I spent last weekend out in Tucson, visiting my parents.  There were some high points and some low points — the high points mostly being able to spend time with my folks, the low points being outdoors in 109-degree heat and stopping for gas at the state line on my way home and realizing regular unleaded went up 12 cents per gallon in less than 72 hours.  It was literally highway robbery. 

What really got me angry though, was that out in the desert, there were a series of billboards, all of them supposedly signed by “God.” You know, stuff like “Believe in Me, and I will save you” and “Need directions?  All the answers are in My Book.” What I wanted to see was a billboard that said “You really want to please Me?  Quit doing such crazy shit in My name, do it in your own.” I just feel like there are so many people who use God as an excuse for the things that they do.  I’m not saying that religion is bad, and I’m not saying that faith and belief is wrong — what I am saying is that there is a ton of stuff that’s done by people who claim to be doing God’s work, and they’re hiding behind God’s name as an excuse to justify what they’re doing.  I’ve yet to meet anyone who got an e-mail or text or phone call — or a personal visit from God, telling them specifically to take some kind of action, which means every time someone’s doing something in God’s name, they’re interpreting something from the Bible and running it through their own filter.  And let’s not forget… the Bible itself was written by men.  Fallible men.