The sermon he was preaching was, believe it or not, based on the classic novel by H.G. Wells, ‘The Invisible Man.’ I was actually not even paying attention to what he was saying until he mentioned Wells, who is one of my favorite authors. He was using Griffin, the invisible man from Well’s novel as a parallel to Joseph, from the Bible. In the New Testament, Joseph was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. He is only mentioned a handful of times in the gospels, and because of this the Bishop likened him to an invisible man of sorts, who played a big roll, but was not really in the spotlight. It made sense I guess, but it did get a little awkward when he started talking about how the “black man” has been made invisible in “white society.” (Oh, for those of you who don’t know, Denice and I go to a self-proclaimed “black church.”) There were a few pale-skinned people besides us visiting that day, and I wondered if they felt uncomfortable during this part of the sermon. If they did, they didn’t show it.

I don’t consider myself a “white man.” I don’t claim membership in any race. In fact, I reject the whole concept of  ’race.’ As long as we divide ourselves by something as frivolous as the amount of pigment in our epidermis, we will never be one people. And as long as we hold onto our individual cultures, we will always be a slave to the limitations and prejudices that come along with them. At some point we are going to have to stop being black people, white people, yellow people, and red people; and just start being… people.

In H.G. Wells novel, Griffin’s invisibility slowly caused him to lose his humanity. I don’t mean to get all Avatarish on you, but to all my darker skinned brothers and sisters at church… I see you. You are not invisible anymore, at least not to me.

All joking aside, I remember once believing in the Rapture so strong that I considered making accommodations for my pets with Earth-Bound Pets, a company ran by atheists that for a fee will come pick up and take care of your pets for the remainder of their lives in the event that you are raptured away. It was a very real thing for me, and I don’t consider myself a gullible person. I think the key to understanding how intelligent people can be suckered into believing in something as ridiculous as the Rapture goes back to the way our young minds imprint information, and the powerful influence of our surrounding culture.

When I was young, along with believing in Jesus Christ, I also believed in an a morbidly obese fellow called Santa Clause, who would bring me gifts for no apparent reason once a year. My belief in Santa was so strong that I would actually help my grandmother bake cookies, which we would leave out for him on a coffee table next to the chimney. On Christmas morning I would awake to a boatload of presents and some half-eaten chocolate chip cookies. I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this guy squeezed his jolly fat ass down our chimney in the middle of the night to deposit a cache of toys, and to scarf down some cookies. How gullible could I have been? Well, completely, and that’s not entirely a bad thing.

The human mind has a few built-in algorithms that we affectionately call ‘instinct.’ One of these instincts says that when you are young, any information that you are fed by adults is automatically accepted as truth, and cannot be easily challenged by the far weaker instinct of reason. This instinctive credulity has meant our survival as a species. It is important for our young to accept everything we tell them because usually the important stuff like ‘fire will burn you,’ and ‘don’t play in the street,’ is accurate and will save their lives. A child doesn’t have time to apply linear reasoning and the scientific method to everything they pick up from their culture. Survival’s a big plus, but the down side is that all this imprinted information, whether true or false, gets carried over into adulthood.

I really feel sorry for Rev. Camping’s followers. I’ve heard that a lot of them had maxed out their credit cards and did a lot of other foolish things because they believed the Rapture was imminent. I know what it’s like to believe in this stuff. I could have easily been one of them. We all live and learn I suppose. Life can really dish out some painful lessons.

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:

• You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.
• Do to others as you would have them do to you.
• A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
• All who draw the sword will die by the sword.
• Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

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.

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, 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.

And yes, not only do I still go to church, but I also run a website for said church. I know there are some out there that won’t understand that, so let me explain.

Number one: no, I do not believe that Christianity is factually true. However, I do believe that a lot of the things that Jesus taught are good. Yes, I said good. I think that if you take the Tomas Jefferson route and strip away all the hocus-pocus from the Jesus story, what you are left with is compassion, gentleness, and forgiveness, and I am all about that. I can live by this wisdom, and not have to believe in hell fire and brimstone to do it.

Number two: Denice believes in Christianity, and I respect that. Part of the reason that I believe I am here is to support my wife, and make sure she is happy. If it makes her happy to go to church, pray, and believe – then I support her in this. The one thing I think you will learn about me if you read this blog long enough is that I respect the rights of others to believe whatever they want to believe. I no longer have a need to change others, unless they desire to change. If you are a Christian, then praise God! If you are a Muslim, the peace be  unto you! If you are a Pagan, then blessed be! I like you the way you are. The only thing that I want is for you to fully understand ‘why’ you believe what you believe, and this goes for atheist the just the same. Know yourself.

Sorry, didn’t mean to get into philosophy on this post. The only other eventful thing  that happened today is that I got a chance to really test out my new Leatherman Juice S2 by taking down the rusted out radio antenna that was bolted to our house. It came down faster than Goliath being hit with a rock bullet.