A Question for Theists by Schism

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A Question for Theists

POSTED BY: SCHISM
UPDATED: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 16:37
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Sunday, March 29, 2009 11:03 AM

Let's assume your a Browncoat AND a theist.

That means you;

a) Love Captain Mal
and
b) Love God

(in either order)

That given the case, how do you react/respond to his anti-religious and anti-god remarks?

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Sunday, March 29, 2009 11:27 AM

CHRISISALL

I ain't a Theist, but I conjure ifin I was, that it'd be "Ahh, he's just angry, he'll come around some day."

The laughing Chrisisall

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Sunday, March 29, 2009 11:27 AM

WAKEUPSOON

I'm gonna start this post by saying that I am a Roman Catholic, && I do believe in God.

Now to your point, I don't mind his anti-religious/anti-god remarks. In fact, I don't even see them as that. Everyone loses faith at some point, and Mal's reason for losing his faith was a very good one. But I don't think he ever stopped believing, as I recall he told Book "You're welcome on my boat, God ain't." For him to actually say that God isn't welcome implies that he believes He is real, he just doesn't trust Him. But even if that's not what he meant, I still wouldn't react negatively to his remarks. Just because I believe there is a God, I wouldn't force, or even try to persuade, other people that there is one. If you have thought about it, and still don't believe, then I have no problem with you. However, if you have been prejudice against religious people, or have just left the idea of God before contemplating it properly, then I wouldn't trust your judgement on anything even distantly related to religion. The same goes for if you just accept God is real without thinking about it yourself, you should make your own judgement.

Well, I seem to have wondered a bit off track there ... but my point was that I don't react negatively to Mal's comments ... its what he believes.

~WuS
This is not my signature, I have to write this every time I post.
Smile && Nod, it makes it seem like you know what's going on.

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Sunday, March 29, 2009 12:18 PM

CYBERSNARK

What's that quote from Riddick? About absolutely believing God exists. . . And hating the bastard?

Mal is entitled to his beliefs. There are a lot of people I don't particularly like (human and otherwise).

Of course, I also believe that God can occasionally turn drill sergeant and put you through five different kinds of Hell because you need to learn something. Change is a painful and traumatic process --evolution can only come through struggle. One can either surrender and wail at God for abandoning them, or haul themselves back to their feet and keep going (or "find someone to carry you").

I think God is quite fond of Mal, even if Mal doesn't like Hir. God is a Browncoat, after all. (Just think, if the Independents hadn't lost in Serenity Valley. . . Where would River and Simon be now?)

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Sunday, March 29, 2009 2:28 PM

TRAVELER

When a person has gone through a lot of personal pain it is not hard to imagine that God would get blamed.

We see Mal kiss a Cross that he has around his neck when he was a soldier during the war. So he is a religious man at this point. Then he endures the loss of hundreds if not thousands of lives in the aftermath of The Battle of Serenity Valley. These deaths were quite a burden on him. God is so easy to blame if you are looking for someone to blame. This does not make Mal evil. Book could see that. Book would have left Mal right at the start if he thought Mal was evil. He saw him as lost. Book did not push God in Mal's face, too much. I did enjoy, Our Mrs. Reynolds, when Book mentions the special hell. That was a hoot.

I believe this is one of the reasons Mal and Inara are at odds. She is a spiritual person. From what I saw in the series and the movie, Inara was Budhist.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Sunday, March 29, 2009 9:56 PM

DANCINGNEKO

Quote:
Originally posted by Schism:
Let's assume your a Browncoat AND a theist.

That means you;

a) Love Captain Mal
and
b) Love God

Sorry, but you're wrong on part b. I believe that there is a power greater than I, but I don't know what it is and I'm fine with that (hence, I'm a thiest...I believe in something).

Quote:

That given the case, how do you react/respond to his anti-religious and anti-god remarks?

Being that I believe that there is a power greater than me, and that Mal doesn't want the Prodestant or Catholic God on his boat, I'm fine with that. It's Mal's choice, not mine. Just like Sheperd Book, I don't need to convert Mal to what I believe in...if Mal decides to become a Dischordian Pastafarian Buddhist I'm fine with that. (Although I'm going to be confused how Dischord, Eris, and the Great Spaghetti Monster decided to join forces and adopt an eastern religion along for the ride...)

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Sunday, March 29, 2009 11:30 PM

RCAT

I don't think Mal ever really lost his faith. Well his faith perhaps but not his belief in God. I think he's angry and has forsaken God (at least earlier on, closer to the end of the war, up to the beginning of the series), believing that god has forsaken him. The classic "How could a just god let this happen...". On some level he feels he being criminal is acceptable (despite his morals) because he feels that god doesn't care about him and in his anger/stubborness tells himself that he doesn't care about god.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 4:32 PM

PLYTLE

How do I love myself with all the stupid stuff I do and say every day? How do you love your kids when they do something terribly wrong? Loving someone doesn't always mean agreeing with someone. Love isn't even usually deserved. Ultimately, I think that's the heart of the Christian faith, that God loved us even when we had done some really rotten stuff to Him. I know I did, and at one time I said all those things Mal said about God and worse. Christianity isn't about being good enough for God. It's about Jesus being good enough.

After I experienced love that I did not deserve, it was a lot easier to give love that someone else didn't deserve.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 4:37 PM

PLYTLE

And I hit submit before I finished the post Marvelous!

Ultimately, I'm sad when I hear anyone make those types of remarks about God. I understand where they are coming from, because I used to be there myself. So I'm not going to get all angry and storm off in a huff. If anything, it makes me want all the more for that person to understand God better.

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