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DESPITE MY CATHOLIC UPBRINGING, I THINK I HAVE EVOLVED INTO BELIEVING IN ONLY A PASSIVE, OBSERVING GOD.
A GOD THAT IS NOT THE DRIVER, NOT THE NAVIGATOR, NOT EVEN THE MECHANIC, BUT ONLY A PASSENGER IN DISGUISE.
I do not believe in the Bible or anything that it says, especially the absurd interpretations of it by the Religious Right in recent years which have served to make it more of a comic book than a guide for life.
I do not believe in the church, because it's a frail, human concept that fills us with guilt, promises us salvation but only in return for believing in the unbelievable, and it has more charlatans than any other group.
But I DO believe in some sort of sentient being that created all of this or at least that is watching over it all and at times laughing at our idiocy or frowning upon it.
And I'm offering up the theory that this being is frowning upon us now and that it is demonstrating that through the only means it can, this entity it controls which we call Mother Nature.
A GOD THAT IS NOT THE DRIVER, NOT THE NAVIGATOR, NOT EVEN THE MECHANIC, BUT ONLY A PASSENGER IN DISGUISE.
I do not believe in the Bible or anything that it says, especially the absurd interpretations of it by the Religious Right in recent years which have served to make it more of a comic book than a guide for life.
I do not believe in the church, because it's a frail, human concept that fills us with guilt, promises us salvation but only in return for believing in the unbelievable, and it has more charlatans than any other group.
But I DO believe in some sort of sentient being that created all of this or at least that is watching over it all and at times laughing at our idiocy or frowning upon it.
And I'm offering up the theory that this being is frowning upon us now and that it is demonstrating that through the only means it can, this entity it controls which we call Mother Nature.
As of this writing, more than 160 people have died as a result of wildfires in Australia. Now this is not a new phenomenon in the least, but its ferocity and the toll it has taken certainly aren't the norm.
Now you combine that with last week's freak snowfall in the UK, one which we in Canada might have been snickering at to some degree (aww, that's NUTHIN'!) but which shut down schools and paralysed the people.
(Well, some had fun with it)
Now, add one more freaky occurrence to the list (and I haven't even talked about hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis or any of that sort of thing over the past year or two or three).
Overnight and today, in Winnipeg and other areas of southwestern Canada and the northern U.S., in what should be our coldest time of the year with average temps of -20C or whatever, it rained.
IT RAINED.
This isn't the UK or Vancouver or Victoria. It's the frickin' Prairies.
The forecast high for today was plus-3C. And it caused havoc all day. I could barely walk to my car today with slipping and sliding all over on my wonky knee.
The rain coated our streets with a layer of ice that shut down highways, schools, forced people to stay home from work -- basically similar to what last week's snowfall did in the UK.
To see a really cool (short) video done by my newspaper, go to http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid10497358001/bctid10520348001
Here are a few pix of people and vehicles slip-sliding all over the place, including into ditches.
IT RAINED.
This isn't the UK or Vancouver or Victoria. It's the frickin' Prairies.
The forecast high for today was plus-3C. And it caused havoc all day. I could barely walk to my car today with slipping and sliding all over on my wonky knee.
The rain coated our streets with a layer of ice that shut down highways, schools, forced people to stay home from work -- basically similar to what last week's snowfall did in the UK.
To see a really cool (short) video done by my newspaper, go to http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid10497358001/bctid10520348001
Here are a few pix of people and vehicles slip-sliding all over the place, including into ditches.
So the world's in an economic crisis, the Middle East is a mess, Barack Obama's being shit on for everything he hasn't been able to do yet to fix George W. Bush's disaster and the planet, generally, is in a surly mood.Do you think that maybe, just maybe, this thing people like to call God isn't exactly overjoyed with the situation either and maybe is showing us that by making it rain where it should be snowing and snowing where it should be raining?
I think passing the blame to God, or any other supernatural being, is a bit of a copout. Firstly, we have to acknowledge that we ourselves haven't done the planet and its weather any favours. I won't go into detail about greenhouse gases and all that jazz, because I presume you'll already understand what I'm talking about. Secondly, we have to realise that the Earth has always gone through cycles and changes in weather patterns, and that most of human evolution has taken place in a lovely mild period which is actually fairly unusual in the long-term history of the planet. Maybe now we're just seeing what Earth is really like.
ReplyDeleteStace:
ReplyDeleteI know you are but what am I?
Actually, this post was written a bit tongue in cheek, more to suggest that our behaviour has consequences that may not just be coincidental.
I accept your premise, except that it seems to me more likely that the greenhouse gas emissions might have a lot more to do with screwing up those natural weather patterns and that the two aren't necessarily independent of one another.
Get that tongue out of your cheek! You shouldn't talk with a mouthful, and the same goes for typing with a cheekful ;)
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that I'm ready for Spring.
ReplyDeleteWhat and who is God?
ReplyDeleteWhen I see girls been abandoned, killed, maimed, abused, I simply don't believe in him or her.
Stace:
ReplyDeleteI've always got something in my mouth, even if it's only my tongue in my cheek.
Anna:
Who isn't?
Gautami:
Like I said, I think god, from whatever angle or religion that you take it, is simply an observer, letting us screw ourselves to our heart's discontent.
Y'er goin' to straight to hell young feller.
ReplyDelete*spits
Don't you know that the Devil and one third of the angels that joined him in the rebellion are down here runnin' the show?
Hell, boy y'er jus' makin' it worse fer y'erself cussin' out the Lord. I'll be sure to wave to ya when I git Raputred.
Good Luck findin' y'er name in the Book of Life!
*spits
sheesh... very discombobulated indeed!
ReplyDeletefrankly, i don't think god has anything to do with it (and you know i believe in god). he leaves us to our own devices, dude, he has since christ was born. its us who're screwing up the planet all by ourselves!
Tiz the end of the world I tell ya .....
ReplyDeleteThe day before yesterday we here in the South of England had a months worth of rain fall in just 24 hours, most of it fell through my Jacobs bedroom skylight window that had somehow got buckled (probably by swinging on) and would not shut.... thus flooding his bedroom and then dripping through my ceiling which is the room below his LOL..... we have build an ark for use inside :)- the roofer is coming at the weekend to replace the skylight at a cost of $1000, lets hope it stays dry til then - it never rains but it pours LOL good job I have a sense of humour.... :)
anyone wanna buy a second hand hardly used ark?
x
Bass Ackwords:
ReplyDeleteGreat new profile pic! And I'm going to make you lick up that spit.
You're going to get ruptured, not raptured. What a doink.
Angel:
Well I know for sure you and I agree on one thing: We're screwing up the planet just jiminy-cricket dandy all by our lonesome.
Toasty:
Have no immediate need for a second-hand ark at the moment, besides that shipping costs would be exhorbitant.
But good luck with the new skylight. The skylight is falling! The skylight is falling!