I’m currently watching Jesus Camp and wondering why I feel disturbed. I suppose everyone has a different way of expressing spirituality or religiosity, but watching the kids in this movie writhe around and yell out nonsense syllables makes me uncomfortable. Although, I’m certainly not ignorant of the fact that Mormons probably seem weird or even heretical to them. According to a boy in the movie, non-“Christians” (like me, I suppose) make his spirit feel “yucky.”
Some thoughts: what do they have against acknowledging global warming? If anything global warming should be a religious “sign” to the Evangelicals that the second coming is near. Also, Evangelicals and Mormons seem to frequently debate about whether or not Mormons are Christian (brought to the table again due to Romney's presidential run), but our culture and hermeneutics are so different that the debate seems pointless to me. We are different. We worship an ostensibly different God. We may both read the Bible and share some values, but pretty much everything else seems to be different. And I think that is ok. I don’t think we need to say we’re the same.
My point is not to rag on these people or anyone else. I’m just trying to acknowledge how different cultures can make us uncomfortable. If some people believe that Harry Potter is evil/a hero, that democrats are going to destroy/save the country, that a fetus is/is not a life, or the silverware should always face down/up in the dishwasher, it may make me uncomfortable, but I’m learning to be ok feeling uncomfortable. I don’t envy leaders who have to try to (or at least we expect them to) balance all of the needs or opinions of the country…and I think it’s amazing that we get along as well as we do considering we’re all walking around making each other feel yucky.
Saturday, March 10
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A-ha! the uncomfortable feeling is shenpa?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what causes the uncomfortable feeling to begin with? It seems potentially challenging (or speaking personally, actually challenging) for people who believe that God communicates to them primarily through feelings and thoughts to distinguish "communication" from "ordinary" old emotional responses. Then I wonder if this is ultimately a false distinction, if the issue is not really the source of the emotion but how we interpret and respond to the signal. Yes, I think interpretation is tricky.
Good point. Subjective experiences with God are difficult for others (and sometimes, ourselves) to interpret. I guess I'm interested in why people (and myself, specifically), react negatively (or positively) to certain things. I do appreciate the wide variety in religious experience, however.
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