What God Wants - Democratic Underground

catbert836

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Fri Jun-16-06 12:14 PM
Original message

What God Wants

Edited on Fri Jun-16-06 12:21 PM by catbert836

"What God Wants, Pts. 1-3"
By Roger Waters

-Part 1

What God wants God gets; God help us all
What God wants God gets
The kid in the corner looked at the priest
And fingered his pale blue Japanese guitar
The priest said:
God wants goodness
God wants light
God wants mayhem
God wants a clean fight
What God wants God gets

Don't look so surprised
It's only dogma
The alien prophet cried
The beetle and the springbok
Took the Bible from its hook
The monkey in the corner
Wrote the lesson in his book

What God wants God gets; God help us all
God wants peace
God wants war
God wants famine
God wants chain stores
What God wants God gets

God wants sedition
God wants sex
God wants freedom
God wants semtex
What God wants God gets

Don't look so surprised
I'm only joking
The alien comic cried
The jackass and hyena
Took the feather from its hook
The monkey in the corner
Wrote the joke down in his book

What God wants God gets
God wants boarders
God wants crack
God wants rainfall
God wants wetbacks

What God wants God gets
God wants voodoo
God wants shrines
God wants law
God wants organized crime
God wants crusade
God wants jihad
God wants good
God wants bad

What God wants God gets

-Part 2

Do you believe in a better day
Do you have faith in a golden way
If you do then we must come together this day
Come together as one united
Television audience
Brought together by the sound of my voice
United united financially united socially
United spiritually and all possible ways
Through the power of money
And the power of prayers

What God wants God gets; God help us all
God wants dollars
God wants cents
God wants pounds shillings and pence
God wants guilders
God wants Kroner
God wants Swiss francs
God wants French francs
Oui il veut des francs francais
God wants escudos
God wants pesetas
Don't send lira
God don't want small potatoes
God wants small towns
God wants pain
God wants clean up rock campaigns
God wants windows
God wants solutions
God wants TV
God wants contributions

What God wants God gets; God help us all
God wants silver
God wants gold
God wants his secret
Never to be told
God wants gigolos
God wants giraffes
God wants politics
God wants a good laugh

What God wants God gets; God help us all
God wants friendship
God wants fame
God wants credit
God wants blame
God wants poverty
God wants wealth
God wants insurance
God wants to cover himself
What God wants God gets; God help us all

- Part 3

Don't be afraid it's only business
The alien prophet sighed
The vulture and the magpie took
The cash box from its hook
The monkey in the corner wrote
The figures in his book
Crazed the checkout lady's fingers
Flash across the till
The captain posts
The menu for the day

And in banks across the world
Christians Moslems Hindus Jews
And people of every
Race creed colour tint or hue
Get down on their knees and pray
The raccoon and the groundhog
Neatly make up bags of change
But the monkey in the corner
Well he's slowly drifting out of range

Christ it's freezing inside
The veteran cries
The hyenas break cover
And stream through the meadow
And the fog rolls in
Though his bottle of gin
So he picks up a stone
That looks like a bone
And the bullets fly
And the rivers run dry
And the fat girls sigh
And the network anchor persons lie
And the soldier's alone
In the video zone

But the monkey's not watching
He's slipped out to the kitchen
To pile the dishes
And answer the phone

To me, this song perfectly analyzes the main problem of organized religion: No one knows exactly what God wants. Throughout history, there have been people who do claim to know what God wants, and they have, depending on the times, been labeled either prophets or lunatics. Some of these people have taught peace, compassion, and all that good stuff, but there are just as many who misuse their supposed power by advocating war, intolerance and sometimes even genocide, claiming that is what God demands. To me, it really does come back to what God wants. We don't know exactly what it is, so we turn to human messengers, many of whom are well aware they cannot know what God wants, who use their authority to get people's money and respect. More deeply troubling is the fact that we cannot know whether a compassionate teacher like Jesus Christ holds more authority than someone like Joseph Kony, the leader of the murderous Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.

I'm interested in knowing how the religious resolve this problem for themselves, but any other kind of response would be greatly appreciated.

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texastoast

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Fri Jun-16-06 12:16 PM
Response to Original message

1. God wants us to stop being idiots

But God is unwilling to take away our free will.

You know what that means.

