anyway

according to an article
published by time magazine
our generation is skeptical
in a healthy way
of marriage

we don't believe in marriage
we have no faith in it
because we haven't seen evidence
that marriages work

we haven't seen a successful
marriage firsthand
so we have no reason to believe
they work

such is life post divorce generation

we are also skeptical of other things:
jobs
the government
growing up

for this reason: we live
with our parents longer than
our parents lived with their parents
and so on and so forth

we are a deliberate generation:
we like to take time and assess and consider
all possible outcomes

we try on different identities:
doctor
psychologist
laborer
restaurant worker

and it's still unlikely that
we'll commit to a single one

we have no faith in corporations or
big-businesses and
they have no faith in us
there is a breach of loyalty between
the two of us
we work for peanuts and then move on to
the next job like
capitalist nomads
and every door we knock at
is sure to handout the same relative
piddly handful of peanuts
we are neither invited to come in and chat
nor are we obligated to stay

we float around indecisively
waiting for the older generations to die
so we can have their jobs
which sounds cruel
but that's really just the way it goes

....

i decided to start reading the new testament
beginning with matthew and then
once i'm done with revelations
reading the old testament
once i'm done with that i plan on
looking at the gnostic scriptures and the apocrypha
in addition to some outside research on
each book or author of the books of the bible

i'm doing this because i want a more comprehensive
doctrine-based understanding of my religion
which i feel is the only way to go about it

i dislike churches these days and i don't trust
them: they are money-hungry institutions who
could give a goddam about my soul

i do have faith in my beliefs and i believe that
there is hope yet for christians
but it will take a lot of work

i just hate that so many christians rely on preachers and priests
and televangelists and the like
who seem more concerned with product sales (their own books and merchandise which they sell as supplementary to the bible or required for anyone wanting to feel closer to the truth though they still sell this stuff for profit) than anything
to tell them what being christian is all about
if christians simply read the bible
actually set down with the text
i don't believe there would be so much confusion
granted: there have been a lot of selfish edits and revisions to
the bible over the years and it's sometimes hard to know
what's been altered to suit someone or some institution's political interests
but there is research out there--extensive studies by biblical scholars--to
help anyone seeking to find
the essential message
it's up to them--these christians--however to not be lazy and swallow whole
what's being tossed at them every sunday and instead do the research themselves
which is what i believe god would want
jesus talked in parables
so that those who wanted to know
would have to do some work to find out what
he was talking about
excluding others who simply weren't interested in
decoding the mysteries of the kingdom
i believe it takes work to know the truth
and i'm not defending the actions of those who've made additions and changed the text
for their own benefit
but i think it's important for anyone serious about their religion
to sort of decipher and pick through the fluff in an attempt
at getting closer to the intended message
i believe it requires work: that salvation maybe is earned
a reward
but that the essential doctrine is accessible to anyone

anyway...