The epic journey of a guy who thought he had it all figured out.
A Christian friend of mine at work asks me every day if I have had any encounters with the supernatural, of course meaning: God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. So, just to make sure I have all my bases covered, I made an open invitation to any and all supernatural entities who can hear and understand me to attempt to communicate with me. So far I haven’t had any takers.
Just did a book review for someone I met on Youtube. The book is called ‘Second World,’ and it’s sort of like the book by William P. Young, called ‘The Shack.’ Second World follows the adventures of a young girl called Clair, who for what ever reason, has the ability to see into the spirit world. Like the shack, Second World takes a slightly unconventional approach to modern Christianity. Clair’s best friend is a talking dog named Horus, and she loves to hang out and play chess with her dead grandfather. Please see the video below for my full review…
A friend shared this photo on Facebook the other day. It had a thesis-length description about how the ‘Occupy movement’ has hijacked Jesus Christ and made him out to be a socialist/communist/Marxist. I thought the argument was ridiculous. Just about every group has hijacked the character of Jesus at one time or another, and molded him into something that would support their cultural beliefs.
In the Bible, you find a lot of places where Jesus spoke about business and money. For instants, this parable found in Matthew 25:24-26:
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
Those verses and many others like them seem to support the idea of a capitalist Jesus. The only problem is you have just as many verses in the Bible that show Jesus healing the sick and not charging a dime for it (universal healthcare), or instructing his followers to sell their belongings to take care of the poor. Then you have Jesus chasing the money changers out of the temple. And not to mention the way the first Christians lived. Take a look at Acts 4:32:
Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
“They had all things in common,” the last time I checked that was the definition of ‘communism.’ So, let’s face it, there’s biblical evidence that Jesus was ‘bi-economical, meaning… he swung both ways. The way I see it, just about everyone loves the biblical character of Jesus Christ. Christians of all denominations, practitioners of other religions, hell, even atheists love the guy. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, taught people to love their enemies (and that’s a far cry from the culture of his day)…. what’s not to like. It makes sense that people of just about all creeds would want to have such a powerful and respected figure in their corner. That is why I believe that most of us are guilty of repurposing Jesus for our own ends.
I don’t know if Jesus Christ was a real person. The evidence seems to indicate that there was a real flesh and blood man by the name of Jesus, preaching and teaching in ancient Palestine around the time that he was supposed to have lived. I personally believe this to be true, however, I believe that most of the stuff written about him in the Bible is embellished. Thomas Jefferson, one of the ‘founding fathers’ didn’t believe in the mystical stories of Jesus healing the sick, raising the dead, and performing miracles, but he loved a lot of the moral instruction that Jesus gave. He published a revised version of the Bible that is commonly refered to as ‘the Jefferson Bible,’ where he edited the supernatural components out. I know a lot of modern-day Christians would be repulsed by such an idea, but you should know that the Bible is one of the most heavily edited books of all time. Kings and governments have been taking stuff out and changing things in it for their own benefit ever since it was put together. Hell, even when the Bible was canonized at the council of Nicaea, a lot of the sacred books that were connected to the collection of books that we now call ‘the Bible’ were left out. If you don’t believe me, look it up.
So, whether or not Jesus was the son of God or just a revolutionary teacher who was executed by the state…. I do love and try to live by some of the things that he is believed to have said. Here are a few of my favorite Jesus lines:
I finally made it to Wednesday. It’s been busy this week. I fell behind in my blogging a little bit. I actually have been working on three different drafts, but they all seem to be going in a direction that I’m not sure I want to go. For some reason, even though I don’t intend it to, my writing seems to be getting, well, nasty. I don’t mean filthy, I mean… mean.
For instants, one of the drafts I’m working on is about the book of Jonah from the Bible. We had a church service on it last Sunday, and Denice and I ended up discussing it over a delicious lunch at the Soccer Taco. She believes that story is literal, and I spent the entire time explaining all the reasons why there’s no way a guy could survive in a fish/whale/ocean dwelling creature’s stomach for three days and nights and live to tell about it. The discussion went nowhere as usual. She held firm in her belief in the story and I ended up feeling like a jerk for trying to sway her away from it. Anyway, I have been working on a post about the Jonah story for about three days now. I almost posted it a couple of times, but when I proofed it I felt ashamed at the meanness of my words. I’m not going to go into the details of what I was planning on saying, but let’s just say I was going to take some cheap-shots. I have decided that I am better than that, so I will be self-censoring my thoughts on the subject until I am believe I am capable of expressing them in a more constructive way.
I used to watch debates between theists and atheists on Youtube all the time. The arguments would go back and forth without either side budging an inch on their positions. It was entertaining at first, but after a while it became highly irritating. At some point I gave up on the whole concept of debate. I gave it up because it us ultimately fruitless. There is no scientific argument that can convince a theist to give up his or her deeply held beliefs. Their beliefs are a part of their culture… their very identity. And likewise, there is no supernatural experience that you can share or ancient story that you can tell that will convince an atheist to give up their linear reasoning. It is what makes them who they are. Debates are a waste of time, for they rarely bring change to either side.
