Ganked from goth4god

[zephyrofgod]

Foreword: I have ganked this from goth4god because it VERY accurately describes how I feel in my world. I am an Echo Boomer with deep X-er leanings. My mother and step-father are Boomers. I was taught how to think for myself. This also explains how and why I believe what I do. Thank you, goth4god. I have done very little editing to this, only where people that goth4god knows and I don't. His full entry is here.

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It's just who I am. This is my world view. It probably marks me as a heretic, a communist, a Buddhist. Who cares.


I believe in the new learning paradigm. The old one said LEARNING shapes BELIEF which shapes BEHAVIOR which causes EXPERIENCE. That never worked for me. The new one says EXPERIENCE shapes BELIEF which causes BEHAVIOR which determines how I LEARN. I love Jesus and know he loves me because I have experienced it, not because I read it in a book or someone taught me.

I am a postmodernist. I do not blindly accept what comes out of the classroom, the pulpit, off tv, or out of the mouths of government agents. There are too many voices, all saying different things about the same verses for me to understand what they are all saying. But there's truth in all of them. All I know is what God told me and what I read in my own Bible.

I am a relativist. Meaning, all truth is relative. Oh sure, I believe in abolutes and absolute truth, but I've made a decision -- a choice -- to believe it, and that choice makes the absolutes relative. What is truth to you isn't truth to me. What is truth to me isn't truth to you. A 5 foot 9 man isn't going to have the same problem trying on pants that I do. It is a TRUTH to me that Walmart shoppers are midgets because their pants are too short.

I believe in situational ethics. To a point I believe in absolutes, but there are exceptions. If something happened to Trish, and it won't, it is possible that I would remain celebate the rest of my life. But not probable. And if anyone threatened Trish, right there I'd ignore "Thou shalt not kill" for I wouldst not only killeth but mutilateth as welleth.

I believe in being, not doing. While I love doing good deeds for people and changing their lives for the better, I could care less about personal achievement, accomplishment and success. I just don't give a damn about my bank account and trophies. I have never been career motivated. I'd much rather read Marlowe than the Wall Street Journal. I don't identify myself by how I pay my bills. I'm comfortable with it, and I'm not hurting anybody.

I admit that God gave me talents and gifts. No false modesty here. I am a darn good writer, a getting better artist and I'd be a good musician if I'd go buy a violin or guitar or sax and start playing again. Call it pride if you want to, but I can live with that. I can also live with knowing that my heavenly Dad likes it when I play with the toys he gave me, and his opinion is the only one that counts.

I hate authority. Okay, get used to that! Don't tell me what to do. Allow me the opportunity to fail, but give me the benefit of the doubt that I won't. Say that authority is there for my good all you want to, but it's still a heel on my neck.

I believe that not all rules are good. There are three types of rules: 1) the rules set down so you know how to play the game, 2) the rules set down to protect you from harm, and 3)the rules set down to control you and keep you under someone else's will. Most rules fall into this last category. They aren't good.

I am not blindly loyal to my government. I do what God asks -- I pray for it, don't slander it (try not to) and give it what I owe it. But I will fight it if it does something tyrannical. Treason in the name of justice is patriotism (ask Patrick Henry and George Washington).

I am an anti-capitalist. Capitalism is not Free Market. In a free market society, the market is open to everyone to buy and sell and you succeed based on the quality of your product and your ability to balance your costs with the customer's ability to pay. Capitalism is legitimized greed and avarice. People get hurt.

Communism sucks, too.

I am opposed to anything that hurts other people.

All sins are created equal. Homosexuality and abortion are not the greatest things threatening the church or America. How about greed and gossip and lying and lust and ...

Jesus loves homosexuals and girls who get abortions, too. So do I.

I just don't dig materialism. Sorry. I don't care if it's packaged as stimulating the economy, prosperity teaching or just plain greed. You like a Lexus? Go for it. But please don't be angry if I prefer Honda or Ford.

I'm sorry if I disappoint you. I've tried to live and think and be like who the preachers and teachers and parents and cops and presidents say I'm supposed to live and think and be like. I just don't believe like that and can't live that way. Is this unwise self-disclosure? Possibly. I run the risk of alientating a lot of people. But it's who I am. If I can't be honest with myself about who I am, then how can I be honest with anyone else? A lot of younger readers will probably say "what's the big deal? We all think like this." I was raised by Builders (my Dad is a WWII vet) and my teachers were Baby Boomers. This kind of thinking is alien to them. I am making a formal break from the Builder-Boomer way I was taught to think, act, do, and be. It just isn't me.

I used to wonder how I could be a Christian and think like this. Or how someone who thinks like this could be a Christian. But there is a world of difference between what the Bible says and what preachers say the Bible says. And I can live with myself, in light of what the Bible says to me. I can reconcile this difference. And be content.

Comments

[zephyrofgod.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm too honest for my own good...and would never take something without giving the credit where it's due. (It's my craft. I have to.)

BTW, my mother is having a hard time understanding the "Goth-thing". I had made a post in christiangoth, but I'm waiting on the approval process. It's a long story, and I'm gothy, but I'm not Goth, and I don't get much of the subculture thing. I showed her your website, and she'd like to talk to someone with a balanced understanding of it all. Is it all right if I email you with the story and exactly why she needs to talk to you?

[revdrsyn.livejournal.com]

Sure. That's why we're here. If you want, email both of us, and you'll get both points of view.

[zephyrofgod.livejournal.com]

Awesome. :) Will do.