Saturday, September 8, 2012

witnessing

.
This morning, a friend passed along in email a small article about a Catholic bishop in England who is calling on the faithful to take a quiet moment or two at work to stop and 'witness' for their faith on Fridays. The suggestion comes as Roman Catholics are encouraged to take part in a "Year of Faith."

Lord, I am so glad to be party to a spiritual persuasion that does not call on adherents to badger or convert others. The line between 'witnessing' and being a pest is historically thin-to-nonexistent and, while Buddhists have their own problems in this department, still, on the whole, the very-wise rule of thumb in Buddhism is not to badger and prod people who have enough to do in their lives ... things like do their work when they are at work.

What the hell good is any spiritual persuasion that relies -- however surreptitiously -- on the agreement of others? The phrases "fart in a windstorm" and "piss in a snowbank" spring to mind.
.

2 comments:

  1. Or better yet piss into the wind..............

    ReplyDelete
  2. I once suggested to a sincere Christian who wanted to witness that she give a "testimonial" that is, say how and why her faith gave her strength and comfort. After all she couldn't know what another person needed or wanted but she could speak of her own experience.

    ReplyDelete