I have looked back on my experience of departing from the Christian faith many times, trying to figure out just what it was that made a hard-core believer like me change. It’s a very hard thing in deed to put your finger on. I suppose at some point I accepted the possibility that I could be wrong. Once I admitted to that possibility, the self-policing part of my mind relaxed, and then it just all started to fall apart. I went from knowing everything to knowing nothing, to being sure about nothing. It was a scary time. Hell, it still is, but it’s exciting. The world is not nearly as well lit now, but it’s full of mystery again. It’s full of potential. Since I have stopped believing, I have learned about many other belief systems and ways of thinking, things that I used to insulate myself from. Basically I’ve learned that people will believe just about anything that their culture tells them is true. This is true for me and every other human being. It’s just how we’re wired. The thing that I am trying to learn now is to accept people the way they are, and not give in to the urge to make them like me. I am who I am, and I need to let them be who they are. What I do want to do though is seek out the things that we all have in common, and use those things to build meaningful relationships with my fellow human beings. I believe that this is my straight and narrow path, and I intend on walking it.
He’s Zeus’ daddy, and probably the oldest of the Greek/Roman Gods… what more should I say?
Saturn, or Saturnus, is the Greek god of agriculture, justice, and strength. For thousands of years people believed in and prayed to this god. According to the myth, Saturn had many children, among them was Zeus, the Greek god of lightning, who would eventually overthrow his father Saturn and the other Titans, to become the all-powerful king of the gods.
The festival of Saturnalia which occurred arround the time of the winter solstice, was the progenitor of the modern holiday of Christmas. Long before people starting giving gifts to each other to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, they were eating, singing, and boozing it up to give thanks to Saturn – the God of Plenty. It is understood by nearly all theologians that the holiday of Christmas is something that was invented to hijack the pagan celebrations that happened around the winter solstice, Saturnalia being the chief one, and to attach it to Christianity. To the best of my knowledge, no one knows when Jesus Christ was born. It was a convenient thing to proclaim his birth to coincide with the solstice, thus taking attention away from the older religions to which this time was sacred.
Personally, I don’t really care if celebrate the birth of Jesus, raise your glass to Saturnus, or wait for the god of merchandise to squeeze his fat rear end down your chimney in the middle of the night. As long as you’re happy and doing something fun with your family and friends around the solstice time… you’re ok in my book.
Today is Thursday, and it’s HAMMER TIME!
Now, I don’t really know that much about Norse mythology, but I do know a little about comic books and movies. About a week ago Denice and I watched the move, Thor. Like most movies now a days, it was heavy on special effects and lite (very lite) on story and acting.
One thing that I did like about the Thor movie, besides Anthony Hopkins in an eye patch, was the line where Thor tells Jane Foster that his people consider “magic and science to be one and the same.” That reminded me of something Arthur C. Clark said in his book ‘Profiles of the Future…’ “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I think this is very true. If we were visited by aliens that had a handle on nanotechnology, they could probably do things that would no doubt cause us to mistake them for gods. I think it may be possible that the old tales of gods, devils, and angels could have a little more to them than ancient man’s vivid imagination.
The Greek Gods have had their days, but now they must stand aside. Today is Wodan’s day!
Wodan, or as he’s commonly known today, Odin, was the primary God in the Norse pantheon. He is the father of Thor, the God of Thunder, and Loki, the God of mischief. That pretty much exhausts my knowledge of Odin. I know that a lot of white nationalists are into the ancient Norse myths. They love to associate themselves with warrior gods like Odin and Thor. It boosts their ego and makes them feel tough. I can hear them now, “My God has a battle-ax and a horn hat!” “Oh Yeah, my God has a big ass hammer!” Total nonsense, ((sigh)).
Three more days, and three more Gods to go.
I thought Wikipedia could explain this one a lot better than I:
The English name is derived from Old English Tiwesdæg and Middle English Tewesday. This was a loan translation of Latin dies Martis, originally associating the day with the planet Mars. The Germanic name translates Mars, the god of war, as Teiwaz (Old English Tiw). -Wikipedia
Here we go with those wonderful Greeks again. The ancient Greeks and Romans were astute astrological observers. The movement of the stars and planets were of great importance to them. Just like we often use goofy acronyms to remember things, the Greeks used allegorical myths. They created elaborate mythologies and attached Gods and Goddesses to the various heavenly bodies.
The planet Mars was named after the Greek God of War, also known as Aries to the Romans. I’m sure this had something to do with the planet’s red tint, due to the massive amount of iron oxide on its surface. The color red is known to trigger aggressiveness in humans. Basically, red=violence, and violence=war… the God of War.
Monday, in Old English, literally means ‘Moon Day.’ Monday is the day that was historically used for the worship of the Moon and the many Gods and Goddesses that were associated with it.
Among the Greeks, Selene was the personification of the moon. The Romans worshiped Luna. The moon is most commonly associated with female deities. Also, werewolves tend to come forth during full moons, which adds to its coolness.
I often find myself gazing up at the moon. I love to do night hikes during the full moon. It just makes me feel good inside to fling my clothes aside, and run naked through a moon-lit field. But, that’s just me.
Today is Sunday, the day of the week historically dedicated to the Sun. I think over the next seven days I’m going to do series of posts about the days, and how they got their names. I leaned a lot about this when I was investigating the origins of Christianity.
Today, we will learn about the Sun’s day. I’ve posted the video below, which is a clip from Zeitgeist Addendum. It’s one of the simplest explanations of the Sun and all the God’s associated with it, including the most recent and well-known solar deity: Jesus Christ. If you want to watch the other two parts of this video, here are the links: Part 2, Part 3.