Monday, March 01, 2004
Something to Chew On
Lately, my lunch conversation with my co-workers has taken a very serious turn. Generally, we just do fun impressions of our supervisors, weigh in on the latest episode of The OC, and bask in the comic glow of my various witty remarks. But last week we had a searching discussion of poverty in America (okay, so most of my contributions came from my 10th grade civics class, but still), and today we set our sights on religion, organized and otherwise.
It all started with Mel Gibson. I mentioned that this past Sunday my priest made some anti-Passion remarks, saying that the violence in the movie was unnecessary because “Jesus didn’t want to scare us into loving him; he wanted to love us into loving him.” I added my own point, which was that the Jesus in the Bible wasn’t all about showing off his wounds. In fact, he got all snippy on Thomas when he needed to see them to believe. I may not have actually used the word “snippy.”
But we got into a very interesting conversation about the sources of our faiths. To me, although I go to church every weekend, I’m not entirely sure that that’s where my faith comes from, or even exactly what my faith is. I know that most so-called Christian products, be they 700 Club or Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, don’t speak to my particular brand of religious conviction. And I’ve found more inspiration in secular novels, like Steppenwolf or The Plague, than I ever found in religion class. I guess I’m just frustrated by what I see as the simplicity of the faiths we see portrayed in the marketplace, because mine is so frustratingly and indefinably complex. Just like my crazy run-on sentences. Hooray for stream of consciousness!
Lately, my lunch conversation with my co-workers has taken a very serious turn. Generally, we just do fun impressions of our supervisors, weigh in on the latest episode of The OC, and bask in the comic glow of my various witty remarks. But last week we had a searching discussion of poverty in America (okay, so most of my contributions came from my 10th grade civics class, but still), and today we set our sights on religion, organized and otherwise.
It all started with Mel Gibson. I mentioned that this past Sunday my priest made some anti-Passion remarks, saying that the violence in the movie was unnecessary because “Jesus didn’t want to scare us into loving him; he wanted to love us into loving him.” I added my own point, which was that the Jesus in the Bible wasn’t all about showing off his wounds. In fact, he got all snippy on Thomas when he needed to see them to believe. I may not have actually used the word “snippy.”
But we got into a very interesting conversation about the sources of our faiths. To me, although I go to church every weekend, I’m not entirely sure that that’s where my faith comes from, or even exactly what my faith is. I know that most so-called Christian products, be they 700 Club or Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, don’t speak to my particular brand of religious conviction. And I’ve found more inspiration in secular novels, like Steppenwolf or The Plague, than I ever found in religion class. I guess I’m just frustrated by what I see as the simplicity of the faiths we see portrayed in the marketplace, because mine is so frustratingly and indefinably complex. Just like my crazy run-on sentences. Hooray for stream of consciousness!