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saltpoint

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Fri Jun-16-06 12:25 PM
Response to Original message

2. Although it's a good question, the way you have chosen to pose it is

better.

My hunch is that nobody speaks for "God." Whether there is a god, or several gods, or not, is less the point for me than whether I can distinguish between compassionate people and callous people.

I would rather be in the company of the compassionate than the callous, and find organized religion no more an obstacle most of the time than organized social groups or political affiliations, etc. The individual and his or her behavior trumps all of that for me.

If Jesus of Galilee can inspire Bill Moyers, I figure he's worth a look. If Jim Dobson uses Jesus of Galilee as a prop to brainwash his fundie flock, I'm running in the opposite direction as fast as I can go. But the working variables there are Bill and Jim, not Jesus.

catbert836, this is a deft post. Thanks.

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catbert836

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Fri Jun-16-06 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. I probably should have made that clearer-

I mean, with the whole "messenger" thing. I too believe no one can speak for god, but i wasn't quite sure how to phrase that- put quotation marks around the word or something? I don't know.

It's a good point you make about human behavior. What I was saying is that although Jesus' teachings certainly more compassionate, we can't really give them more authority than someone like Kony's, since both of them claim to speak for God. It all comes down to your preference, whether you like a compassionate God or a vengeful one.

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saltpoint

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Fri Jun-16-06 01:09 PM
Response to Reply #3

7. Yes. The individual as the end of the universe.

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TechBear_Seattle

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Fri Jun-16-06 12:39 PM
Response to Original message

4. This reminds me of a joke...

A priest, a minister and a rabbi are chatting one day, and the subject come up on how they pay their salaries out of contributions taken at services.

The priest says, "I draw a line and toss all the money up in to the air. What lands on the right I take, and what lands on the left goes to God."

"I do something similar," says the minister. "I draw a circle on the ground, and toss all the money up in to the air. What lands inside the circle I take, and what lands outside the circle goes to God."

The rabbi strokes his chin and nods. "I also do something similar. I toss all the money up in to the air, and I figure what God wants, God can take for Himself."

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Silent3

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Fri Jun-16-06 12:45 PM
Response to Original message

5. God wants us all to eat more lutefisk!

God clearly hates mankind.

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ayeshahaqqiqa

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Fri Jun-16-06 01:08 PM
Response to Original message

6. Here's what my husband said to a couple of drunks

who were harrassing some Sihks after a lecture in a hotel:

"How do you know what God wants? How does it feel here?" (husband gestures to his heart.)

"What if it feels right in my heart to kill you?" (drunk)

"If it feels right in your heart to kill me, then I'd be honored," my husband replied. "But do it-take that thought to your heart." (husband notes the expression on the drunk's face). "See, it doesn't feel right. That's how you know."

The drunks left, and the Sihks treated him as a hero.

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SPKrazy

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Fri Jun-16-06 03:04 PM
Response to Original message

8. Maybe People Have Made A Lot Of Mistakes

trying to figure out what God wants

I am pretty sure God doesn't want a lot of things.

Namely he wants me to love my neighbor as myself

if I don't love myself, then I won't do a good job of loving my neighbor

so I start with learning to be okay in my own skin and okay with me

then I can love others with true compassion

until then, I just have to depend on society's rules for conduct, and other's advice.

(BTW, I may never attain being okay in my own skin all of the time)

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NMMNG

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Sat Jun-17-06 12:33 AM
Response to Original message

9. Just my humble opinion*

It seems that when people pronounce that they know what God wants, it is often a proclamation of their own opinion couched in terms of God's desires. Even if they have meditated or prayed on a difficult question/dilemma, God's answer seems to be what the person him/herself would have decided on their own. If they look to the Bible to find their answer, it is easy enough to find a verse to provide support for the decision they actually want to make even if they aren't sure up front where their desire lies. They may just need to read a while to find the right verse to cement their unacknowledged decision. Once that's done they assume God led them to the answer.

There are those who purposely seek to deceive and/or manipulate others with their alleged knowledge of "God's will" (Is anybody surprised that God told GWB to go to war?). Then there are those who honestly believe God speaks to them in one way or another. The difficult part is sorting out which individuals are which.

*This is not meant in any way as flamebait or denigration of anybody's beliefs.

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