The Morning Service

[poliphilo]

Sunday mornings we usually catch the end of the church service on Radio 4 while we make breakfast. The preacher (whoever it is) rarely makes any concession to the fact that he's working in an intimate medium, but soars and trembles and booms. It gets my goat.

Today the guy was rhapsodising about the vision of paradise at the end of the Book of Revelations. Yes, yes, yes- it's very beautiful, but the Book of Revelations is all about God and his angels killing people. It's the most bloody-minded, fanatical, genocidal book in the Bible- the first century equivalent of an Al Quaeda website. Taking the pretty bits out of context is- well- like discussing Hitler soley in terms of autobahns and his patronage of Albert Speer.

I've been reading stuff recently where Muslims are urged to face up to the violent passages in the Koran, to acknowledge (presumably with tears of penitence) that their religion isn't all pink cotton-candy. Fine- yes please- the sooner the better.

But the Koran isn't the only Holy Book to trip out on fantasies of murder.

Comments

I've got this problem with the heaven thing...

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

I look around me. I see in nature that God(whateverthatis) recycles everything. My garden, for instance, is a study in birth, death, decay and rebirth. I cannot fathom why God would have this one exception, a great storage warehouse in the sky for souls... only human souls? What exactly is a soul, anyway? Anybody out there got a soul detector?

And anyone who's ever loved a pet knows they have a personality... and a soul. I don't need scripture or dogma to tell me this. When I awake feeling crummy, Madog, she nestles up beside me and licks my face. She knows how I feel when even my husband can't tell.