Christmas -- Myth, history, parable

I’ve been reading commentaries about the Christmas Story and wondered what your thoughts were. I mean it is your story, after all.

No, I’m not sure it was ever my story. Let’s start with your thoughts.

Ok. Well, obviously I believe you were/are real. I mean you existed.

That’s a start. A lot of people won’t even go that far. I suppose they are waiting for a birth certificate to appear. But even if it was even possible, they’d probably say it was a forgery and I wasn’t really a citizen of Palestine.

I believe you lived, taught, pissed people off, got killed for pissing people off and ….

And?

Maybe you healed people, you certainly inspired people, and you made people who were marginalized feel nourished, nurtured, accepted, loved. But the Christmas Story? That’s something else entirely.

I agree. It has little to do with my actual birth.

Really? So is it just a myth?

Ah! A loaded statement. There is no such thing as “just” a myth. Myths are complex, complicated, multi-layered. As to the Christmas myth? Just consider all that it has inspired – amazing music, incredible art and sculpture, endearing and inspiring fiction, profound poetry. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of businesses churning out Christmas paraphernalia every year. But even more importantly, every year there are miracles of sacrificial giving of parents to children, children to parents, community members to those in need.



I completely accept that the Christmas Story has wielded a lot of power in the development of Western civilization, Western culture. But is it history?


Does it have to be history in order to be true?

Huh?

What Matthew and Luke got right (and let me point out that they are the only two of the New Testament authors to tell the “Christmas Story” and they didn’t agree on much of it) what they got right was that they focused on the message, the beliefs that they wanted to convey about the meaning of my life and death. It was never about my birth, per se, the birth narratives were didactic (teaching) devices. They emphasized that I was originally Jewish and that my life was part of our (Jews) larger narrative of salvation. Matthew, himself a Jew, made a concerted effort to parallel my birth with Jewish prophecy. They told a story about the community I came to save – not just Jews and not the powerful.

 Luke, a non-Jew raised in a Greek city, was emphatic about the role of ordinary working people – shepherds – who were invited to witness my birth. He did not have Magi in his story – wealthy, religious seers, from the orient – like Matthew did. And Luke gave more of a voice to women, my mother and her cousin Elizabeth both have “speaking parts” in Luke’s narrative. Matthew, a traditional Jew, did not break with ancient Jewish tradition that rarely included women as God’s chosen witnesses and prophets; Matthew used my father Joseph as the story’s main character – the one chosen to receive God’s messages.

And so the gospel Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke were constructed with a specific theological intention. Each of them had a particular focus and a particular message to convey about the purpose of my life and death in God’s larger narrative of salvation, and they accomplished this in their gospels beginning with their Infancy Narrative.

I suppose it should be noted that Paul, the earliest New Testament writer, and Mark the earliest evangelist, don’t even mention your birth.

That’s what I am trying to point out. My birth wasn’t important until people began asking more questions about my death – why and for whom – and about the significance of my life – my Jewish roots. And by then there was nobody to ask about my birth. Paul and Mark and Luke had never met me.

Do you mind all the shepherds and magi trampling around in the story of your birth?

Not at all. I have always been touched by the beauty of the scenes Matthew and Luke paint. And Luke’s prose is “full of grace” indeed. The Magnificat rivals the most beautiful of the Old Testament Psalms. The nativity story as it has evolved in the church touches people, it softens the hardest of hearts. It brings hope every year to a world in pain and turmoil. It brings beauty in the raising of voices in carols and in the decorating of whole cities. It moves people to kindness, compassion, and generosity, if only temporarily.

Does it bother you that there has been such an infusion of European symbols and myths – the Christmas tree, Santa Claus? And that people don’t know the difference between biblical versions of the Infancy Narrative, and instead just lump it all together into one story – magi and shepherds, angelic visitors or visions to Joseph and Mary?

No. It is one story, the story of a world in need of hope and redemption and of a God who chooses to work in and through humanity to bring evidence of that hope and redemption each year. There is no more important a story to be told than that.

