The Church of the Open Door

Before I launch into a rant against organized religion, let me first stay true to the name of my blog.

On my way down to visit a house I once lived in as a child, I passed a church called the "Church of the Open Door".

There's one of these franchises up here in Dover, PA and it had struck me back then that I had no luck in finding an open door on the place. It being 7PM on a Tuesday I didn't consider it blog-worthy.

But this past week, I passed another one of these establishments near Owings Mills, Maryland and the parking lot was damn near full. Still, no open door. Even taking the time to drive around the building, no open door anywhere!

What gives here?

On the way home I started thinking about the Church, and organized religion, and cults, and what Chri$tianity means to me based on some telling experiences I have had of late.

Yes, I spelled it with a dollar sign on purpose because it has become clear to me that organized religion, at least Chri$tianity, has become more of a business than I am willing to accept.

At my last actual attendance at Church, our Pa$tor told us that we should make sure and put our names on the little envelopes we are supposed to be using so that "credit will be given to the proper person"

Hmmm....

Are we to believe that God uses Microsoft Excel to track our donations to His cause? How does the list of who gave how much get there to Him or does he have someone 'down here' taking care of that for Him?

Know what? I'm gonna stop using a capital letter to refer to God (except as a proper name of course) from now on. He made us in his own image, he puts his pants on one leg at a time. I doubt he cares about the capital "H" so screw it. Too much work to hit the shift button all the time.

I and a buddy of mine started a Contemporary Chri$tian music group about a year or so ago, and as a musician I have never been treated so poorly as I have by these so called 'men of the cloth'. I have been discriminated against because of my age, we have been cancelled with no notice and these people do not return emails or phone calls. I have been treated better by owners of roadhouses, bars and biker clubs than Pa$tors and Mini$ters.

I could go on about literal interpretations of the Bible and how it got the part about Jesus' followers being sheep., etc. etc. but I'm just gonna say that Faith is a dish best served in silence and I ain't gonna recruit people to believe what I believe especially when it's just a big ol' hairy business anyhow.

I plan to never set foot in a Church again.

Isn't ice 32 degrees?

I see this little scrolling sign at work every day - truth in advertising? How can the beverage be 'ice-cold' at 37 degrees Fahrenheit when ice, by its very nature, must be at 32 degrees or below?

Truth be told, if the produce were delivered as advertised, it may present as a block of ice (unless there are impurities which raise the freezing point, like salt) which most customers might find objectionable)