Hell might not be eternal

[Nobody]

I gained enormous insight into the why of people living in faith at a mini-market.
No kidding. I'd forgotten my debit card was on the dresser after laundry day, and without realizing it rolled up to the pumps on fumes. I had to pay with the cash in my pocket so I could get back the couple of miles and retrieve my card, so leaving was not an option until I had something in the tank.
I get in the store and there are two people ahead of me standing at the counter waiting their turn, as the one and only attendant working was in the midst of serving a man who was ultimately to buy $125.00 worth of Power Ball Lottery Tickets! Using one's!

The things that ran through my mind as I stood there as number 3.
What if I took the shot and did run out of gas? I'm healthy, I could walk home, get the spare gas can, walk to this mini-market station, the closest gas in the area to my house, and walk back to the truck.
Certainly by then Lottery optimist would be served and gone and I could buy 5 gallons and be on my way after I walked back to my car.
But that would give me a lot of headache I didn't need if I didn't find patience and just wait it out in an air conditioned store.

So, I did.
And standing there I had that moment. That opportunity to realize what faith really looks like.
I studied this guy at the lottery side of the counter. Modest shoes, clean, looked nearly new. Nice pants, casual, no holes, looked clean. Fresh tee shirt that looked fresh out of the package, because there was a fold across the back that I could see that appeared as if moments before he arrived he'd unfolded it out of the package and threw it on. Clean shaven, good looking profile, clean long hair that still bore a slight scent of herbal essence shampoo, which wafted across the short distance between us and smelled quite familiar from when I use to use the brand many years ago.

I started to wonder. How's a guy with a solid $125.00 in his pocket think to blow it all on little sheets of paper with random series of numbers the machine picked out, hoping to win what was then the largest pot in the history of the game?
He reminded me of that bumper sticker: Lottery is a tax on people who fail at math.

And how, if you're going to spend that kind of cash, do you happen to do so with 125 one dollar bills?

But there he stood. Handing over his hard earned, however he came about it. Hoping when the drawing happened that night he'd win huge and never have to work again.

That's quite like the god proposition I think. Work, live, make mistakes, beg forgiveness, suffer, pray for relief, fail to get it, make excuses for why not, keep the faith. Give to the collection plate because god's got overhead, watch your step so as not to break too many rules, hope god appreciates a good try after you've dunked or sprinkled your carnal nature away being baptized into a tradition that condemns carnality, while avowing there's a carnal eternal presence stalking the world that wants to draw you back in. Live a long time, give to charity when you can, and on your death bed hope that something has mercy so that in the end you'll live without fear, worry, want, for eternity.

Just believe it.
It's there.
No, you can't see it but like unto that Power Ball lottery, the money is waiting if you've got the right numbers.And if you don't , oh well maybe next time.
Only with most religious traditions there is a next time, but that depends on how well you did this time. And that decision will afford you either a new life on earth as something or someone else. Or in a fiery pit where you'll reunite with all the best people.

I find Islam's afterlife myth fascinating, speaking of fables.
Strict ultra-right wingers are forbidden all sorts of earthly pleasures while a practicing Muslim. Alcohol, pork, women, etc... But, if they are allowed into paradise, it's all good and it's all allowed. Women, any kind of food, alcohol, etc...

Promise!

The one thing about that is, Muhammad wasn't even sure he'd see paradise.
But the Koran says, the one guarantee that gets you there is martyrdom!
Goes a long way to explain exploding faithful landing in meaty pieces, no?

Now that's faith!
With a question.
Where do the 72 virgins come from?

That's always been my take on it as well. Don't complain about all the shit you have to put up with in your life, because when you're dead (and conveniently can't report back) you'll have all the riches that the ruling and priestly elite deny you now and infinitely more. In fact, not only should you be thankful for all that shit, you really should be demanding more, you ungrateful sinner. And if you aren't content with your lot, give in to your dirty natural human urges, or simply don't believe this stuff, well then there's a place for you and I hope you remember to pack your asbestos long johns. And don't even think about mentioning all the wealth, fine food and luxury that your betters have to endure. Not only is envy one of the worst of the sins you'll be punished for, don't you realise what these people are doing for you? Denying themselves a place in heaven just so you don't have to? You ought to get down on your knees and beg forgiveness, you godless heathen! Actually, while you're down there...

That's basically it, in a nutshell. People in, say, the fourteenth century can be forgiven for falling for the con; after all, theirs was a world rife with superstition. I genuinely can't think why anyone in this so-called more enlightened era, the information age, would wilfully chain themselves.