Sermon #1 - text

[raptura]

[Just a simple little post from username 'Bluemarine', but it's posted for everyone to see and the option to reply in any format you like is there, should you feel like it. Somebody sure has the burning desire to ask everyone a question (or piss off as many people as they can, depending).]

How many of you believe in an afterlife? Or...What I should ask is; how many of you understand that you're slaves to fate and destiny, no matter how unhappy yours might be?

You're welcome to try and change my mind on that front, if you think you have the intellect.

Comments

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[hopefanatic]

You talk as though you're exempt from all of that.

[raptura]

Did I? I certainly don't think I am. In fact...Quite the opposite! I'm as set in my path as anyone else is, and I find it a great comfort. What about yourself?

[hopefanatic]

I see!

Me? Well I don't know if I would call it fate, but I'm fully aware of the cycle of good and bad luck that makes up my life. I'm sure the phrasing might not matter to anyone else, but it carries the same inevitability.

[raptura]

[Ooh, intriguing.]

No, I understand. How you view something, how you label it, is important to you alone. It carries a meaning that no one else can grasp in full. But at the end of the day, it does boil down to the same essence, certainly; as one side grows heavier, the other will come to fall soon enough.

[hopefanatic]

Growing heavier... That's not a way I had ever thought about phrasing it, but it really does give an air of finality. That's how the world is, though.

Were you asking about the afterlife because you were looking to start a theological or philosophical discussion? Or were you just looking to debate?

[He doesn't really care either way, he's just genuinely curious.]

[raptura]

My wording wasn't meant to imply some doom so much as invoke scales! One side weighs down with your experiences, so it must be knocked clean at some point and the other side loaded. Or both, gently added to at the same time. The world is certainly not built for everyone's success, though.

Although I truly want discussion, my wording was such that I wanted to bait people looking for debate, so I can at least have an idea of how careful I should be with my beliefs.

And also because it's funny. :p

[hopefanatic]

Scales so beautifully evoke the between hope and despair! And I completely agree, the world isn't a place that can accommodate to someone if they aren't marked from birth.

So you want to see just how far you can go by purposefully poking at a subject that's not only controversial across all religions and societies, but something that also almost anyone could relate to. Which implies that your own beliefs are likely an extreme that would be considered "taboo", at least where you're from...

Wonderful! I look forward to seeing how it goes.

[raptura]

Is love taboo? My beliefs are only for everyone's happiness, but they do rile people up all the same...I suppose it must be, then.

I hope that I can share some good news with you in the future! May your scales weigh exactly as they should.

[hopefanatic]

I feel like I can relate. It can be difficult when you're trying to help but no one else understands... But I'm used to not being accepted.

That makes me feel so lucky! Thank you, hopefully Lady Luck keeps smiling on me.