My Greatest Sin

[Odalisque]

Quote Originally Posted by trieffiewiles

Quote Originally Posted by Odalisque I've done a few things I shouldn't have done (who hasn't?). But the concept of "sin" seems too Catholic for me to relate to it. Ha, my father isn't even that Polish, but his father was apparently a real asshole, so my father's half-Polish mother raised him as so and accordingly, at least on this side of the Atlantic, Catholic as well. Aside from Denis Leary and a handful of Italian intellectuals, I fail to think of a single person with more utter distaste for Catholicism than my father, which really isn't a problem for me, but I've little use for faith or organized religion in any form at all. While not religious in any sense, 'his' main beef is with Catholicism. Raised fervently to fervently revere, only to one day fervently hate the object of reverence.

I suppose Poles tend to be fanatically Catholic because Poland is in the unfortunate position of being sandwiched between protestant Prussia and orthodox (then atheist, now orthodox again) Russia. Like the Irish and protestant England.

[trieffiewiles]

Quote Originally Posted by Odalisque

Quote Originally Posted by trieffiewiles Quote Originally Posted by Odalisque I've done a few things I shouldn't have done (who hasn't?). But the concept of "sin" seems too Catholic for me to relate to it. Ha, my father isn't even that Polish, but his father was apparently a real asshole, so my father's half-Polish mother raised him as so and accordingly, at least on this side of the Atlantic, Catholic as well. Aside from Denis Leary and a handful of Italian intellectuals, I fail to think of a single person with more utter distaste for Catholicism than my father, which really isn't a problem for me, but I've little use for faith or organized religion in any form at all. While not religious in any sense, 'his' main beef is with Catholicism. Raised fervently to fervently revere, only to one day fervently hate the object of reverence. I suppose Poles tend to be fanatically Catholic because Poland is in the unfortunate position of being sandwiched between protestant Prussia and orthodox (then atheist, now orthodox again) Russia. Like the Irish and protestant England.

Should I assume from the last bit that you live somewhere in the Isles. Yes, besides those of Bosnian or Polish background, I've never met an actual Slavic Slav over here- that is, one born in their ancestral land, that wasn't one variety of Eastern orthodox or another. Them and all the baptists and methodists around here cannot see eye to eye on anything it seems.

I am not as antagonistic toward religion as I was in say- high school, at that point my antagonism was more of a deep hatred. Listening to all the bickering between different sects of the same religion, I've often wondered about things. Such as, if Christ were real, and they somehow found his DNA and managed to clone him, or god forbid, if what everyone else I know believes is true, and he actually flew down from the sky. In this case, which of the little christ-cliques would Christ himself endorse? Or would he look around in utter disgust at what his idea, if it was his to begin with, had turned into, and- hopping back onto his condor or whatever the hell he rode down on, takes back off into the clouds all the while saying, "You know what, forget the rapture, you all get to die."

I'd love to see the looks on their faces if such an event took place. Of course, one has to take into account; since its well-established that Christ would have been a Semite living in what is now the Arabian Peninsula, by all accounts, spoke Aramaic, which is what gave rise to Arabic- that he was basically ethically Arab. In which case, none of the local christians here in Iowa would actually like Jesus, in fact they'd probably try to re-crucify him on a burning cross.

Unless the Mexican demographic swept in and saved him, they'd love an olive-skinned motivational speaker with the same name as many of their children.

[trieffiewiles]

I am sick to hell of philosophical musings. So here are some more of my many mortal sins.

I've wantonly and repeatedly strayed under the 15% mark while writing tips at restaurants.

I've knowingly failed to come to complete stops at intersections while operating a vehicle for which I'd payed 15% too much on insurance by not switching to Geico.

On my 15th birthday I lied to a cashier about my age and bought a game intented for an audience a full two years older than myself at the time.

I can count around 15 separate occasions wherein I operated a motor vehicle while not wearing pants.

Truly the number 15 is just as diabolical as 666, 23, or 13. Especially if a percentage is involved.

[Russell Nash]

Quote Originally Posted by trieffiewiles

In which case, none of the local christians here in Iowa would actually like Jesus, in fact they'd probably try to re-crucify him on a burning cross.

In fact, allow me to add, if most Christians alive today, were teleported back in time, to Jesus' times, would they have choose Barabbas or Jesus? According to the Bible, the mob chose Barabbas; similarly, a similar mob, a Christian mob, but of today, would choose the same Barabbas. There is no Christian that follows the precepts of Christianity. They just join together because life without meaning is so unbearable that any lie is better than the truth.

Quote Originally Posted by trieffiewiles

Truly the number 15 is just as diabolical as 666.

