*source unknown
I had the priviledge this past weekend of hearing Marcus Borg speak in Seattle and was pleasantly suprised when he began with a light-hearted piece about beer. It's seems every where I go, the subject of beer in relation to faith just crops up.
The next night, I went to a local microbrewery to video a blurb about my book and several of the patrons came up to me afterwards to voice their interest in my story. My friend John and I ended up chatting with Melody and her husband over some nice Belgium Porter about open-minded faith and how the church has squelched certain freedoms, one being the responsible enjoyment of beer. It really is a shame, because it's true. Beer really is better than religion (but not genuine reasoned faith) and here are nine perfectly good reasons why with my additional thoughts:
1. No one will kill you for not drinking beer. [Or devise some elaborate torture method, use it on you, and claim they're doing you a favor by compelling you to recant and thereby save your soul]
2. Beer has never caused a major war. [Or a nasty church split]
3. Beer doesn’t tell you how to have sex. [Nor when to have it]
4. When you have a beer, you don’t knock on people’s doors trying to give it away. [Or hand out simplistic tracts that you have to apologize for to intellectual types]
5. They don’t try to force beer on minors who can’t think for themselves. [Or force it on adults by telling them it's dangerous to think for themselves]
6. You don’t have to wait 2000 years for a second beer. [Or a second well-crafted microbrew fit for a returning King]
7. There are laws saying that beer labels can’t lie to you. [Or decieve, manipulate, or twist the truth]
8. You can prove you have a beer. [No need to blindly believe because a church or a pope says so]
9. If you’ve devoted your life to beer, there are groups to help you stop. [They meet in buildings devoted to religion]
Any other reasons beer is better? I welcome your comments.
6 comments:
Mr. Camp
Do you or any of the Guru's that you seem to follow believe in the resurrection of Jesus? (Marcus Borg for instance does not)
1Cor 15:12-17 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
With this in mind I wonder what does Easter mean to you? And more importantly who is this Jesus that you claim to believe in?
Salaam
Bongani P
Bongani,
Yes, I actually do. As far as the "Gurus," I follow, N.T. Wright and William Countryman do, as well as many others. Why do you assume because I read Borg or go to hear him speak, I believe in everything he does? Despite our differences, I see much to learn in Borg. He sees a powerful God working through Jesus in his wisdom teaching, healings, Spirit connection, and love. The verse you cite talks about people claiming there was no resurrection of the dead at all--that death ends our existence--not people who are skeptical of Jesus' resurrection. Thanks for the comment. - MC
Mr. Camp
Thank you for the response. It would appear that you have found value from a wide variety of authors. John Spong, Philo Thelos, Mr. Borg. I would ask the question again, who is this Jesus that you claim to believe in? As to the scripture from 1 Cor. - slice it any way you wish but the truth remains the same - "...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins".
P.S. You never did respond to the e-mail sent to you by me some months ago. As mentioned in the letter, although I do not typically participate in blog correspondence, I was very moved to write to you on that occasion.
BP
BP, To me, Jesus is God's personal expression of God's character to humankind. Like I said above and in the email I sent (in response to the one you mentioned), I believe in the resurrection of Christ but don't deem those like Borg who don't as heretics. I hope you can read the book I suggested by Borg and NT Wright, The Meaning of Jesus. Also, Mike Morrel has a good piece on how people should handle alternatve viewpoints: http://www.mikemorrell.org/2012/02/resisting-the-logic-of-heresy-hunting/
Cheers, Michael
LOL Awesome article! I'll be lifting my glass to you tonight, Michael. :)
11. You can't play religion pong.
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