PlatKat.com: A Long Blog Post About God

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

A Long Blog Post About God

I did two important things after work yesterday: attended a bible study with a friend and then saw Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation.

Easy things first, Spike and Mike's was fun. It's a little less exciting and grossly magical each time I go, partially because I've become desensitized to the sex and gore, and partially because they show some of the same cartoons year after year. They reran No Neck Joe, Happy Tree Friends, Dr. Tran, and Rejected. I had also seen the clip from Hair High at SXSW. Bitch, moan, etc, etc. Even when it's not great, it's still good.

Before that, I met with a bunch of women from my friend's church to talk about the Bible. Not being a large fan of the Bible, mostly due to the people who so dangerously misinterpret it, I mostly listened and took notes. Back when I was Catholic, I actually made an effort to read the Bible intelligently and glean some meaningful messages from its verbose and sometimes downright superfluous passages. Unfortunately, most of the young adults I've met in Bible studies (Catholic and Non-denominational) weren't really interested in interpreting and analyzing, but regurgitating and basking in how good and holy they were. It seemed like they'd say whatever sounded "safe" and pretend to listen to everyone else while they preoccupied themselves with whatever Christian rock band was popular at the time.

So there I was again, several years later (in a Methodist group this time) listening to some nice women fumble their way towards a conversation about this book that they so forcefully feel the need to live by. Everyone was very kind about my lack of Christianity and didn't pressure me to do or say anything, and there were a few gems of thought that made me feel happy to be there. I didn't walk in with huge expectations, but I continue to be surprised at how solemn and quiet Bible study/religious group meetings are when the people there are supposedly so animated about worshipping God and in some cases, expect that everyone else should be too. I must emphasize though, no one in that group was hell-bent on converting me or making me feel guilty about my disbelief in Jesus being more than just a man.

In conclusion, I'm glad I went, and I enjoyed spending time with the people I met there. I also feel fortunate to have learned a little more about the friend who brought me. However, since I don't accept Jesus as the son of God, I probably won't be developing any close relationships with those people, besides my friend. It was a worthy exercise in reminding myself that I can be down with G-O-D and that the miscellaneous related activities still exist for people's own self-affirmation, not His.

posted by platkat @ 4:59 PM