Number of the Beast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Number_of_the_Beast

"In May 2005, it was reported that scholars at Oxford University using advanced imaging techniques had been able to read previously illegible portions of the earliest known record of the Book of Revelation (a 1,700 year old papyrus), dating one century after Irenaeus. The fragment gives the Number of the Beast as 616, rather than the majority text 666."

In any case, I cannot understand how could any number: 666, 616, or any other, be diabolical in any sense.

[Steve Dekorte]

I believed I was someone.

[Odalisque]

Quote Originally Posted by trieffiewiles

Should I assume from the last bit that you live somewhere in the Isles.

I live in England... More specifically, London... More specifically yet, in London E11, which is to say Leytonstone (birthplace of Alfred Hitchcock).

[gveranon]

This is, I swear, the worst thing I've ever done.

Late one evening several years ago I was in a grocery store, wheeling my cart past lane after lane, all of which had long lines of customers waiting. Suddenly, at the end of the row, I spied a lane with only two customers, a couple of guys in their early twenties, who were standing together and purchasing only one item. I quickly got in line behind them, relieved that I wouldn't have to wait long.

Then I heard the check-out clerk ask, "Did you find everything you were looking for?" Don't you hate it when the clerk says that to someone in front of you? I always feel like barking "It's too late now." One of the guys said, "Well . . . Do you sell playing cards?" The clerk didn't know. She turned around and yelled to someone behind her. The question bounced around the room from clerk to clerk. Finally someone called out, "Aisle 12."

One of the guys took off in a dead run, just a full-on sprint toward Aisle 12. Well, I thought, if he returns at anything like that pace, it won't be long at all. Time passed. More time passed. Was Mr. Wind-Sprint having trouble finding the cards? Was he lying broken and bloodied on the floor after a horrific collision with a cart or another customer? Meanwhile, several other shoppers got in line behind me. The clerk was carefully avoiding eye contact with anyone. Finally she said to Mr. Wind-Sprint's friend, "I need to wait on other customers. Let me ring up your item, and when your friend gets back you can purchase the cards separately." He agreed to this and purchased his item, a can of pineapple juice.

Despite the fact that his transaction was complete, he did not move. He was standing where I needed to be. As the clerk began scanning my items, I noticed that Mr. Wind-Sprint had returned, sized up the situation, and gone to the back of the line (where he belonged). When it came time for me to pay, the oaf in front of me grudgingly moved an inch or two, or maybe it was three, so I just barely had room to swipe my card. Then I sque-e-ezed past him and took the sacks that the clerk had pushed to the end of the counter.

When I got home, I discovered that one of the sacks had only one item in it -- a can of pineapple juice.

My first, exasperated thought was that I should return the juice. My second thought was No, I am NOT going to return the juice. I am NOT going to waste my time driving back to the store to return a cheap can of juice. I did NOT create that situation. The fatuous immobility of the oaf in front of me, combined with the clerk's mistake in mixing up our bags, created that situation.

Then I began to imagine the scene that must have occurred when the cretin realized he was missing his juice. "Oh no, my ju-u-i-i-ce." His friend, Mr. Wind-Sprint, was having to wait at the end of a long line to buy the cards, and now they had lost the juice! Did Mr. Wind-Sprint make another dash into the aisles to get a second can of juice? Did they have to pay for the second can themselves? Did the store agree to pay for the second can (in which case a manager probably had to get involved with authorization and paperwork)? Did they just say, "#### it," and leave without juice, despite having paid for it in time, aggravation, and money? I began to enjoy imagining this scene.

I'm not a big fan of pineapple juice, but it wasn't half bad.

[njhorror]

Quote Originally Posted by hopfrog

My greatest sin is that I wasted so much of my youth on stupid things when I could have been really learning the craft of writing weird fiction when I was a teenager, like Ramsey Campbell did. I'm trying to catch-up now by writing book after book, but, oy, talk about a wasted youth!

I can relate to that. If I would have applied myself to anything constructive I'd probably be a much happier and secure individual today.

That said, I yam what's I yam and that's alls what's I yam, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

Toot toot.

[ToALonelyPeace]

I don't understand this 'sin' concept in a Christian sense, but if this is a confessional thread I got a lump in my throat.

It seems I have an 'original' sin (born within me) or an idiopathy that makes me do this every year or two years: I abandon everything. No matter how hard I work for something, no matter what the consequences are-I risk all to abandon it. The thing is...people still let me off even if the negligence is serious. I would rather they fail me, fire me, blame me...but they don't do anything except wholly accepting the disappointment that I am.

One day my luck will run out, what will it be then? What about people who let me off? Are they doing it out of love and pity, or mere laziness? I am forever tormented because the expected hammer isn't falling down my head...

I have a carnal aversion to engaging in romantic relationships, even those I allegedly want to be in.
Thus, I've broken many a heart without malicious intention.