Hearing yourself preach...

[_Sam Harris]

I have a friend who sends out daily emails of "scriptural thoughts". Firstly, he's LDS, and I've asked him before whether he uses his Bible in conjunction with his triple. He says he does, but I've seen LDS at church when I was a member who only carried their triples. I thought that strange, but to each his own.

It's just that he writes mini-books on these scriptures, it's like they're sermons. And I often wonder if he really wants a chance to give more talks or preach. I wonder why he doesn't set up a blog of some sort. I find myself asking what's the point? I wonder how many people read his emails, because I sure don't. I tried reading one, and it was all about blind obedience, so I just left it be.

He claims to be so busy, yet has enough time on his hands to read his scriptures regularly each night and then write these mini-treatises...

Maybe he just likes writing, I dunno. But he comes across as preachy to me. And gets very sad when I tell him that, which is usually in response to him telling me I should ask myself what Jesus would do when I find myself in some sort of social justice situation, like the time my aunt told my grandmother she was stupid and senile for reporting that my aunt's minion car-cleaner had broken into the house.

[_Some Schmo]

I have a friend who sends out daily emails of "scriptural thoughts". Firstly, he's LDS, and I've asked him before whether he uses his Bible in conjunction with his triple. He says he does, but I've seen LDS at church when I was a member who only carried their triples. I thought that strange, but to each his own.

It's just that he writes mini-books on these scriptures, it's like they're sermons. And I often wonder if he really wants a chance to give more talks or preach. I wonder why he doesn't set up a blog of some sort. I find myself asking what's the point? I wonder how many people read his emails, because I sure don't. I tried reading one, and it was all about blind obedience, so I just left it be.

He claims to be so busy, yet has enough time on his hands to read his scriptures regularly each night and then write these mini-treatises...

Maybe he just likes writing, I dunno. But he comes across as preachy to me. And gets very sad when I tell him that, which is usually in response to him telling me I should ask myself what Jesus would do when I find myself in some sort of social justice situation, like the time my aunt told my grandmother she was stupid and senile for reporting that my aunt's minion car-cleaner had broken into the house.

The most interesting feature of this story (for me) is that it leads one to contemplate the guy's thoughts on how effective he's being. I mean, do people really think everyone is influenced by god-talk? Whenever I hear anything remotely preachy sounding, I can't help but get distracted by the tone and the message goes right by me. I imagine I'm not alone with this reaction.

It seems to me that this sort of behavior is counter-productive, unless his aim is to piss some people off. Otherwise, he'd only target those for whom god-talk is influential at all.

[_Sam Harris]

I try to leave my god-talk in my head unless someone comes to me with a question...unless it's something that I really feel compelled to blog about (like a blessing I feel like I want to share). Just writing about scriptural thoughts doesn't really appeal to me anymore...