My God comes in a wrapper of cellophane

Even if there weren't so many terribly misbehaving children who haven't been taught to shut up for one hour, I wouldn't have been able to hear the preacher's low-volume microphone anyway. He was talking, I could tell that much. But what he was saying was anyone's guess. If there had been a clock on the wall, I could have heard it ticking better than anything that was supposed to be relevant.

And that was just the sermon. The prayers, the songs, the rituals, everything was all monotonous and formulaic as if they were purchased on-the-go at a fast food restaurant's drive-thru. Quickly processed, created, and served, all nicely and neatly packaged for easy consumption.

The preacher could have been talking about baseball. Granted, as with any church you go to, there are the small minority that take it seriously. They've got the loud voice, the big Bible, the bumper stickers... you know, all the stuff that matters to God.

That's sarcasm, of course -- if God exists, he isn't like us. He isn't obsessed with material possessions and personal worth. There's nothing you can show off to him to impress him into thinking you mean whatever you're saying.

Of course there are the minority that do care, but I have to wonder if the other 90% even think about what they believe. They profess to believe in the Bible, in which Jesus plainly states that most people that have ever lived, are alive now, and will ever be born in the future, are going to Hell when they die.

And, to say the least, Hell is not expected to be a pleasant place.

We have two options:

(1) They are completely insincere and don't really believe what they claim to believe, and are just there for the social status that comes with being a church-goer. That or the free coffee.
(2) They are completely soulless.

If you honestly believe that people are going to Hell, then what are you doing sitting around reading someone's blog on the Internet? You should be outside right now preaching to everyone you see about their impending doom barring their acceptance of Christ.

If what the Bible says is true, then I am going to Hell when I die. And I'm only one person. Even if you assume that anyone who goes to church somewhat regularly will be entering Heaven, that still leaves an unimaginable amount of people who have ever lived and who will ever be born... all of whom are going to Hell.

So maybe to solve this problem, you decide to believe something like "Well maybe anyone can go to Heaven, and God accepts anyone who worships in their own way." For one, I guess that counts me out because I don't believe in a personal God in any way, and two, that is not Christianity. You are not a part of Christianity because you don't believe what Christians believe. You are a part of some all-inclusive new religion that you invented to make yourself feel better about the idea I just described: That if people are really going to Hell, and you know it, then you should be doing something about it.

If you profess to believe what the Bible is true, and then don't do anything about it past the church doors when you exit after consuming your single-serving prayer service, then you are either lying and don't actually believe it... or you are so utterly heartless that you allow people every day to pass by you, knowing that they're going to Hell, could die tomorrow, and you're doing absolutely nothing to help him. Either way, you are a complete hypocrite, and if you really aren't lying about what you believe, then have no business telling me that anything I do is immoral, because you are sick.

(This blog entry is also located at another blog I have called Falling Is Easy.)

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