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August 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
I never liked the Pledge of Allegiance as a kid, especially the part where it said: "In God we trust." I don't know why, exactly, it made me feel uncomfortable—but it did. I had more trust in my dad, a former boxer, than God.
I really feel sorry for any kid, today, who has to say: "In God we trust," because I finally discovered who God really is. He is the guy that invented evil. It is true. At lest that is what the Bible says at Isaiah 45:7.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring good and create evil;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
I guess for some believers it is no big deal that their God created evil when he could have easily left it out of creation, sticking with the "I bring good" part. It also seems crazy that God should be bipolar. On the one hand, he brings good, then ruins it all by creating evil. It wouldn't be so bad if evil were weaker than the good he brought. But in today's world, evil is stronger. You can try to be good—but evil generally wins.
My kid intuition, when I was pledging allegiance, was right. After I grew up, I turned to Buddhism after going through a period of agnosticism. I liked Buddhism. The Buddha didn't believe in God. He thought God was rather crazy. Of God, in the Bhuridatta Jataka (453), the Buddha said:
"He who has eyes can see the sickening sight,
Why does not God set his creatures right?
If his wide power no limit can restrain,
Why is his hand so rarely spread to bless?
Why are his creatures all condemned to pain?
Why does he not to all give happiness?
Why do fraud, lies, and ignorance prevail?
Why triumphs falsehood -- truth and justice fail?
I count your God one among the unjust ,
Who made a world in which to shelter wrong."
These are pretty strong words. But they make perfect sense to anyone with a sober mind. If you had a chance to be God, would you wish to create evil?
I think we need to take God out of all national pledges. I mean, he created evil and lets injustice and falsehood prevail. We don't need that. Or maybe we should do away with all pledges to flags. I really don't see how a flag can help us. The only pledge worth taking is pledging to do no harm. This is the Buddha pledge, you could say. Every nation should pledge to do no harm.
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Is God bipolar?
I never liked the Pledge of Allegiance as a kid, especially the part where it said: "In God we trust." I don't know why, exactly, it made me feel uncomfortable—but it did. I had more trust in my dad, a former boxer, than God.
I really feel sorry for any kid, today, who has to say: "In God we trust," because I finally discovered who God really is. He is the guy that invented evil. It is true. At lest that is what the Bible says at Isaiah 45:7.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring good and create evil;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
I guess for some believers it is no big deal that their God created evil when he could have easily left it out of creation, sticking with the "I bring good" part. It also seems crazy that God should be bipolar. On the one hand, he brings good, then ruins it all by creating evil. It wouldn't be so bad if evil were weaker than the good he brought. But in today's world, evil is stronger. You can try to be good—but evil generally wins.
My kid intuition, when I was pledging allegiance, was right. After I grew up, I turned to Buddhism after going through a period of agnosticism. I liked Buddhism. The Buddha didn't believe in God. He thought God was rather crazy. Of God, in the Bhuridatta Jataka (453), the Buddha said:
"He who has eyes can see the sickening sight,
Why does not God set his creatures right?
If his wide power no limit can restrain,
Why is his hand so rarely spread to bless?
Why are his creatures all condemned to pain?
Why does he not to all give happiness?
Why do fraud, lies, and ignorance prevail?
Why triumphs falsehood -- truth and justice fail?
I count your God one among the unjust ,
Who made a world in which to shelter wrong."
These are pretty strong words. But they make perfect sense to anyone with a sober mind. If you had a chance to be God, would you wish to create evil?
I think we need to take God out of all national pledges. I mean, he created evil and lets injustice and falsehood prevail. We don't need that. Or maybe we should do away with all pledges to flags. I really don't see how a flag can help us. The only pledge worth taking is pledging to do no harm. This is the Buddha pledge, you could say. Every nation should pledge to do no harm.
thezennist at 12:25:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
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9/22/07 2:12 PM
As for me, I think the pledge of allegiance is pernicious for a very basic political reason.
It is, theoretically, as well as practically, and self evident, that a government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
The pledge says in effect that the *pledger* pledges allegiance to the United States and to the republic for which it stands. This is turning things on its head; you are pledging allegiance to the government? A "political order???" It's supposed to be the other way around. The political order, the government, the republic should be pledging its allegiance to the people.