might as well be dead. Curiosity seems to me to be our blessing and it’s what opened up Adam and Eve to a harder but far more interesting and fulfilling journey….symbolically speaking of course 🙂

the easy way out

I was reading an article on Beliefnet, topic not really important; it was the comments that drew my attention. A debate between two people obviously on opposite sides of the religious fence – both equally annoying.

Person 1:

…those who are born again welcome all who want to be saved.

All wanna be saved, and God wants-ta save all through their repentance. However, not all accept His Son. Thus, they reject the Father. Thus, they won’t be saved.

So, you either believe it all and you’re good to go or you don’t and you’re damned…damn, must be nice.

Person 2:

Finally, the question is, do I want to live my life based on a system that has no solid evidence of its claims, in the name of which many heinous crimes have been committed?

The answer is no.

There’s something about the “heinous crimes” argument that really irks me. People like to drag it out to make a point about how horrid religion is…I bet they still fill up their car with gas despite the number of wars waged in the name of oil!

Both sides are just too easy. There’s a lack of thoughtfulness, of true introspection, and a complete inability to see something from someone else’s viewpoint.