Thoughts on religious ignorance

I've been hearing it since college (shows how isolated I am) that Christians are uneducated/ignorant. Well, when I first heard/read that, I was understandably off-put. Ironically, I was ignorant of that stereotype. In the last couple years of living in the Bible Belt, however, I have come to realize how true that is... just not in entirety, rather, in general areas. Like certain parts of Oklahoma City having decently educated Christians while the WBC in Topeka, KA, is notorious for their ignorance on literally anything. So, while the saying is true that "there are extremists in every religion", we should consider not just extremists in doctrines and how some interpret those doctrines, but also extremist in intellect or ignorance.
If one were to ask me how smart I think of myself, I'll be honest on how I see my own mind: "Not as smart as some, nor as dumb as some, I'm as smart as I am, and I'm okay with it." Some have looked at me very weirdly for having flunked the 4th grade once (my brother still pokes jokes about that one), nearly flunking high school, and and doing so in college twice. My excuse? I'm not fit for academic requirements and felt pushed to learn what didn't interest me. What interest me? Foreign mythologies (which has confused my mother deeply at times, though some are uniquely connected to Christianity and Judaism in different ways), foreign languages (not the typical ones likes French and Spanish, but Latin, Norwegian, Gaelic, Russian, and more ancient ones likes Babylonian, Sumerian, and ancient dialects of modern languages), and different types of puzzles. Oh, yes, and one thing that definitely confuses people- different cultural taboos. So, yeah, I simply know things others don't while people know things I don't. And I'm okay with that.
Now, as for this Age of "Enlightenment", I've noticed something about using "science" as a way of knowing things, at least, in the way "enlightened" people (like atheists and skeptics) use, something that late Christian apologist/author had noticed as well- science has become less about knowledge and more about control. At times, that control seems to also mean degrading people who don't see things their own way. I would know, one of my bosses at my current job, Wal-Mart in Alva, constantly talks to me as a child, degrading me in literally every way he can think of. He's a preacher's son who says he's Christian, yet his attitude, etc., proves otherwise, and he does constantly say he knows more than I do, yet none of what he knows seems to be related to work knowledge of Wal-Mart ("Dude, I've been around Wal-Mart all my life, I know how things are run!") Yeah, well, I suppose I should know how to take complete care of rigs since my father was a big rig driver- oh, wait, sorry, he believed he was only to drive them, not take care of them, so I guess that doesn't matter. Not a single person at W*M (as I've taken to calling it on facebook) believes he's worthy of being a leader, let alone an unworthy boss.
Now, there is something I'll agree with atheists about, there are some churches that show some stereotypes and cliches to be true. Unfortunately.
Aside from Westboro Baptist Church, there's also a website called jesus-is-savior.com that takes extremist literalism (in other words, not recognizing symbolism and poetry for what they are and not reading entire parts, just reading the convenient parts) and degrades many who see/do things differently than the curator does.
Example, while it's true that rock 'n roll does have some dark roots and so many heavy metal bands are actual devil worshippers (and there are some that use front as a getup, they really don't, they satirize the idea, but the religious elite doesn't recognize the joke and condemn them vehemently), there are Christian rock/metal bands that are full-out Christ-followers. Yet the curator loathes them and condemns them for many reason. One constant thread of condemnation is that they're rock bands. Period. I guess he never heard of iamsecond.com, started by former lead Korn guitarist Brian Welch, who says "God and Jesus is first, I am second.", and Brian lets his complete faith be known throughout his music, without shame nor reserve. And also reveals how dark his life had been through some of the lyrics (like in his song "Chemicals", there's a line that goes "You're the kisser and the killer" in reference to the drugs he used to take). And that's just one thing the guy condemns throughout the entire website. He literally tackles every issue. Sad thing is there's no "contact" button anywhere so anyone can reveal the truth about what he's saying.
Nor is that the only website that reveals why people see Christians as ignorant/stupid.
The next is called objectiveministries.org The onyl good thing is that there's not been a single update in two years this coming September. Why's that good? Just go to the Mall Mission to find out why. Certain stores are condemned as evil/Satanic. Cinnabon for sounding like "Sin Upon", Hot Topic for promoting gay lifestyles and "any guesses as to why they have 'hot' in their name?" Uh, yeah, they go with whatever is "hot" (slang for current topic of social thought), not for temperature of Sheol. J.C.Penny's for being reminescent of Jesus Christ and having- WHOA, WAIT A MINUTE! Is it just me or is that misspelled? Oh, yeah, j.c.pennEy's is named after the founder of the store, James Cash Penney. The site claims that "Penny" is how little value the store sees in Jesus, and claims that even Judas valued him at 30 pieces of silver. Okay, that claim just showed a couple pieces of historical/Biblical ignorance. Not ignorance coming from the Bible, but ignorance of certain details within the Bible. For one, which Judas? In His circle of twelve disciples, there TWO men named Judas (since I'm an originalist, I'd rather call them as their original name, Iuda), that's why some called him Judas Iscariot, or literally, Iuda of Kerioth-Hezron, now a haunt of jackals. And plus, he didn't value Jesus at 30 pieces of silver. Maybe he just went for a random piece of fortune, maybe he wanted a grand amount. Whatever he wanted, he was chosen by the Pharisees to bring in who they saw as a blasphemer (it all started when he told a paralyzed man that HE forgave him, not what everyone else had normally said, "May the Father forgive you") and gave him one. single. day's wage as an offer to bring Jesus in. So, I really don't know, maybe Iuda saw no value in him and was only in it for whatever price he had coming to him, but he went with it without complaint (likely). So, just with that one store, that church showed quite a bit of ignorance in their own sacred text and national history. They also condemn Sears for the name sounds like "seers", what happens to the flesh in Sheol.
I guess some churches have too much time on their hands to take down anyone who thinks any way different than them. Then again, they have "ways" of being different and "witnessing" to regular shoppers. And many of those ways borderline on total incredulity. Read it and find out. I suppose it's like that Blue Stahli song says, "force-feeding, misleading." And all that's just for the Mall. They also have a section exclusively for video games, and they're just intensely ridiculous. All (save one) M-rated games are rated 0 crosses (MGS2:SoL is given 1) out of 5. Things is, they don't play them, they admit it, they say the games aren't allowed to be played on their university campus, so they go by second-hand information. That's like making a review on a possibly great game and saying it's terrible because someone else said so while not trying it for yourself. All games they deem as Christian (save one) got 5 crosses (including Minecraft, which looks like a 3D, 8-pixel version of the Sims to me, but what do I know? It's not my thing, so I won't play it), with the exception getting 4.
It's become a sad state of mind that we've become. Our Lord was known for His unqiue creativity in storytelling (and those stories of His were rather dark- virgins being left behind, a man going to Hell for ignoring a beggar's plea for any water, then begging himself for a single drop of water, weeds choking the life out of seeds, etc.), and partying with the... worst of them (the Pharisees saw Him as a glutton), and here we are worried about what our brethren would think of us. Are they judging you? Would they listen to your reasons? If so and if not, then that's not where you should be.
Personally, I'd read the Bible not only through a guideline lens, but also for psychology, prophecy, mystery, suspense, maybe even a horror story or two. When I think about it, it's not only full of guidelines for how to live an interesting life, even if you don't believe in it, then it's full of literally every single type of literature and genre there is. Seriously.