What Would Jesus Vote?



"I don't know. Ask my mother!"

What would Jesus vote? Now this is a conversation that needs to take place.

Politics…still a religious issue, two thousand years since the second temple and the Sadducees.

How is politics connected to religion? I mean, in America anyway, there is complete separation of Church and state.

I wonder if that isn’t the problem.

I don’t understand.

Politics is about the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. I can’t imagine any other process that is in greater need of moral standards, and a commitment to justice, pursuit of the greater good, and compassion for those in need. American jurisprudence has done itself and the American people a great disservice by separating religion and politics because many people cannot find a moral compass without a religious goal so to remove religious leaders from the conversation may be tantamount to removing moral values.

Well, actually, religion plays a tremendously powerful role in American policy making. But only one camp in the religious community has power and that is the fundamentalist, Protestant work-ethic, Prosperity Gospel preaching, right to life (for the unborn but not those sentenced to death in the legal system, members of non-Christian religions, or nations who have natural resources we want to take) Christian Right. And they truly believe they are the only ones who are right.

So where is the separation then?

Maybe it is a separation between politics and papists that they are really concerned about. But let’s get to the issue at hand. What would Jesus vote?

Isn’t one of the issues you have with the religious right that they assume their answer is the only truth?

Yes.

Well, how would it be if I were to tell people how to vote? Everybody must exercise their own best judgments and consider their own most important values, and they must decide when to compromise and what to compromise about. I cannot, and should not tell anyone how to vote.

So what do we do?

You make the effort to learn about each candidate; you decide on your moral principles and prioritize your values.

Tough.

If you care about your family and your children's future you will make the effort.

So -- Have You Danced This Week?

I know I am not usually the one to initiate our conversations but I was wondering how you've been doing this week? Did you stop reading all that bad news and did you go out and do something creative so you could experience and then share some joy, and by doing so maybe help the balance of good and evil move to the "good" side? No? So what did you do? Just feel sorry for yourself and carry on being angry with life? 

You say all that like it's a bad thing.

Ah, you're awake and so is your sarcasm. But really --- how has the week been?

OK, fair question. And now that you mention it, there have been a couple of good things. The weather has been gorgeous -- blue skies but not too hot. Fantastic really.

And have you enjoyed it or stayed inside with your metaphorical (or real) nose on the window, like a dog pining for the outside from her perch on the window bench.

Actually, I have been walking more. And today we drove to a renovated campground where my husband used to camp with the Boy Scouts. And we walked and I took pictures. I thought I might make a slide show for my brothers-in-law who all spent so many summers there. So I've been creative, too. Yeah me!

Good for you. I mean that; I'm not being sarcastic. Can I ask, what was the experience of your husband's family with the Scouting organisation?

Oh, they all had fantastic experiences, wonderful summer camps, swimming lessons. They all had oodles of badges and my husband went all the way to Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow. He was and is very proud of that. He then went on to lead and encourage both his sons from Tiger Cubs all the way up to Eagle -- they both made it --and one of our sons even became scout master -- the youngest in the region. At 23 he took over the whole troop after Hurricane Katrina displaced all the regular adult leaders. He had been an assistant scout master so they asked him to step up. He did and he was fantastic. He led meetings, spoke to and even counselled parents of kids. He had been a great mentor to many of the kids on camping trips and in training for badges and they looked up to him. He also worked with some of them at a local summer camp.

There was a lot of chaos and separated families after Katrina, in fact my husband and I moved to Houston temporarily to serve the displaced student bodies from our respective schools. Similarly, lots of parents separated for months because of job or schooling needs. But the Boy Scouts kept gathering together and helped provide the kids with some sense of normalcy at least on Wednesday evenings. After a year my son passed leadership back to the returning scout masters; he was glad not to have the responsibility for it all : camping trips, badge advancements, courts of honor, but he saw that he was capable of such leadership and he saw how appreciative everybody was. I know it made him feel good.

My husband as a Boy Scout leader doing service in a homeless shelter.

