On Sacrifice and the Path Sacrifice is a prevailing theme of many world religions, whether you are giving up life, time, or money. The idea is that you have to pay for salvation somehow; nothing is free, after all. Some religions have an entire laundry list of things you cannot do, things you must give up entirely in order to practice their faith. Some ask for money, either through tithes or “charitable donations.” The entire Christian faith is based on what is an objectively barbaric form of human sacrifice. The message is clear: to be saved, you must offer up something in return, or forgo something you once indulged in. A sacrifice must be made. Pagan spiritual traditions incorporate energetic reciprocity: to invoke the favors of the gods, certain offerings are made. These offerings can be physical or energetic in nature, either cream and honey to please the Fae folk, or personal psychic energy expended during a healing rite. These sacrifices are more personal (as ...
The appeal of the dichotomy is understandable. It’s psychologically soothing to have two clear options, so we can act accordingly. Unfortunately, life is messy and complicated, and many of the dichotomies we embrace as a society are not only false, they are actively damaging. Consider the false dichotomy of “fight or flight,” of which I’ve written before. If you believe you only have two possible responses to perceived threat of trauma, you won’t realize that freeze, flop, and friend may be more appropriate to the situation. You could end up punching your boss, because running away is for cowards. Even worse, however, are the dichotomies we apply to sex, sexuality, and gender: you’re either gay or straight, male or female. What we are finally beginning to acknowledge is that these things exist on a spectrum, and the old labels just don’t work anymore. But there are still those who cling to these false dichotomies and refuse to recognize anyone’s identity if it doesn’t fit in ...
In Which the Pastor Takes Down God No idea is above dissection. While we have touched on a few of the ways in which the god character in monotheistic mythology is deeply flawed, I have yet to do a full-on takedown of the character himself. In this sermon, we will be going back over some ground we have covered before, but this time we are compiling all the most compelling evidence against the entity that monotheistic mythology claims controls the Universe. First, let us enumerate the characteristics of the god character: He is claimed to be all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere, but also lives in big, expensive buildings that only certain people are allowed to enter. He loves everyone, except those he hates, a list that varies from sect to sect. He created the Universe and everything in it, but somehow nobody blames him for mosquitoes. Everything that happens is according to god’s plan, but also bad things happen because of the Devil, a being with his own questiona...
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