I posted this a while ago, but decided to repost it. Around this time of year when the news begins to report on Spring Training, I have to pull out my old VHS video of "Bull Durham" ---one of my all-time favorite films (despite my general disinterest in baseball or any other sport.) I also added a quote I found recently.
Enjoy!
SHELTON, RON, writer, director, producer, composer (1945- )
“I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex... I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.”(character Annie Savoy played by Susan Sarandon, “Bull Durham” 1988)
------------------
"A man once told me to walk with the Lord.
I'd rather walk with the bases loaded."
---Ken Singleton
(as reported in AARP Bulletin, March 2011, p.47)
7 comments:
I wanted to respond to something you said on ask atheist; I responded to you directly on the site, but it never showed up. Any way you said this in response to a person who talked of an atheist seeing Jesus.
"In other parts of the world, such 'encounters’ are invariably with figures from the myths dominant in those cultures. If you take a look here, for instance, you will find the story of an Indian man who believed he regularly saw Krishna"
You then said
"How would that be possible if Christianity were the only true religion?"
It would do you good to read the book 'Autobiography of A Yogi' by Paramanahansa Yogananda. He was a yogi, someone who dedicates their life to God (prayer and meditation) and he saw a vision of Krishna and Jesus walking hand in hand in a field when he was 17. This was before He knew who Jesus was, but he described him "as a dark skinned man with holes in his hands, and a crow of thorns."
Have a good day.
Can you please refer me to the post and comment I made? (You can include a URL in another comment here.) I don't remember it at all, nor what I was responding to ---and haven't posted anything there lately. I am a very busy person and sometimes I can't remember what I did yesterday, so it is possible I wrote that, but I don't recall it. (I sound like someone at a Congressional hearing repeatedly declaring "Not that I recall,"
don't I?)
Once I see the post & my response, I will respond to your comment.
http://www.asktheatheists.com/questions/1283-atheist-who-saw-christ/
To: J.
There's a good reason why I didn't recall making the comment to which you referred. I didn't. It was from Paula Kirby, and alas, I am not her.
I do, however, agree with Paula and others who commented on that page. I can't explain it any better than they did.
I will, however, repeat what I have written on this blog before: Although many claim to believe what they see, it is just as likely that people see what they believe.
Ask anyone who has watched a politician's speech about a serious government issue. If one supports X candidate, s/he might see a reasonable, rational, well-thought-out plan of action. If one doesn't support X candidate, one might see a simplistic, irrational, and unworkable plan. The same is true of religion. You probably read the Bible and find it credible and full of inspiration. I see thousands of contradictions and inanities --like talking animals. To me, it is fiction.
As to the "vision" to which you referred, a man who reportedly saw Jesus in a vision before knowing who Jesus was. With hindsight, one can report anything.
I recently read a book called "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (excellent non-fiction.) I had never heard of Henrietta before choosing the book at my library. I could tell you that I had a dream of a black woman before I knew who Henrietta was. I could then embellish my story by saying that in my vision, she wore a suit and had her hands on her hips ---and, behold, there is Henrietta as I described her on the cover on the book.
The holes in the hands and crown of thorns in your story are the kinds of details added to urban-legend emails to make them sound more believable.
Almost any lawyer will tell you uncollaborated eye-witness accounts are extremely unreliable as evidence. Even collaborated evidence is suspicious. Think of all those girls who claimed to have seen proof of witchcraft in Salem.
Do you imagine any court in this country would accept/believe a defendant's testimony that a vision told him/her to commit a crime? Why would anyone believe such a claim? Wouldn't a person making such a claim be a likely candidate for a psych evaluation?
Have you ever seen a newspaper account of an event of which you have first-hand knowledge? You will almost always find mistakes or misconceptions in them ---and the event probably happened only yesterday, while a reporter was in attendance and with no reason to lie.
So one must ask oneself, is it reasonable? is it probable? if my neighbor told me it happened to him, would I believe it? is there reliable evidence from a reliable source?
I can't answer yes to any of those questions in regard to your story. I put zero credence, trust, confidence, or plausibility in so-called "visions."
If you've got god on one side and baseball on the others....well, I just hope there's a third option.
Gee, C Woods, I wonder why Jesus didn't appear to us instead of to Yogananda? I mean, we need him more, what with us racing flat-out on the road to hottest hell. Then again, maybe he didn't appear to Yogananda either. Maybe Yogananda was schizophrenic, or on drug, or else he just made the whole thing up to boost his guru credibility.
Or maybe, Snow Brush, your just deluded and want to learn the hard way. Yogananda tell a lie? Don't think so.
Post a Comment