this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
1066 points (99.1% liked)
Funny
9489 readers
2115 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Lol, your comment reminded me of when I got to confirmation age and I was the only one in my class who chose to not get confirmated. The priest would come to me in class a few times to convince me to join in on Bible studies and I asked him several questions that pissed him off enough to leave me alone. One of them was: do you believe in Satan?
And he said no.
And I said: do you believe in Jesus?
And he said yes.
"How can you believe in one and not the other when they are part of the same religion?"
Only said in a 13 year old way of speaking so probably a lot more clunky. Anyway, I kept pushing him to admit that if he believes in the good he also must believe in the evil because they belong together and one without the other is just lying to yourself and making yourself vulnerable to evil - but again, in a 13 year old clunky way of saying it.
He got mad and never spoke a word to me again.
I still believe in this sentiment even though I'm not religious. I am painfully aware of the evil inside of me and how I must be observant and aware of how I affect the world and how the world affects me. If I turn a blind eye to evil, I will open myself up to it. That is how people end up in cults and I know I have a high chance of becoming one of those, so there's a lot of talks in the mirror and reflections on my own behavior.
13 year old me was nowhere close to understanding the complexities of the conversation I was trying to have with the priest back then, I just wanted him to not be a hypocrite and admit that if he believes in God he also must believe in the devil even if he disagrees with his teachings. You cannot be good if you ignore evil.
That went deep, quickly. I absolutely agree we all have good and bad, black and white or whatever you call it tendencies inside. Whenever we ignore our dark part, it acts unseen, unchecked.
By accepting that we're just human, just animals, we have desires, we can at least - I don't really have good words for this - at least feel and take care in the harm we can't or don't want to avoid to do.
Yeah sorry about my armchair philosophizing on this lovely Sunday evening or morning depending on where in the world you are right now.
I think the most frustrating thing about attempting to live by this balanced philosophy is that nothing is ever balanced for long. As a perfectionist, this is probably gonna be the most challenging lesson in my life, personally, but at the same time, it does keep life interesting.