Musings From The Morning Train Ride – March 30, 2010

by Joe Lopez on 03/30/2010

There’s a guy sitting across from me reading a book on Biblical doctrine by Charles Ryrie. Ryrie was a good scholar, if I remember correctly. I haven’t read him, of course, since my fire-breathing fundie days. It used to be that I would think someone reading that would be a pretty nice fellow. Now, I wonder if he has a vest of C-4 strapped on under his jacket. It’s funny how a few, very vocal idiots can ruin it for everyone else… and by funny, I mean ironic and sad.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of god these days and how odd it is that we attribute so many human behaviors to god. Really, does god put his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us? Do ants wonder why we watch Jersey Shore? Is there some kind of ant-y analog to it or do we humans just move in ways too mysterious for them to comprehend? Are god’s way truly higher than ours or do we just say they are? It’s preferable, I imagine, to thinking he’s sitting on some grand, celestial couch, watching us on the 24-hour Doofus Channel while shoving Cheet-os into his holy boxers.

Or is it preferable to casting our words to the empty air.

The Green Line train to Victory Station is going the opposite direction. Coincidence?

The guy has gone now, replaced by a girl wearing a big gold chain with a Peace symbol on it. Is it another coincidence or perhaps just another event that I’m trying to apply meaning to on my own.

The stories of the gods take place all around me, every day.

At least, to the ants.

Related posts:

  1. Musings From The Morning Train Ride
  2. The Toughest Six Minutes
joe@shutupanddance.com

There are 2 comments in this article:

  1. 30/03/2010Dawn says:

    Whoa.

  2. 30/03/2010Carissa says:

    Joe I love this! I always try to figure out what my dogs might be thinking, but I’ve never taken it to the level of ants.

    This really reminds me of a lesson in a Christian Philosophy course I took… It was the first time I really questioned my position on God. I’m not really educated in Bible Study, so bear with me. I just know there is a “scene” (because that’s the way I saw it in my head) where someone is being beaten to death. He looks up, and he sees the face of God behind the parting clouds, and knows everything will be ok. (this could be completely wrong, but it’s the way I remember)

    Our professor asked what he saw… Whether he literally saw God sitting on a throne.. or if it was more metaphorical.

    I wasn’t really raised in a church, but I was on books.. so to me it felt like a component of literature. I remember being so surprised at the fundamentalists in the class who interpreted it literally.

    Now that I’ve written all this out I realize it isn’t really going anywhere… just a memory I have that you helped me recall.

Write a comment: