Having grown up in a Christian home, I always wondered, “Why this? Why THIS book? Why a book at all? This is so incredibly archaic; it can’t apply to me, can it? Weren’t these Christians newly radical before? Why do these people in our congregation seem so focused on hate and regret? Why are these people, church after church after church, all so stagnant? What’s beneficial in denying progression?”
Seems like I couldn’t ever get a clear answer for any of it without bible verses being thrown at me (and often horribly misquoted).
Last month, I went to FTW for the Children’s Scientology Pageant. It was all very tongue-in-cheek and about as humorous as I hoped it might be. In the lobby after the show, a member of the audience grilled the kid who portrayed L. Ron Hubbard:
“…so I just can’t understand why anyone would be a Scientologist after seeing all of that with the alien and the ship and the machines. Your pageant put that into perspective.”
The kid says, “Yeah, that’s what I always thought when my parents used to drag me to those Christmas pageants with the three wise men. I was, like, ‘They gave Jesus what?!’ And then there was the whole angel business and the chick getting pregnant from God and the weird, older guy following her around. And THAT was just the beginning of his life!”
That’s when I stumbled over my own shock. Not only was Tom Cruise suddenly just as weird as my own family in his religious thinking, but that kid had a valid point. Euw. There was no solution for my lifelong spiritual jigsaw in what he said.
Revelation, anyone? Something to help me understand?
(And Happy New Year!)
Well, I don’t know about helping you understand, but there is an explanation: the perennial human search for justification.
Personally, I don’t see that as any better than just saying “I dunno.”
Also personally, it comes from the never-the-twain-shall-meet divide between Christians and Pagans*. The former require a label on it, the latter just note the experience and try to move on. That really isn’t saying much, being an over-simplification, but then we all may be spared a rambling lecture from me this fine day.
All the best to you and yours. May I add that it is a distinct pleasure to share this space with you.
* I almost always mean “modern” in front of “Pagans”. YMMV.
All appeals to the supernatural can look silly. Who amongst us has seen an angel or a demon? We cannot really know exactly what happened thousands of years ago. Faith will always involve more than the rational. Once you involve feelings, it is more difficult to be objective. Still, we all do have feelings and emotions. There is much that the rational cannot explain. Faith gives us answers for these things.
Steve
I respectfully suggest that religious faith provides a narrative in which to place our feelings and urges, rather than providing answers about them. As Kristan points out, once the narrative has ceased to work for you, or if if it never did work, answers don’t spring from that explanation at all.
When this type of conversation arises, I am reminded of Worf the Klingon in Star Trek TNG perpetually emphasizing “These are Our Stories.” Meaning not that they are facts, but that they are the narrative our culture developed to provide social cohesion and a framework for living – teaching stories.
I have not seen it yet, but the movie Religulous apparently makes a point similar to that of the kid in K’s post. We tend to accept as “normal” fantastic stories that we’ve been exposed to over and over again. Some never accept the stories as literally true – why that is remains a mystery.
Kristan sounds like such a person. And the responses to her questions were of the “shut up and believe it” order – badly quoted Bible quotes that were supposed to “prove” something so she would stop asking. As if being right is more important than being true.
Kristan – the answer to your over all question about why this ancient dogma, is ignorance, inertia and tradition. Humanity in all areas geographically and in all the major religions made such an investment in their faiths that the residual has followed us into modern times. The main focus stopped being the message and became about control. Unfortunately, it is the dogma’s layered over the messages that have survived into our times. I am new to this blog and I will be posting some things from a new book that paints a better picture. Wait for it.
Phillip J Hubbell