Monday, May 26, 2008

Of blasphemy...

One of things that I tend to notice is the unconscious forms of blasphemy that pop up from time to time. It's not that I'm looking at these things as a measure of one's faith, but still it seems strange how often you might hear someone discuss their religion, and then blaspheme in the same breath. I have two such stories to tell, so click Read more... to read on.

First, a man was talking to me in line to check out. He'd just made some photocopies and was telling me about how God had saved his life. He's a single amputee, a scruffy middle aged man with only one leg which was amputated at his groin. He started telling me about his last pelvic surgery, his fifth such surgery in 5 years, and that he decided to put his life in God's hands. He told me of how his recovery was much shorter than any of his previous surgeries and he that he's certain it was because of God.

After his surgery, he began coming up with different acronyms that helped him with his faith. He handed me a slightly formatted sheet, something he clearly typed up in Word or something like it, which was 2 sided and had about 15 of these things, as well as a couple different versions of the Serenity Prayer.

He told the first he'd 'come up with' with was FROG or Fully Rely On God, and he told me this while patting a couple of stuff frogs he had attached to his electric wheel chair, explaining that when he was worried or needed guidance the frogs would help him.

I said little, he mostly lead the way. He told me about talking to people on the bus, and how when he'd chair his acronyms, they would sometimes ask if he'd heard ones that they knew, and his list would get a little longer. He assured me that the list was mine to do with what I wanted, whether it was share it with others, or just throw it away. He even went as far as to tell me that none of it was copyrighted.

When it came time to pay, he found that he was out of checks, and began scrounging around his tattered fanny pack, looking for something, and muttering about his last trip to the emergency room when they had kept his fanny pack in the ambulance and he was forced to cancel all his cards and replace his ID. He eventually got back the fanny pack, but he still hadn't gotten his new check card.

His search started to get more frantic, and finally he started cursing under his breath, "God Dammit" and finally, "Shit!" and "Fuck!" I couldn't help but chuckle slightly at this man, who was telling me about his belief in God, and his personal relationship with Jesus, yet he was so willing to blaspheme for something as simple as not finding his cash.


The second story is a lot shorter, but still in the same vein. In this case I saw a Jewish man, he wore a black kippah and a tallit katan under his suit jacket, and had the type of beard common within the Hasidic Jewish community.

He was walking along on his telephone, having a conversation, when I heard him exclaim, unmistakably, "Jesus Christ!" Being that his religious beliefs do not include the new testament, taking what Christians call the Old Testament as the Hebrew scripture, it seems very odd to me to hear this sort of exclamation.


Now, this is coming from someone that has found faith far away from organized religion, I just find it very strange. I suppose it's easier for me to take the stance of an observer in this case, since I'm very much on the outside of things.

Just my 2¢.

1 comment:

Willynate said...

Heh - it reminds me of the Mel Brook's film "History of World - Part 1"

"Jesus Christ!"

"Yes?"

Being a Christian 'n all, I do find "Lord's name in vain" things rather goofy. Good grief, if you're going to swear, SWEAR - I mean Full Metal Jacket swear.

Even Jesus went all ballistic on the dudes changing money in the temple - though saying "uncircumcised hearts" nowadays doesn't really have the same impact.