I have more thinks to say about Christianity and serious Christian thought, and the church’s attempt to justify its place in the world, usually by displacing others, and those who won’t go along with that, but I’m putting that off for now. Mostly, basically it just comes down to the Bad Christians, needing to be unable to see good in anybody else, you know. (‘Are you a good witch or a bad witch?’ ‘I don’t know; are you a good Christian or a bad Christian?’) But man—if you like—can rescue any system, Christianity or any other, (considering a system in the broad sense, not particular tyrannies), as I suppose he can also wreck any system, whatever. And that’s all I’m going to say about that today.

…. I like Joel. I would never want to hold the form of his faith against him. I believe that the religions, although differing one from another, are connected, because life is connected and is bound up in connection. Religion doesn’t have to work out, but to suppose one’s religion absolutely Unique, one would ultimately have to maintain that what one was doing was not religion, which I see as unnecessary (especially in the sense of my-religion-is-not-religion, you know).

And you have to have faith that things work out if you want to see the light, and light is not all subtle shades of grey, you know. Light is morning; it’s the springtime. It’s blessings. That’s what I see Joel as saying, and I’m not going to disagree with him just because he got it from the God of the Bible, you know.

…. And actually the opening story, You’re Closer Than You Think!, happens to kinda show the fallacy of standardized knowledge and legal knowledge, as opposed to personal knowledge (or psychology). The park service puts up a sign that says, you know—long long time it takes you to walk up this mountain: sue Yoda, you shall not…. But they don’t know you, or how long it will really take you. They probably don’t care. But the guy you meet near the top, coming down, looks to you, discouraged, struggling up, and says, You’re closer than you think.

…. (Nelson Normie) I won’t attract more money than I absolutely need for myself to survive, because then I might get greedy and go to hell! So, the children of the land might starve to death, but I’m on my way to heaven…. I also don’t need to feel good, you know!

~And yes, I DO realize I state things in a negative way; if you want a more positive way, read the book. 😹

…. ‘Christians’ don’t all believe in the same god, and not just because of things like theology, organizational membership, and liturgical theory. Christians are differentiated by their personality, their energy. Some believe in a god of hope, others in a god of fear. Probably the most profound compliment you can pay to a man or woman is that you see the value in their god. It’s up to you to decide which one provides value.

…. I don’t want to lean too hard on this point, but the cool Christians and the neo-traditionalists—say Rachel Held Evans—not that they’re always wrong, but they’re not always right, and one of the cool books that Rachel name-drops in one of her books, from the blurb/concept, it almost made it sound like Joel owes them something, because they’re were cool & loyal and they failed or whatever, and Joel inspires people…. but he “doesn’t deserve” that, right. And—not leaning into this, don’t lean too hard into this, goosecap—but he doesn’t owe them anything. His success is up to him and theirs are up to them, to the extent that it’s not all up to God, right. Not being able to keep the lights on is not a badge of honor to brandish late at night when you feel afraid but don’t want to change, you know. God knows the top 40 media doesn’t care about the over 40 crowd, but I wonder how many over-40 churches have almost consciously decided—at what point could you not notice it before you intentionally didn’t—that having their local church die with them was preferable to treating their 30-something children as equals, or basically just being inconvenienced in their own day, you know.

Or choosing a book that’s not cool for the book club, you know.

…. And you might think I’m just being snide because I’m not a Christian anymore, but sometimes I toy with the idea of going back to church just to be part of the community again. (Not that the Episcopalians were big community types; they’re cold, English.) I don’t live in a city where it’d be easier/vaguely possible to find spiritual dissidents like me; in much of America, it’s Christianity or secularism, which often means isolation, unless you’re Jewish, or maybe in college, or something like that. But I’d never go back to my dad’s Ocean Grove/Village Christian culture for any non-family event (Oprah’s a threat to democracy! And Biden is worse than that—he’s a Democrat!), and I’m also done with cold, English, 1500s-era Latinate English worship, you know. It would have to be something like Joel’s church. I’m not even sure I’d like Brian McLaren’s church. (~insert joke about cool people here~ “Man, they’re so cool, that….).

If I’m going to play nice with the church people, I’m at least going to be treated with respect. And not as a museum-visitor, you know.

…. I remember when I thought I needed Brian McLaren’s permission to read Joel Osteen, you know—which he never gave, so after a while…. Hey, another overpriced book that will make me feel bad inside and alienated/entitled/alone/better than etc! Brian will approve of that!

The bibliography= the lunch table, you know.

…. I don’t always agree with Joel’s metaphysics, but I feel like I should slow-binge-read his books, to train me to think less oppositionally.

Because if it’s as just as jail for serial killers and cheap peanut butter for the starving children, and as proven as Algebra I, but it makes you miserable—you and the people around you—if it takes you further from what is best for you in your life…. Why would you think that that it’s from a good god, you know?

Because the spiritual life is not about historical re-enactments of the Roman Empire, or the US Civil War, you know.

Believe it or not, it’s ultimately about something as uncool as happiness. Happiness, kindness, self-respect, relationship…. Putting a smile on God’s face, you know.

…. Okay, I know, I know: I’m oppositional. But it just kills me, that someone like Brian could reach out to some radio evangelical from back when the Beatles were still together—and hated on by radio evangelicals’ fans—because of the international alliance of grumpy straight men who can’t get a date—but could never bring himself to say something nice about Joel just because he’s happy.

And alive. That is just sad to me, you know. Like if some 18th century novelist writes an idiot character it’s ironic and fascinating, but if Stephenie Meyer does it, she’s the enemy, you know…. It’s just garbage thinking, you know; it’s trash.

People settle for crap that’s a lot less than their best.

…. (preacher comes back from the international alliance of grumpy straight men dharma talk on heaven and hell) Oh honey, I was going to cheat on you…. I was going to cheat on you….!
(motherly) Oh my, my little Bob—you’re so honest….
(blubbering Bob) …. But she said ‘no’! She said, she said—she said, ‘No!’ (he blows his nose on her sleeve).
(motherly) (starts to feel a little….)
(blubbering Bob) (wipes his teary eyes) But it’s ok. Say, I forgot to pay my car insurance; you know these books I write don’t really sell…. Could you loan me some money? I’ll pay you back?

Da-na-na-na-na! Na na na, na!….

…. It’s easy, since Joel is handsome, to think on some level that he’s trying-to-be-the-white-man, but although it’s not his style to talk about racism, he certainly talks rather a lot sometimes about Black people of achievement. Racism happens, but it doesn’t benefit anyone to say, That guy is defeated. That girl is finished. They never had a chance. ~It certainly doesn’t make them feel good!

~Ah, but the glorious future of justice happens when everyone realizes that it’s my way or the highway—when masculinity triumphs over femininity, and all the dirty dirty moderations that moderate themselves.

(child Hermes) Mommy: I feel sad. Beam me up, mommy; the people on this planet are sad. I don’t wanna be their friend anymore. It’s too scary….

(shrugs) The elite always try to crush femininity, and everything soft, but only a few men are really all (or mostly) masculine. Sometimes I think that the average person is more feminine than masculine, you know. And then the boy at the top, the big cock fighter, gets all paranoid atop his pyramid…. “Some people even like Joel Osteen!” 😱

Still reading this book. it's great so far

Pastor Joel Osteen of the mega Lakewood church shares his inspirational message of faith, hope and prosperity from God's blessings. As much motivational and inspirational with a lot of real life examples of people who have struggled and came out on top. Osteen is widely know and his faith is not bashful about asking God for blessings. The message is motivational and inspirational and is sure to expand your faith. ( )

wonderful! ( )