Of course this statement discounts all the wonderful people who treat people fairly and with compassion without the help of Jesus, but this bit about others having to "do the dirty work of restraining our sinfulness" made me laugh as I thought about the religious police in some countries and posts I've read about them using black markers to cover parts of women's bodies, cross out pigs and such things they deem immoral for the masses to see**.
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| Piglet blacked out due to his being a pig |
Even the Hasidic Jewish newspaper that smudged out Hillary Clinton in the photo the other day due to the sexual suggestiveness of posting pictures of women...I guess that would qualify! Don't want to lead anyone astray by seeing a female face! Is this one of the reasons given for strongly encouraging (if not forcing) women to cover their hair and bodies in some cultures? (While many say they do it for God, I've read enough to wonder if men are thought to be animals unable to control themselves when they see women thus the women must hide. To this I say, maybe the wild dogs need to be chained until they can act like they would if God were standing right there beside them observing how they treat the women He created.)
I know we have people even here who want to dictate our morals, but so far I've not known of any who go quite to this extreme.
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| Piglet is still safe for us to love! |
By the way I'm really enjoying The Book That Made Your World by Vishal Mangalwadi and am so glad I got it for my birthday!
What morality police/political-control tactics do you find most alarming, silly or irritating where you live?
**Here are a couple of posts from 2008 touching on the subject of the religious police: from Clouddragon and Susie of Arabia.
quote from pg. 258-9
7 comments:
It would be sad to live in a world without Piglet. :)
In general, the tendency to ignore and ban anything people don't agree with or understand annoys me. I find it incredibly damaging in some cases. For me personally, being forbidden to talk about gay people or view any entertainment or even non-fiction info about them taught me that I was not allowed to tell my parents or pastor or anyone what I was going through. It wound up meaning the church lost me, which is the opposite of what I assume they wanted, and my family and I are never going to be fully honest with each other and have the kind of closeness we could have had.
Hiding the issues behind a curtain just means they don't ever get worked out and there is no chance for growth and reconciliation.
How we keep straight is a learning process.No one is born knowing everything there is to know or what sin is.The whole world is a school where God's wisdom is bountiful for us all.The world is not just where sinners exist but also where 'angels' and 'fairies' live too! I believe that God never abandon us but is with us all the time,thru out inner soul.
it's pretty annoying when we have a group of people telling us how to go about our lives.Too much control can have the opposite effect as in any situation.I've not experienced such policying here so I'm fortunate in that respect!Thank God!
I'm fine with not eating pigs...but Miss Piggy is and will always be my favorite actress (real or not), regardless of the fact that she's a pig. Honestly, God created pigs, too, right?
In reference to the rest of the post (meaning what you were really getting at, lol, beyond piglet)...I'm too tired to get into it tonight, but maybe I'll be back! (insha'Allah)
God gives us wisdom and sense to know that is the sin or not. so GOD does not need to stop or force us to do sins but people need to use their brains which are unused. Stop pointing any other person and best of luck for future to write such writings.
I find them *all* irritating! I find the fear mongering of the 'other' no matter which side is doing it to be infuriating. It just divides people and makes them more angry, confused. It causes strife and bloodshed at the worst end of the spectrum and irrational hate all across the board.
But I guess if we're talking about religion, the thing that drives me nuts is the apparent belief that humanity has absolutely no control over itself. So any policy in aid of that worries me. It makes it too easy to take control of people and take away their choices and free will. If you can convince people that they are fallen, idiotic creatures who can't be trusted to walk down the street without harrassing someone, or robbing, etc. without being policed externally, then there is a good percentage of the population that will begin to act that way, in part because they are not taught self control. It's not their fault, it's not their responsibility. It's always someone elses' problem.
In addition. Pigs are cute! And left to their own devices, very clean. So stop harshing on the pigs, people! You don't have to eat 'em, but there's nothing wrong with looking at them! Or women, for that matter. You don't want to look at suggestive photos? Don't buy girly mags, Cosmo, People, clothing catalogues or PlayBoy. That whole photoshopping out, not just Hilary, but the other woman in the pic (who was way in the back and barely visible at all) is insane. It's absolutely insane.
Sanil, yes, I find that very sad to think about the loss of relationships in your story. I appreciate your sharing a personal story like that. :(
Lat, yes, I'm glad you've never had to live under that type of policing. I find it ridiculous. Are you living right because you fear God and want to please Him or are you doing it because some stupid man with a stick is making you mind?
Nikki, :D It's cute to find Miss Piggy fans! :)
HQO, yes, I think people can use their own brains and don't need morality police to make them behave. Crossing out pictures is just silly.
Amber, amen! Very good points! I find piglets especially cute. :)
Thank you all for your feedback!
Note to self: Blogger had problems and a couple days worth of comments got "eaten" and disappeared forever!
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