A bit about origins

Before I start spelunking the darker bowels of religion, I feel the need to write in a disclaimer. Because I'm lazy, I'll regurgitate the story that I've been using for years to describe practically everything in my life.

When I was a child, a patch of elephant grass separated my subdivision and a closed gate community that existed on the other side. In the middle of this wall of grass was a tunnel hollowed out by the hooligans that came before me. Through this portal, everything was richer. All the lawns were without weeds, no paint was pealing from the walls. All those cars I saw in the movies were zooming down the street. This world was a different world, it was a separate universe I visited whenever I wished. I wasn't alone in my belief. Using the word "gang" is misleading, yet it is the only word I can use to describe us. We dived into the empty culvert systems, peered into store windows, and occasionally did less intelligent things. Here, in this other world, nothing could touch us, because life was perfect.

Years later I visited the subdivision that I used to live in, by chance happening by my old house. When I looked across the yard, I realized the immortal gateway that I had so cherished in my youth had been chopped down, and the reality was laid bare before me. The "perfect" subdivision I had imagined had become a decrepit old residential area. The stores were gone, the culvert filled, and the mystery blew away. The question was then, did this world that I glimpsed in my youth actually ever exist, or was it a complete fabrication?

Like the world through the patch of grass, when I was young, perfection was easy to imagine. Beyond the gates of death I imagined a garden, perfect, and clean. Everything I loved would stay forever, life would always be perfect, and the things that I feared would be banished like a breath on the wind. Believing in God was easy then.

Then belief got hard. Loved ones were lost, and the deeper questions of the mere existence of atrocities began to wear away my faith. Science slammed into my faith like a meteor, declaring the things I once held true to be false. When my prayers were not answered with any speed, my faith dripped away to nothingness.

For many years I looked in on religion from the outside, and saw what I suspect many of the nonreligious see. I saw hate and intolerance. I saw people who gave up everything just so they could attain an illusion. I saw perversion and hypocrisy.

It was different when I rejoined the church. I saw that I had hated people who did not deserve it. I had been intolerant because I had thought that they were intolerant themselves. Yet they were as hurt by the overzealous as much as those outside the religion. They weren't ignorant either. They made the choice to believe in something and ultimately did not seem worse for it. They weren't self-righteous or angry either. They were people. We are people.

So remember when looking at religions that you don't yourself become close minded. Remember that attacking a religion can be completely without merit. This blog is not here to attack any religion, but simply question the practices by some factions within the faiths that seem destructive to society and the faiths themselves.

Slamming your head: an introduction of sorts.

Before you go any further, please note that due to its nature this blog may contain highly offensive content. If this bothers you in any way, or if you are under the age of 18, please do not continue reading. Close this window or tab, preferably your entire browser.

If you are not easily offended and are of age, please continue reading.

And this is where the insanity begins. You have probably entered this realm by accident. Curiosity dragged you in here by the nose hairs or such. Or perhaps you're here due to the requirements of a class. In either disaster, let me quell the confusion.

This blog was created to discuss the my own spiritual views. Since I'm still not totally sure exactly what they may be, most likely there is someone out their that totally disagrees with them. At the very least, I will be discussing my views on the more conflicted areas of religion, though I may post almost anything if I get bored.

Being that this is a blog, most of the discussion will simply be a written monologue by, of course, none other than me. That would be boring if it is to be the only thing of which this blog is constructed, so I will endeavor to make this more interactive. No, there will not be any public bashing of crosses. There will, however, be heated discussion in the comments section. At least, that is my fondest hope. As stated before, my views are probably controversial somewhere.

Heated in no way means violent, and while I may not always be able to catch and ban people who show a consistent need for such, I will attempt to delete comments that are obviously out of line, though I do not yet have a system.

One system I have already come up with is the "The Gauntlet". Quite different from the armored gloves that "ye olde knights" wore, the gauntlet that this system resembles is one of testing. In times long past, and perhaps sometimes present, a person was forced to walk between two rows of his comrades or accusers and was bashed with fists or clubs until he got to the other side. The bashing that will be done in this area of debate, however, will be done by words and numbers.

The system will consist of various statements relating to the blog topic that will be listed at the end of the topic being either given a point or deducted a point by each commentator. In this way a general feeling of the public opinion can be gathered, and will be discussed on the next topic. I encourage the commentators to add qualifiers to reduce confusion on why they decided to add or subtract a point, but do not require it. Of course, this system will only be in use when discussing an actual religious topic.

Another part of this blog is a story that I'm writing. It has a sort of religious tone, so if that is something that you don't like, then feel free to ignore those posts. Otherwise, feel free to give constructive comments.

Since I'm currently attending college, and the fact that having a blog is merely a requirement for one of the classes I am taking, this blog will not be updated on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Sometimes, or I might just decide to randomly update as I see fit). Otherwise, Look for the blog to pop up sometime during the day, mostly at random times. There will, in addition, be random other posts not related to the subject of this blog that are required for the class. These will be marked as such, and can safely be ignored, as they will be deleted after the end of the semester.

Also, please consider that the opinions expressed here do not represent any group that I'm aware of. Sometimes they don't even represent my own views. This blog is, for the most part, an exploration. I'm easily swayed by logic, reason, emotions, and deadly instruments. This is why I've decided to make this blog public, as opinions and beliefs should be expressed and tested in order for any person or society to grow.

Also note that I'm not an expert in anything relevant, so please take everything I declare with fifty pounds of salt.

That said, welcome and please enjoy.