SHOULD I REALLY BE SAYING OM.............GOD???

I heard this comment on a television show the other day...now the context was a bit strange - it was a woman speaking to her husband on one of those renovating shows. They had been going back and forth about whether to move or stay in their house.....the wife was not happy with the interior decorator and she said to her husband:

"You are certainly putting a lot of faith into someone who doesn't even go to church."

HUH???

Am I to assume.....If you don't go to church, and more than likely HER church, you can't be trusted?

I just don't get this whole or holier than thou principle. I have several Catholic friends who know I am not a religious person, but they still hang out with me and call me a friend. Knowing full well, in their belief, I am headed straight to HELL - do not pass go, do not collect $100.00. I'm done.

No matter what I do at this point in my life, I am doomed. However, I was told by one of them that that isn't necessarily true because I am a nice person. So, as long as I don't turn into a serial killer, rob a bank or cheat on my taxes or anything even more evil I should be okay.

Well, that is fine and dandy, because I don't believe in hell or heaven, so no worries.

My Mother was a card carrying Atheist. I think that if she had been wrong all of her life, when she passed away and she did indeed go up or down...she would have come back and told me.

And, while on this subject....what is a 'lapsed Catholic."? I understand that you can not be something anymore, but what does it mean when you explain you are no longer a Catholic. Or does it mean you are still sort of thinking about it...keeping your foot in the door so to speak. Or - I used to be a religious person, but now, well, not so much, but I am keeping all avenues open by just saying I am or have lapsed. You either are or you aren't I'm thinkin'. Lapsed means expired! You are an Expired Catholic....your due date is up.

Another thing I really don't understand is why Christians have to state to one and all that they are, indeed, Christians. Can't you just be a Christian, do nice Christian things and not have to point out your good deeds to others? Exactly what constitutes being a Christian??? Certainly not bragging about it.

I had a man here working on my bathroom reno and out of the blue he said "I am a Christian."

I could have replied, "I am an Agnostic." But I wanted my bathroom done correctly.

Why did he feel that I had to be advised of this? Did it make him a 'better' person and therefore I would trust him more than say....a Lutheran? What it did do was put me on my best behavior in the swearing department. But I did slip at the end and tell him he did 'one hell of a job.' I think I saw a slight cringe.

When we bought some furniture down in Arizona the sales rep leaned into our truck window, after helping us load everything, and asked me "Are you Christian?"

I immediately replied with a nod toward my husband Kristjan - "No, he is. I'm Colleen."

Rob, the sales guy, looked at me like I belonged to some strange new religious group he had never heard of. The Colleens.  Again - what was the point? Did he expect us to say yes and do a secret handshake? Did this mean we could have gotten a discount?

Another thing that gets me about being Christian is the fish symbol that is almost as prevalent as the pink ribbons for breast cancer.

According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company. Current bumper-sticker and business card uses of the fish hearken back to this practice. Again - why do they need to advertise? Doesn't anyone else find this a bit .....dare I say..offensive?

Here is my symbol for my car:

Do you think a lot of people are offended by this - oh yeah!!

Even though there is a symbol for being Agnostic - a sort of stylized 'A' -  I was thinking that I should come up with a symbol for how I feel about being an Agnostic. I think it should look like this:

'Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, as well as other religious and metaphysical claims—are unknown or unknowable. Agnosticism sometimes indicates doubt or a skeptical approach to questions. According to the philosopher William L. Rowe, in the popular sense, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of a deity or deities.'

I believe in doing good things - Karma - good goes out and good comes back in. For the most part, I think the ten commandments are a good guideline to start with - with a few exceptions:

You shall not covet your neighbor's house: I have seen some pretty nice places I'd like to live in.

or the neighbor's male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's: I KNOW my husband would really like the neighbor's tractor. Is that bad?? Does that make him a bad person?

And there are a few commandments I'm not wild about, that are obvious, considering the circumstances. But the BASIC idea is good....rules to live by.....do unto others and all that.

You do your thing, I'll do mine. I won't judge you and you shouldn't judge me....and if you key my car I will be very upset....that is NOT a Christian thing to do!

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Things I have learned this week:

It is not THE Grand Canyon. It is just Grand Canyon. We don't say THE Canada. I stand corrected.

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Within the Catholic Church, Saint Ailbe (or Ailbhe) is the sixth century patron saint of wolves. Legend has it he was raised and suckled by a wolf after being abandoned in the woods as an infant. He also was said to protect a wolf from hunters when he was bishop, and would allow his wolf-mother and her cubs to dine in his rooms. Good grief....is there a Saint for everything??

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If you order Bubblewrap from Amazon...this is how it is packed: