I ride the train to and from work every morning. It's a pretty good deal, as my job pays for it, I don't have to pay for parking at the train station, and I save a lot on gas. Plus, it gives me time to get caught up on some reading, or PSP or DS playing. However, I was reminded tonight of why I shouldn't ride it after business hours.
I met up with a friend after work tonight at an Irish pub that's next to a train stop. We had a couple of Guinesses and chatted, and then around 7:45, I went down to the train stop and sat down. According to the schedule, I had about five minutes. It was a fun five minutes too.
I sat down next to some random dude. Here's how the conversation went:
Him -- 'You know when the next red line is comin'?'
Me -- 'In about five minutes.'
Him -- 'Great, thanks. It's my lucky day. Praise the Lord.'
(long pause)
Him -- 'Praise Jesus.'
(long pause)
Him -- 'Hallelujah.'
(long pause)
Him -- 'So, my friend, are you a Christian?'
Me -- (long pause)
Him -- 'Ahhh, so you're not.'
Me -- 'Well, I have nothing against Christians. I just try to live by the golden rule.'
Him -- 'Yeah? And what rule is that?'
Me -- 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'
Him -- 'EXACTLY. Sounds kinda Christian, doesn't it?'
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Me -- 'Maybe.'
Him -- 'Yeah. So, do you believe in God?'
Me -- 'Uhhh ... I don't know. He might be out there, or he might not be. I don't know either way, but I'm okay with not knowing.'
Him -- 'Oh, okay. That's cool.'
(LONNNNNNG PAUSE)
Him -- 'I just said a prayer for you, for Jesus to find you and show you the way toward enlightenment.'
Me -- 'Well, that was nice of you.'
Seriously, what else do you say there?!?
At night, the Dallas train is either full of homeless people, lunatics, or gangsta-wannabe high school students who try to steal my PSP. And yes, I've stopped playing my PSP on the train after 6:00.
So, I've decided that the next time I get on the train, I'm gonna start saying, 'Praise Darwin!' or 'Praise the nothingness!' until people scatter out of my way.
At least I know I'll get a seat to myself.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
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4 comments:
I'm gonna miss that train.
I'll say a prayer for you, NIN.
I'm not worried about Bling.
Eternal Damnation, FTW!
I'm reading the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins right now. I'm not an athiest, but I think the book is fantastic.
Dawkins argues (effectively I think) that you cannot derive your morality from scripture unless you're willing to take the entire Bible literally. Why? Because if you pick and choose what in the Bible God meant us to follow and what he didn't, you're using some non-biblical standard to decide what is right and what is wrong. If you take the Bible literally as the word of God, then you believe we should execute people who work on Sundays or don't obey their parents (gotta love Leviticus).
Blaise Pascal said "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." I believe that.
I can't say I'm a Christian, because that would require proof that God exists (and not in the 'I asked for a sign and then I saw a shooting star' kind of proof either). However, I also can't say I'm an athiest, because that would require proof that God does not exist.
I guess that makes me a doubter. Maybe I should start my own religion?
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