Ok, so my first mistake was having the news on while studying for finals. My second mistake was paying attention to the news when I got bored studying. http://www.wkrn.com/story/14487080/local-church-offers-drive-through-service-on-good-friday I mean, I understand that people are busy, but is it not a little insulting to God to be like "Look, I know it's Good Friday and this is a major part of Holy Week, but frankly I can't afford to give you an hour of my time to go to a Good Friday service."
You could extrapolate that out to an entire lifetime though. What? You only have an hour a week to go to Church? Real believers give their life for Jesus. And so on.
You could. I understand that. I'm more raised eyebrow at the drive thru church part, not the not enough time for God part. Like, drive thru church was something we used to joke about in Sunday School.
Real communion with (the) God(s)* doesn't require a special building or a go-between to begin with. The best 'religious' experience I had last year was to pause below a ridgeline near sunset on a hike and watch the (waxing gibbous) moonrise. Just the act of catching it out of the blue, stopping, watching, and contemplating... words can't even articulate what I felt in those moments. *Take your pick- it doesn't really matter. Paths up the mountain and so on- the peak is there either way.
why does religion assume I need an intermediary between myself and God? The preacher is certainly just as flawed as me. Does God only exist in church? By definition he/she/whatever should exist everywhere including within our own hearts and minds.
Actually the idea is that you've gotta want it enough to ask for it. But on a similar note, this really only presents a fairly decent idea for a Eucharist. Then it'd be kinda like a restaurant that serves nothing but bread and wine. But it needs a name.... 1. McSiah's 2. TGI Good Fridays 3. Emanu El Grande 4. Stake N' Wake 5. Frisch's Alter Boy 6. The Wafer House 7. IHOPE 8. The Moved Rock Cafe 9. Cruci-fried Chicken 10. Ignoble Romans
The last time I went to one of these they totally fucked up my order! They only forgave three sins, and I only regained partial movement in my crippled hand. I'm driving the extra mile to Jew in The Box next time.
Oh they aren't serving Communion through this. First window you give a prayer request or grievance, second window you get a hand written prayer. Bada bing, you're done!
Remember, your average preacher is too stupid to be a banker and too dishonest to be a politician. Gotta do something to pay the freight!
When I read "drive through Jesus," my mind read it as meaning "run Jesus over with your car." Yeeeeaaaars ago, I had a similar experience. While walking thru the woods at the folks' NY state cabin, I just sat down for a few minutes to rest. Without me stomping around, the critters started coming out, and I could hear the squirrels scampering, moles crawling under leaves, birdsong I'd missed before...
And power. Two means to the same end, of course. But the concept of an intermediary between man and God gives whoever pretends to be that intermediary a huge amount of power over anyone who believes what they say. Most of the history of the Medieval Church must be understood in terms of power, money and politics. Actual spiritual considerations had little to do with it, and those who put them foremost were usually the ones who suffered the most at the hands of the "Christian" church. In order to be an intermediary between man and God, you would have to somehow be better than others yourself. But since people are all pretty bad, it is pretty much impossible, in any religion, to see a meaningful distinction between clergy and members. There are usually about an equal mix of good, bad and indifferent in both groups. I'm quite satisfied with Biblical teaching, myself: Jesus Christ is the only intermediary between man and God. Anyone can come to Jesus, without the need of clergy to administer rites, offer sacrifices, say prayers, or any of that stuff. Clergy should be spiritual advisors, and nothing more, with the people free to accept or reject what they have to say, depending on whether or not it makes sense. Unfortunately, power, money and politics have messed up religion as much as every other area of human activity.
Hell, there are signs and warnings about it IN THE BIBLE itself. Even the holiest priests in the Bible did some stupid ass things. Aaron wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, and as time passed, damn near every time a prophet came there were complaints about the Temple. Hilkiah was the only one I can think of that was never really rebuked for anything. I could be wrong, though. But then of course Jesus flipped the shit at the Temple because of it's corruption. To be fair, it's not as though we weren't kind of warned. When Jesus gets pissed, that's probably a sign that you should pay attention to.
