23.09.15

Today the class was asked if they believed stories about peoples religious experiences. This frustrated me because we weren't given a good enough chance to explain our opinions, and if anyone in the class said they didn't believe them they were treated like they were saying something really offensive.

You cant ask a question, knowing the probable answer offends you (and you'll want to defend yourself like a toddler saying 'well this is what I think, so you're wrong') and then get really offended when people give you the answer you knew you were going to get. Don't invite us to insult you if you don't want to be insulted.

During the discussions she said 'do you think an event took place here, or do you think it was just a physiological blip?' referring to a womans story of when she first felt Jesus' presence and invited him into her life. In my opinion, a physiological blip is an event, peoples thought patterns should not be belittled, especially if that thought pattern literally changes that persons whole life. I think the term physiological blip is a huge insult to people who have religious experiences. Just because I would rather justify it in another way (drugs, euphoria, mental illness) doesn't mean that for that person it was completely true. A lot of people argue that things have to be either true or not true, however I don't think this is the case. If someone else says they've felt God, we have no right to argue against that, however we can justify it in other ways. Doing this allows that person to have their beliefs and us have our beliefs.

For example I am a big fan of Bill Hicks. Bill Hicks says that he met God various times while using drugs. The fact is because I am a big fan of Hicks and to me he speaks a lot of truth about other things, and I usually agree with his opinions, I have no reason or justification to argue with him when he says he's met Jesus. Especially when Hicks says he knows God, and the fact is anyone can know God no matter who they are or what kind of lifestyle they have, or if they consider themselves religious.