No. 6: The Bus
Since I have no car, and now that my darling boyfriend has totaled his car and can no longer drive my royal ass around, I have taken to riding the bus. I don't mind so much, and it saves me money in the long run. So I take the bus to and from my boyfriend's, to and from the store, and to and from work.
Today, on my way home from work, a middle-aged lady got on the bus. The reason I noticed her so starkly in my mind was because she had a giant purple birthmark that covered 95% of her face. When she first got on the bus, I thought that she was just a crazed Lakers fan of some sort. Then my eyes adjusted and I saw that it was her face and not face paint. Besides her birthmark, I noticed that she had a crocheted purse and water bottle holder. I, being the grandma that I am, immediately commented on what a beautiful purse she had and asked if she had made it. She said she did make it. She had been crocheting for 27 years. I was not surprised, because I can see myself still making scarves and hats for years to come. She said that she started off making slippers. Why slippers, you ask? She told me: Because in the book of John, at the last supper, Jesus washed all his disciples feet. She never really understood what Jesus was trying to prove by this. So she thought about it and it came to her: You should be humble enough to do even the lowest of chores, no matter what your status. Then she asked God what she could do instead of washing everyone's feet. God gave her the divine idea that she should make these slippers and give them to everyone that she met. I was amazed at this woman's love of God and how much He had helped her find Him.
I, too, am grateful to God because of how much He has helped me recently. It has taken me a while, but I see what happens when I pray and when I put my trust in Him. This woman was as a prophet of God to me. I'm not trying to convert anyone; I'm simply trying to help others open their eyes to little things that happen during the day and how God may have given his help when you needed it. The bus has opened my eyes to these people who I would never look at twice, much less talk to. It makes me feel good to communicate with others to get a different perspective on life. Most people would travel to get this sort of experience; I have found it in my daily life.
Thank you, kind woman, for expanding my horizons.
Today, on my way home from work, a middle-aged lady got on the bus. The reason I noticed her so starkly in my mind was because she had a giant purple birthmark that covered 95% of her face. When she first got on the bus, I thought that she was just a crazed Lakers fan of some sort. Then my eyes adjusted and I saw that it was her face and not face paint. Besides her birthmark, I noticed that she had a crocheted purse and water bottle holder. I, being the grandma that I am, immediately commented on what a beautiful purse she had and asked if she had made it. She said she did make it. She had been crocheting for 27 years. I was not surprised, because I can see myself still making scarves and hats for years to come. She said that she started off making slippers. Why slippers, you ask? She told me: Because in the book of John, at the last supper, Jesus washed all his disciples feet. She never really understood what Jesus was trying to prove by this. So she thought about it and it came to her: You should be humble enough to do even the lowest of chores, no matter what your status. Then she asked God what she could do instead of washing everyone's feet. God gave her the divine idea that she should make these slippers and give them to everyone that she met. I was amazed at this woman's love of God and how much He had helped her find Him.
I, too, am grateful to God because of how much He has helped me recently. It has taken me a while, but I see what happens when I pray and when I put my trust in Him. This woman was as a prophet of God to me. I'm not trying to convert anyone; I'm simply trying to help others open their eyes to little things that happen during the day and how God may have given his help when you needed it. The bus has opened my eyes to these people who I would never look at twice, much less talk to. It makes me feel good to communicate with others to get a different perspective on life. Most people would travel to get this sort of experience; I have found it in my daily life.
Thank you, kind woman, for expanding my horizons.
posted by Reno Revolver at 8:22 PM
5 Comments:
Well, since that lady has expanded your horizens, allow me to show you where the horizen's boundary lies: God helps those in times of need. Really, I think there were about 150,000 people in Asia in time of need when a few waves hit shore. Do you think, maybe, they all had slippers?
Because we pray to the same God... No, I think that God isn't always omnipotent, but I do believe that the help that those people are getting is his work. Remember, God helps those who help themselves.
Umm....What God are you praying to? (What God that is not omnipotent is even worth praying too?) What God was the woman with slipper making skills talking about? The same one as you? You did say she was prophet. (What is it for a person to be a prophet? what sort of criteria must be met? what sort of evidence is there so we can know she is a true prophet and not a false prophet?)
(Because when you use "God" that is standard signification of a theistic conception of a supreme being-usually a Christian conception.That is why t is capitolized--as it has been a convention since the formation of the King James Bible in 1611.)
And, moreover, it is typicaly a theistic God that is prayed too. Eastern conceptions are impersonal, non-entities--you don't pray to things that do not have wills, thoughts, and intellective powers; unless, you are suggesting that you are praying to an anthropocentric god (notice "god" has no capitols) such as any pantheon of the ancients or the present day (commom man) Hinduistic polythiesm (or the Mormans).