Volunteering for your life

I'll admit something no shame. As a human being... I was born with tear ducts. Big whoop. Actually, yeah, it is. It comes in use with emotions, something of a taboo word for us guys and men (never understood why). Whenever I watch the trailer for The Hunger Games (the trailer convinced me to check the book out, glad I did), right when Katniss volunteers for her sister, it's not just that she cries it out... it's that she's giving up the possibility of living after one round of an extremely corrupt and manipulative, hyperviolent game. She volunteers to take the place of her own sister to ensure that Primrose will live another year. The reason it gives me chills every single time is because, I'm convinced of this, of the culture I live in.
What do I mean by that? Everyone knows how to speak, but not everyone knows all them fancy edumucated words (the ones that are at least 3 syllables- like that one I just used). This society we live in no longer is based on the Biblical tenets of our Founding Fathers, it now has a foundation of what's called hedonism: "All for me and none else." We're literally taught in nearly every way of everyday life to be selfish. Live longer at the expense of others. Make money for yourself and do what you can to forsake others. Or if you have to take care of others, try to look out for yourself first and take care of "problems" later. I've had issues with the basic tenets of this society for such a long time, that I was glad to find a trailer of a movie where someone selflessly volunteered to take the place of someone else for the possibility of death.
In fact, Katniss volunteering seems to have a Messianic resonation in her character. She loves her sister deeply. Immensely. She encourages her sister to keep living on. When the dreaded Hunger Games celebration chooses her (randomly) to be the tribute for District 12, her sister immediately takes her place. That, in itself, is rebellion in the eyes of the government of Panem. Still, they got someone. Only who they've got turns out to be someone who's a new level rebellion and will eventually become the symbol of a new type of rebellion. Sound familiar?
When most think of Jesus, they think of peace-talks, a couple pep rallies, and hardly anything else beyond his death. Still, people chose him to be the advocate replacement for a well-known criminal named Barnabas. The people chose the tribute, yet he went along with it anyway, to take the place of all others. The Hunger Ga- I mean crucifixion was a suffocatingly deadly torture/death sentence that, along with its notoriety was also called the Shameful Death because you were elvated and (this part is NEVER revealed in all the paintings nor movies) naked. Total humiliation, pain, and shame. Simply seeing it was a way to keep rebellion under control. Yet it still wasn't easy. People had their own ideas of rebellion. Different styles, different angles. Even the patriot Judas of Kerioth (you know him as Iscariot) had a few ideas of how to committ illegal rebellion against this blasphemous Roman Empire, yet didn't act upon it. Jesus had what one could call a polar opposite style- he was open about what he would do, yet he never had a pep rally to strike the government down. It was more gradual. Very subtle. And, as leader of a whole new kind of rebellion that was unheard of in literally every way at the time, he had t be forced under control. The people chose crucifixion, something that the emperor was opposed of doing in the first place (wanted the second opinion of the Egyption Pharoah Herod, successor of Jesus' first attemptive murderer when he was a young child), and the Pharisees forced the Romans' hand to do it. I've heard churches say "If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would die for you many times." Like once wasn't enough? Maybe it's because I'm terrible at math, but to claim that Jesus would die OVER and OVER and OVER makes no sense when he only had to do it once.
He volunteered ONCE for you in all of history. That Hunger Games record is still not erased from history. Why should his volunteering for you ever be forgotten? Whether you're a guy or not, you're his sister. He's Katniss. He's volunteering for your place as tribute. And, in this "game", he plans on winning for you all the way using all the resources available. You going to be his sponsor for him being your tribute? Or bet on some miscellaneous legend like Gilgamesh (who went for treasure, personal gain) or Thor (becoming a god like his father and beating his brother, Loki)?