My Sweet Lord
Today it is 90 degrees out. HOT damn. It's Sunday, so I have church to go to. Due to the heat, my father, in a demonstration of the gargantuan amounts of wisdom one acquires after fifty years, opted to park in the shade. Every decision has its advantages and disadvantages, and the one obvious advantage to my father's decision to park in the shade was that the car would remain cool during the one hour we would be away from it, preventing us, the passengers, from burning alive within it upon returning. However, there was one disadvantage, and it stemmed from the location of the parking spot chosen. The spot is a relatively large distance from the church, and it increased the amount of time spent walking out in the sun a proportionate amount. Fortunately, our church is quite well air conditioned, and as I walked in, I said, perhaps a little too loudly to my brother, that air conditioning is god's greatest gift. My screen name should be hilarious myles.
Anyway, as we left the church about an hour later, we were offered paper bags with different items written on the front. The items were for homeless shelters, which, as was told to the congregation by Father Mike, suffer the most in the summer, since there are no charity-inspiring holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter to boost their supplies. Of course I did not take one, since I am lazy and apathetic. But I needed a better reason for myself. So, on the ride home, I came up with this: the church tells me that there are poverty-stricken people out there who need my help. However, they also tell me that there is an invisible being responsible for my existence who will send me to hell for my sins, but that he also loves me. It is this second story that I, along with what is I am sure many others, have varying degrees of difficulty believing. Which brings me to the difficult question. How am I to believe one thing the church tells me and not the other? Wouldn't that be hypocritical on my part? So my options are either to believe everything the church tells me, which I don't, or to believe nothing.
Anyway, as we left the church about an hour later, we were offered paper bags with different items written on the front. The items were for homeless shelters, which, as was told to the congregation by Father Mike, suffer the most in the summer, since there are no charity-inspiring holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter to boost their supplies. Of course I did not take one, since I am lazy and apathetic. But I needed a better reason for myself. So, on the ride home, I came up with this: the church tells me that there are poverty-stricken people out there who need my help. However, they also tell me that there is an invisible being responsible for my existence who will send me to hell for my sins, but that he also loves me. It is this second story that I, along with what is I am sure many others, have varying degrees of difficulty believing. Which brings me to the difficult question. How am I to believe one thing the church tells me and not the other? Wouldn't that be hypocritical on my part? So my options are either to believe everything the church tells me, which I don't, or to believe nothing.
