God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"

God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"

Gotta wonder how some people think sometimes.

When discussions on the issues of religion, gun violence, gun safety, gun rights, war, peace, the 2nd Amendment, the Constitution, movies on snipers, patriotism, arming teachers, eliminating gun free zones, concealed and open carry, and so many more go in the direction of God, Guns, Guts, Glory, and one sits back and really takes stock of that very short, very concise, very glib statement, how should it make one feel?

God, Guns, Guts, Glory....How does that statement make YOU feel?

Comfy? Cozy? Safe, perhaps?

My question to you if you feel any of these is why? I mean, really look inside yourself to answer that question. Why? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel comfy? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel cozy? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel safe?

Conversely, does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel uncomfortable?

Does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel squeamish? 

Does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel a little less safe, perhaps?

Would God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel uncomfortable, squeamish, or perhaps a little less safe....even a little bit....especially if it could be proven to you there are people who buy into this concept, the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory? Perhaps hundreds of them? Perhaps hundreds of thousands of them?

Truth be told, the numbers are more likely in the millions of people buying into the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory.

That so many buy into the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory makes me feel a little uncomfortable, feel a little squeamish, feel a little less safe. How does it make YOU feel?

There is actually a website called God, Guns, Guts, Glory. There are also multiple Facebook pages by the same name. Some leave guts out - others do not.

Twitter? Yep.

Pinterest? Oh, yeah.

Online stores? No problem.

An example of the image you can have put on a t-shirt, coffee cup, fridge magnet, or anything else you might be able to think of:

Good thing there wasn't an image of Guts included - that could get kind of gross, eh?

Yep. They're all there. Except the only God in this entire menagerie appears to be the Christian God. No God of anyone else - just the Christian God.

So, let's start with GOD - Christian GOD!

Damn, but there are a lot of people that seem to have this perception that Christian God is a man - a white man - a white man with a beard - a white man with a beard who seems to love and hate all at the same time.

This deity has, according to the Bible, been kind of a genocidal maniac at times. I mean, he's ordered men here on Earth to kill thousands, to spare no one, not even the women and children. Is that why some people of the Christian persuasion today don't seem to have a problem with killing others in Christian God's name?

And yet, to hear tell, like in Sunday School, church services, Bible School and the like, this deity is kind, benevolent, and will save us if we only follow him (or could it be her?).

Don't you dare follow any other God, though, or there'll be HELL to pay!

Well, DAMN, but that just kind of rankles now, doesn't it? If it doesn't, it probably should. After all, envy just happens to be one the seven deadly sins. Christian God isn't envious, now is he? If it's good for us, shouldn't Christian God also follow his/her own rules? I mean, c'mon!

But, how many Gods are there? I mean, really? How...many...Gods...are...there?

How can we follow only one God when there are so many Gods to choose from?

I've been told there is only one God - the Christian God. If that's true, then why do so many people in so many places, of so many ethnicities, of  so many cultures, of so many denominations, of so many sects worship Gods other than the Christian God? Think about that.

For those Christians following this blog, in my last post Religion - Uses and Abuses, I provided research data on somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 different denominations within the Christian faith alone. Adding to that confusion by pointing out that Allah, Yahweh, and Christian God are all the same God, the God of Abraham, and what we have here is a failure to communicate - between and amongst faiths, denominations, and sects.

Could it be? Could it possibly be that the problems we see today regarding religious extremism are part and parcel of that failure to communicate? Not only between faiths, but also denominations and sects within those faiths?

Take Christianity. It's already been noted there are somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 Christian denominations. 

But, what about Islam?

Muslims apparently don't go by the word denomination. Rather, they go by the term 'sects'. Seems there are only five Islamic sects according to World Atlas. Seems a little odd, doesn't it? Sorry....rhetorical.

So, Christianity: up to 40,000 denominations. Islam: five sects.

Now let's see how those of the Jewish faith compare. Doggone it! They don't have denominations either. Sects, yes. Denominations, no. And only five sects at that.

What's wrong with that picture? Nothing, when you come right down to it. Numbers mean nothing in the final analysis. What matters is ideology and rigid dogma. Why? Well, in the end, it is people, not Christian God, not Allah, not Yahweh that actually write and then interpret religious documents. Could it be the people who do that, the men and women who wrote/write and then interpret religious documents are the problem? After all, they are only human.

And therein lies the dangers associated with extremist groups within every religion of the world.

My two cents.....

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