Call me Immune to the salt. Call me the Penny in the Rough.

(This is the last of the writings I'm sharing from my Facebook notes.)

Background to the writing:
There was a video of someone telling the story about the college student taking a class where the professor said, "If God exists, he'll stop this chalk from breaking when it hits the floor!" And the chalk slipped, and due to friction on the prof's clothes and shoe.. the chalk didn't break. There's a little more to the story as well as something talking about the christian faith after. I don't recall the name, but that might enlighten you if you're wondering what brought me to write this one.

Call me Immune to the salt. Call me the Penny in the Rough.

I find myself in the middle of a debate with a believer and an atheist which started from a video. A video that I saw simply as inspirational.

It is becoming quickly apparent to me that I am seeing things from a different angle than is expected of me. The expected angle is a bit startling seeing how it walks the path of the crude and undermining.

I feel that I need to establish a few things. The Church. Christianity. (short on that one, I promise) Grains of Salt and the Ostrich.

Firstly, Churches and their use in the common day. Know reading this that I come from a christian background so my terminology springs from it, replace Church with the name that applies to anything similar. They have two great uses. The first is the obvious.. to learn. To learn about your beliefs. You'll learn about things you agree with and then some that you won't. This is salt. This will be explained shortly. The second is to commune with others. Sure, you are saying to yourself, "I don't need to go to a church to meet and greet with others." In part you would be correct, but also in part you would also not be understanding what the church is. It is a group, a community. There are groups for all sorts of interests.. guns, ghosts, perversions, the color yellow, movies... you name it, you got a group for it. People go to these groups not only to LEARN about the topic, but also to be among others that share the same viewpoint. A common ground where one knows that they'll fit in no matter what. Sounds like the reasons to go to a church doesn't it?

Next is Christianity.
It seems that some will look at Christians and then be disgusted about how they (the Christians) will show their belief and then go so far as to say that their way is the right way and all others should "see the light" or see fire and flame. Be disgusted if you choose to be, but realize where they're coming from. They're not called CHRISTians for no reason. CHRIST, that's part of the name and why is it? To a Christian there is Christ, Jesus Christ. Your Savior. (Heaven's James Bond?) To not believe CHRIST to be who he is said to be... is to go against a fundamental of the religion. They believe that without him, you will perish. It's pretty black and white, they want you to share their fate, as opposed to the "fires and flames". What's my point you wonder? Simply that no matter where you go, you will find Christians that will boldly state what they believe and why you should too. It quite simply is part of their religion to do so. It happens. Is this salt to you?

And the real mention, the Salt and the Ostrich.
(No this isn't some crazed children's story I just thought up.)
Salt has many meanings, but the usage here is "with a grain of salt." An easy way to to delve into this is to look at an internet forum. There will be a lot of useful and factual information there, but all the same there will be a lot half-truths and untrue information.. and for some reason an Ostrich. Initially everything needs to be read and taken in "with a grain of salt." Simply because until you see it all, you won't be able to discern the truth from the lies. The Penny from the Salt... and the Ostrich. The Ostrich being that piece of information that has absolutely nothing to do with anything, much like it has nothing to do with what I type here.

This expected path that I was deemed expected to take is filled with salt, the penny, and the Ostrich. The path I take instead has a Penny, and some junk in the corner out of my way... probably the remains of whatever the Ostrich ate.. not sure, don't care. I don't see the "evil religious tactics" that reside within the video because I've taken it with a grain of salt, it doesn't apply beyond a reason to hate. I have no reason to hate, it's a grain of salt. I also don't see the end where it speaks of a man talking about his faith to a crowd. Good for him, I don't care. It is salt to me. What I saw was the message. The message isn't to hate people who are devout in their beliefs (which to the two that know of which I speak.. applies to both the believer and the atheist in the video), nor is it to talk about the one and only way or you shall burn in hell. If these things were the topics, I'd expect them touched on more. What I did see was a message of inspiration, which seems to apply beyond the realm of religion. To me, it said that one should believe (or think) what they believe (or think) regardless of the opposition against them. And that even when things seem dire and out of their favor.. (it) does not rule out the possibility that things will turn out alright. This in the Penny in the Rough.

As one would come to expect if you have read anything I've written before.. I've eluded to one more topic. Religion and everyone's thoughts.
This one is simple. Pick an organized religion. Now take 30 people within that and have them talk about what they believe. I am willing to say that the group will not be 100% on everything. There will be differences, but there will also be commonalities. Organized religions are for the reasons I stated above, but in the end, Religion is a personal thing. What you take from it will be different than what the person you sit next to today will take from it. No one is necessarily wrong either, merely different.

Though I will say this. IF there are differences among men (and women) within an organized religion, then one might infer that it is not a set way of life. If this holds true, then this would mean that there will be grains of salt everywhere.

The question is simple: Which grains of salt will be tossed away, and which will preserve (your food)?

-- Joe