On Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:36:44 -0500, nemesis wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:22:20 -0500, nemesis wrote:
>> > free will?!  Do you live in a palace?  Do you have several women?  Do
>> > you have a PS3, a home theather with 42' HDTV and Dolby Digital?  Do
>> > you kill your boss when you're fed up?  neither do I...
>>
>> I have the things that I need in order to be happy, and I control my
>> own destiny.  That's not about where you live or the stuff you have.  I
>> am free to make my own decisions, and I am also free to live with the
>> consequences of those decisions.
> 
> me too!  My point is that you don't need to go to extremes in order to
> shout: "I am free!"

Um, I'm not, I'm simply saying that if you want to spend time praying for 
someone's soul, pray for the souls of those who appreciate the effort and 
for whom it has meaning.

Assuming the soul does exist, I consider it to be quite presumptuous to 
assume that because I don't believe the same as you do, my soul needs to 
be saved, and that you're the right person to be asking whatever deity 
you believe in for my eternal salvation.  For one thing, that assumes 
that your deity is the one that I would believe in "if I knew better"; 
that in turn presumes to be telling me what I should believe in, and, no 
offense, but you've no idea what's right for me in that department.

Tell you what, you can pray for my soul if you will permit me to do a 
tarot reading to tell us if you're right to do so.  I have honestly found 
tarot to be something useful as a tool for me; however, I would never do 
a reading for someone without their permission (and under most normal 
circumstances, I wouldn't even do so WITH their permission, because I 
personally don't think that's a proper use of the tool).

In other words, I'll trade you a ritual you're comfortable with and I'm 
not for one I'm comfortable with that you're not.  If you are comfortable 
with tarot, then let's find one you're not comfortable with and I'll use 
that instead.

Then you'll have an idea of what it's like to be on the receiving end of 
"spiritual" guidance that is unwelcome and unwanted.  Fair enough?

Jim

Post a reply to this message