If I absolutely, positively, definitely had to have a deity, I’d choose one who doesn’t require worship. If I were constructing a deity from the ground up, I’d construct one who doesn’t lay down commandments to be obeyed. My deity of choice wouldn’t ask anyone to prove their faith by cutting the throats of their kids, beastly or otherwise... My preferred deity wouldn’t get all jealous and wrathful if I were to pray to other deities on the odd occasion, and wouldn't punish me if I were a bit evil and/or drunk and/or stoned out of my mind every now and again.
An argument can be made that deity by definition has all attributes, all qualities, and therefore, none. For me, if deity absolutely, positively, definitely has to have some attributes, then I‘d choose one with a sense of humour, an outgoing personality and an appreciation of the finer things in life, such as sex and drugs and rock and roll, and other edgy stuff too.
Who’d want a deity who hides in a burning bush, or a pillar of smoke? Not me. Who’d want a deity who withers a tree that fails to fruit on demand, out of season? Not me.
If I had to choose, I’d choose a deity who loves money-changers as much as whores as much as saints; who enjoys hanging out in bars and pubs as much as in temples and chapels. I’d choose one who loves me as I am, here and now, there and then, up and down, inside out, forever and a day, whether I’m praying or preying.
And if I absolutely, positively, definitely had to go god-shopping, I wouldn't choose one whose name I couldn't spell.
But I don’t have to choose.
NIGHTMERRIES: THE LIGHTER SIDE OF DARKNESS This so-called "book" will chew you up, spit you out, and leave you twitching and frothing on the carpet. More than 60 dark and feculent fictions (read ‘em and weep) copiously illustrated by over 20 grotesque images you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.
AWAREWOLF & OTHER CRHYMES AGAINST HUMANITY (Vot could be Verse?) We all hate poetry, right? But we might make an exception for this sick and twisted stuff. This devil's banquet of adults-only offal features more than 50 satanic sonnets, vitriolic verses and odious odes.
MANIC MEMES & OTHER MINDSPACE INVADERS A disturbing repository of quotably quirky quotes, sayings, proverbs, maxims, ponderances, adages and aphorisms. This menagerie holds no fewer than 184 memes from eight meme-species perfectly adapted to their respective environments.
MASTRESS & OTHER TWISTED TAILS, ILLUSTRATED: an unholy corpus of oddities, strangelings, bizarritudes and peculiaritisms
FIENDS & FREAKS Adults-only Tales of Serpents, Dragons, Devils, Lobsters, Anguished Spirits, Gods, Anti-gods and Other Horse-thieves You Wouldn't Want to Meet in a Dark Kosmos: 4th Edition
HAGS TO HAGGIS Whiskey-soaked Tails of War-nags, Witches, Manticores and Escapegoats, Debottlenecking and Desilofication, Illustrated
Heh heh heh. Perfect! Made my dei... oops!
made your deity? you too? Well done, and thanks for stopping by. MM
To paraphrase Shakespeare, some are born into (a culture that provides) ideas, some achieve them (develop them through effort), and some have ideas thrust upon them. With capitalism/fascism clawing large segments of the middle class back into serfdom and slavery through propaganda, addiction, disease (includuing "medicine" and pollution), invasion, economic warfare, and environmental devastation, the future for religion is so bright that "I got to wear shades."
More on this cheerful subject:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/05/03/aint-nobody-gonna-like-this/
Aw, heck. If you wanted to choose a deity there are plenty to choose from. For me, deity by definition does not have all attributes, qualities, etc etc, but is a being like us with particular attributes, qualities etc etc. Think alien from another dimension who likes to mess with humans for better or worse. My own personal deity is pissed off ay the money changers and cheers for the Jesus who drives them out of the holy places. He also loves sex (and drugs and rock and roll). Since I believe that gods are real and that there are many of them, it becomes a critical question: which gods do you choose to follow?
sincerely,
polytheistic animist Lil
mgeorge, you'll get no arguments from me in favour of "institutional religion" or in favour of the so-called free market, capitalist democracies, which are anything but free or democratic. As you say, more and more people are being pushed into serfdom/slavery every day, a fact that goes largely unreported in our allegedly free media.
Thanks for the link: some interesting stuff there. Though I disagree with the claim that during WW2, Zionists joined with Hitler because they wanted him to expel Jews to Palestine where they could then kill the British occupiers.
It's also very interesting that the complex story of the Khazarian jews --- including the fact that for hundreds of years, they comprised a military and economic superpower that constrained the growth of Islam into Western Europe --- is by and large ignored by mainstream historians.
Thanks for your comments, Cheers, MM
puny human, I agree with most of what you say, especially that there are many powers and forces in the universe who comprise entities / identities known as gods (or demons for that matter). I believe there is a multiplicity of non-human beings throughout the universe, and that all sentient entities are subsumed into the Universe (the biggest "god" of all), like Russian dolls: gods within gods within gods. Also that there are Persons within Persons within Persons.
I have to admit that in the context of recent events, including the so-called Global Financial Crisis, that Jesus had it 100% right to drive the moneychangers out of the temple.
Sadly, nowadays it would seem there are more and more money changers that pollute everything they touch, including temples as well as institutionalised religion itself.
Thanks for your comments. Cheers, MM
I've always subscribed to the point of view that it's rather arrogant of theologians to assume that the deity cares a thing about worship from us. We are like unto Zim as bacteria are unto us. Though there surely are some who are narcissistic enough that they would appreciate worship from bacteria.
Hi Lily, thanks for your highly entertaining comment. And great to see that gender-neutral pronoun. Cheers, MM
COMMENTS? Come on... gimme your best shot!