Just for Fun

A Jewish lady friend sent these cartoons to my wife a couple of days ago, and the timing is so amazing that I can't resist sharing them. I also can't resist remarking that I think the art of "being offended" has been developed to dazzling heights in the past 50 years and fine-tuned to incredible degrees of sensitivity. If these cartoons offend you, or the idea that they might offend other people offends you, then please just go to your room, close the door, and cry quietly.




JEWISH OLYMPIC SWIMMER

Churches

I like this comment I left on "Beelzebublog" so much that I'm reproducing it here:


'Churches are human institutions and so have all the flaws of political parties, social clubs, and planning committees. Jesus might have said, "Wherever two are gathered in my name, politics begins."

'Yes, for most people organized religions are pitfalls rather than gateways to God and realization of spiritual realities. That's especially true if the religious organization emphasizes laws and rules rather than individual contemplation.

'Beware of anybody who says, "Do as I tell you and God will like you."'


Afterthought. While many Americans obviously go to church because of genuine religious fervor, when over the years I've asked churchgoing friends why they went to church, I heard these answers again and again:

1. So our children won't feel embarrassed if they're asked what church they go to.

2. Because if you belong to a church there's always somewhere to go when you move to a new town.

3. To meet people.

And a one-time answer from the father of a family of Jewish birth which attended the Episcopal Church: "I would belong to the predominant religion of whatever society I lived in. When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

It's interesting that none of those answers has anything to do with "faith" or seeking salvation.