I don't give a crap what "God" you pray too, that "God" didn't give a damn bit of help to those who needed it in Asia.
But, you see, you have already had to qualify your claim to account for the evil--you said "Remember, God helps those who help themselves."
First, you say "remember" as if this is something I already know, and as if it were some self-evident notion that I should be aware of. Well, I don't KNOW this, at all; moreover, there is nothing self-evident about it, nothing intuitive (to me at least) about it. Tell me, did the God you pray to tell you this? Did that God say to you, "I help those who help themselves"? Or is this found in some sacred writings that have been revealved by this God that you pray to? (Say, perhaps, in the Bible somewhere, or in the Buddhist scriptures, or the Vedas, or ad nauseum) Or, are you just going on what someone else has told you, to which my questions need to be directed to them. Which is it?
So, I can tell you a bit abot the "God" you pray to. It is the sort of God that either permits evils such as tsunamis, or is helpless to prevent such evils from occuring. If it is the former, then why did your God permit it? Do you have a good answer? If your God is helpless to prevent such evils, then why do you 'pray' to this God? You God, as entailed from your claim, is powerful enough to help those who help themselves. But, what sort of power is this? What sort of power is it that is both not omnipotent, but also powerful enough to help countless individuals but not be bound by space and time (How else could your God help someone in Asia and, say, North America at the same time if your God were bound by the normal laws of physics?)
Furthermore, as you sugest, God doesn't help people in time of need unless they are also helping themselves. So, are the Tsunami victums just sitting on their collective asses, then? Are they all instances of people in need but not helping themselves? Is that why it is AMERICA, ENGLAND, FRANCE, CANADA, AUSTRAILIA and GERMANY, that are doing most of the helping in time of need?
So, you say that God is helping by working thru the various persons, institutions, and governments that are giving aid to the victims? (Really, if I watch CNN will I be able to see your God working thru those people handing out food and shelter and medical aid?) How do you know this? Was God working thru Sandra Bullock when she donated 1 million dollars to the tsunami aid fund? When is it just Sandra Bullock giving and not Sandra and God giving? What a very conveinant explanation for how God helps, one that admits of no verification or falsification whatsoever. How invulnerable your claim is. Congrats, you've offered an account that is absolutely worthless epistemically.
Why do you believe it is God helping thru those various agencies that are giving aid? What are your reasons? Couldn't God have helped better by pre-empting the diaster in the first place? Wait, God isn't omnipotent, I forgot; but apparantly God is powerful enough to help thru those doing the actual work of aid. What a peculiar God you acknowledge. (By the way, it is not just humans who are dying left and right, but there was an endanged specie of giant turtle wiped out too. It was the only hatchery in the world to protect these creatures and of the 100,000 eggs being cultivated, only 20 have been recovered. Zooligists think that the species will now be extint in a mere matter of decades--repopulation of this turtle species is practically impossible. So, Your God is also into letting beautiful animals cease to exist.)
You have, made a mockery of the suffering of those people by invoking God.
Does it even matter who this God is when this shit happens? No. Because the result is the same: No presence of divine intervention, at all.
You say that you think God isn't ALWAYS omnipotent. This is ambigeous. Do you mean there are times when a normally omnipotent God isn't omnipotent (perhaps when God is sleeping or going potty), or do you mean that not all conceptions of God are ones which include omnipotentce? If it is the former notion this is logically suspect and this requires serious argument on your part make your claim remotely plausible; if it is the latter notion, then this is trivial--clearly there are conceptions of God where God is not omnipotent. None of this, though, expalins why it is that God is not helping tsunami victums, or anyone else for that matter.
I suggest to you that the woman on the bus makes slippers--that's it-- that she is entirely ignorent of what it means to even say that God gave her the idea to make slipers. Slippers? This is what GOD does for a person? "Make slippers, My child." Why not make ideas that correspond to cures for cancer and aids and all other dieses? God is into foorwear, I guess.
Making slippers and giving them out to people...Now That's the love the God!! Jesus dying on the cross for mankind's sins--that aint shit! Thomas More, hanged to death lest he speak contrary to the truth of scripture--get a life, buddy. You should have been cobbler. Being thrown to the lions--it's all good. That's loving God just like slipper making.
Give me a fucking break.
The bus is a GREAT place to overhear conversations of 'real people', or engage in conversations with them. Just not during commute time. As for God, well, he broke your boyfriend's car.
No, I didn't get any slippers. I should have, dammit!
And God didn't break my boyfriend's car... My boyfriend broke it. Duh.
Post a Comment
<< Home