Did I Fall; or Was I Pushed?
Perusing through a local used book store (that until last week I didn't know existed) with my friend Carlos, we were immediately assaulted by the great deals on very new, well-recognized releases. I mean, we're talkin' 2 bucks here. Most notable was the last few installments of the 'Left Behind' series. Carlos held up a copy and gaped "Two bucks!"

A feeling of immediate revulsion overcame me as I marvelled at how anyone, even a rational Christian, could ever buy that nonsense (even if it was cheap nonsense. After pausing to ponder, I exclaimed "Y'know, those Fundies have a wonderful way to subliminate their fears about the apocalypse:" (of course, everyone has those fears to some degree, secular or religious) "instead of being a source of enormous dread and the extinction of mankind, they look at the end of the world and think, 'wow, Jesus will come back and everything will be paradise,'" This, obviously, in stark contrast the rational minded folk who think that this is pure bollocks and that the apocalypse is something to be avoided instead of hastened. Hell, they even call it the 'Second Coming' so as to spin the negative connotations of 'extinction' and 'global death.'

At this moment, a portly fellow browsing the used CDs walks over and says to both of us: "I just can't wait for the apocalypse so all of those Christians will disappear and leave us alone." I remember saying something to the effect of 'Well put,' belted out a chuckle and moved on. But, this leads me to a bigger revelation (with a small 'r'): if self-sacrifice is such a key tennet to their eschatology, they should preempt (an action popular with Fundies these days) and just off themselves en mass. They'll get what they want: paradise eternal in the WalMart-in-the-sky; and we'll get what we want: peace and fucking quiet!  ¶ 7/31/2006 08:15:00 AM