Okey dokey, so this is like the first normal post, after my introduction. I think of it kind of like a second date. Keep it simple and polite, don’t say anything scary or awkward, don’t be needy, and pick the perfect cd for the car ride (okay maybe not that last one).

First of all, I got a fortune cookie today at lunch. I love fortune cookies. They’re basically like a dessert for me. I love the way they taste, I love cracking them open (they always split so evenly!), and usually I love the fortunes I get. So, I’ve been noticing a pretty steady decline in the quality of the fortunes I’ve been getting. A lot of the time they’re just a random statement or piece of advice. But today, I feel like it really went to a new level. I open my cookie, turn over the paper and read “Need some excitement or adventure? Take a vacation!” What? That in no way at all resembles a fortune. Like who is doing these things at this point, the Travelocity Traveling Gnome?

 

What's he hiding behind his back anyway?

Next, I did a presentation for a class on the similarities, differences, and research on the religious and aesthetic experiences. It got me thinking about some other issues associated with religion in general. I’m going to speak specifically about Christianity here, because it is mainly what my idea is based on thanks to my familiarity with it. I think that there’s somewhat of a schism forming between the younger and older generations. This is certainly not something new, but I think this particular split is interesting. I believe that the under 30 (very rough estimate) crowd is, generally speaking, less evangelical in a lot of ways than many older Christians. I think that a lot of younger people, who have been raised in a world in which tolerance and acceptance of other beliefs/cultures is really important, often look upon evangelism in a negative light. I know I and a lot of other people my age sometimes see it as preaching to people or not respecting other people’s beliefs.
The reason why I think this is worth discussing at all is how integral the idea of spreading Christianity has been historically and how important it is to a lot of Christians. Nearly every sermon I hear, in any denomination, seems to mention this theme in some way at some point. I think this issue provides a glimpse of how people feel that other faiths or lack of faith fit in with what the Bible teaches, which seems to be pretty clear on spreading the message of God.

I think that younger people’s reluctance to talk about their faith in any sort of persuasive manner and a doubt that it is even right to do so is an intriguing issue. I also think that a tolerance of other faiths would be pretty strongly condemned by a lot of traditionalists and even labeled as religious pluralism.

I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this, such as how you feel about sharing your beliefs with another person, whether you’re Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Atheist, etc.. I would also love to hear if you think I’m an idiot and just wasted 5 minutes of your life. Either way let me know.

Sorry, I kind of got on a roll there. Hope this doesn’t scare you away. My next post will not be as hefty.

Ok, so this is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while and I finally decided to give it a try. The first post is pretty crucial I figure, because it could garner me some actual interest from people who happen to stumble across this or it could be so bad that the person reading it actually exits the window, shuts down the computer, and spends a few minutes staring at the computer, breathing heavily and trying to decide what that crap was they just read.

I figured I could go the safe route and remark that this will be simply a collection of random word vomit and even make a joke about how this is more of a blauuuggghhh than a blog. I could say that I will probably not stay up to date with this so I’ll have a good excuse to stop writing if nobody reads this. I could just joke about how uninteresting I am.

But you know what? That’s all been done and would be really boring and pointless. I wish that just once someone would open up their blog and say something like this: “hey everyone, my name is (blank) and I rock. Everyone I know thinks I’m great, and I think it’s about time that the whole world got in on my awesomeness.  I have no doubts that this blog will be more highly viewed than the American Idol and Dancing With the Stars season finales combined, and I’ll even go so far as to say that my blog would beat your blog in a home-run derby, a cage match, and a Princess Bride-style battle of the wits.

So, seriously, I am just doing this blog because I think about things way too much and it would probably be beneficial for me to put some of my ideas online. It might even make for good reading. I would really really love any feedback. Okay, I’m going to end this first post. Let’s all just agree it wasn’t great and move forward. It will get better I think.

The wits battle.