Quite a story. I'm glad I asked. You loved your son a great deal. and were obviously very proud of him. He sounds like a fine young man. And the Boy Scout organisation has obviously had a tremendously positive impact on your whole extended family. I wonder how you all might continue to give back to the organisation so that other kids can have the same growth and leadership experiences your sons enjoyed. Just a thought. And ... by the way ... he's fine.

Really?

Really. And now I know why he is so good at building fires. He loves that, and gathering people together in the evenings. And there's this strange song he sings and dances, "Intermission."  He says you would know and he smiled. I really love his smile.

Jesus, I wish it really was you telling me this. I miss him so much. I know it's just my wishful thinking, but I like the idea you gave me about supporting the Scouts. A great way to add the "the positive" in the world and especially to help kids. Maybe it is time for us to get back involved. I'll have to see.

I'm not wild about his "dead baby jokes" but he does make people laugh.

Oh my Go...he still tells them?

Psych!! He knew that would get a rise out of you.

Damn it Malc! You haven't changed! Great. Can't wait to hear your jokes myself. Thanks Big J. You should ask him his euphemisms for the Eucharist...ha ha...

Already have --- nearly choked. Didn't let on to the big guys though.

God(s)?

No, the dead popes and cardinals. They really have no sense of humor about religion. I wonder if that has to do with them having to wear dresses and caps all the time. I can see how it would make a man insecure and push him to be excessively authoritative as over compensation.

Oh, popes and cardinals. I really want to continue that line of thought. Later, though!

Later!

Some Days the News Just Sucks -- Suicides, Homophobia, Callousness

Jesus, today was a tough day! I started the day reading about the suicide rate in the military being quadruple the national average, with four suicides at Fort Hood this past week. Then I read about a college student who killed himself after his room mate and another friend filmed and then posted on line his sexual encounter with another man. Humans perpetrate such evil against each other every day just for the twisted joy of causing someone a public humiliation. Can we really be God's children and be so base, so lacking in concsience, so callous about another person's feelings, struggles and social stigmas.

My first thought...stop reading the news. It will make your day less stressful.

Well, thanks for that. But I'm not sure that's much help.

What did you do after you read the news?

What do you mean?

Did you go out and treat someone you met with kindness and compassion, treat them as as if they were the young man who took his life out of shame?

No, I got in my car and drove to work angry and probably cursed out a few drivers on the way. Then I spent the day feeling angry about everything around me and how my boss doesn't respect my work and how life stinks.

So evil has won in you today. You allowed evil to become a part of who you are and you communicated anger and therefore brought more "evil" into the world around you.

The whole transference thing, huh! I'm sorry! What would you have had me do. Sing Kumbaya and hand out free cookies to the homeless?

You are obviously still angry. What does that say about you? Why are you allowing the evil done to someone else to corrupt your joy?

And what is wrong with singing joyful songs and giving something to eat to a stranger. I saw you yesterday at the Simchat Torah service watching the dancing. You didn't join in. Maybe you need to dance more, to create joy around you, and to join in when joy presents itself to you.

Perhaps this weekend you need to go and have some fun and be around art and music and creativity and people being good and kind. It will raise your opinion of the human race. Then maybe you should go to a service somewhere and sing, you know how good music cheers you up. And you must realise that if you drive a car angry and get in a wreck and hurt someone, it won't matter then what it was that made you angry in the first place, because now you have created a brand new evil yourself by your anger, not someone else's anger.

So...what you're saying is...I can't help that young student who killed himself but I can make sure not to hurt another young person struggling with his or her sexual identity by not participating in jokes aimed at minorities and gays. And I can choose to be joyful and kind and non-judgemental myself and not add to the anger and evil. And --- I shouldn't drive angry.

Sure, if that is what you heard me say, fine! It's a start.

Miracles

I've been thinking about miracles a lot recently. So many various viewpoints. From, It is possible to see God in all things, so everything is, in a sense, a miracle. To, A miracle is when God intervenes in our lives or in history and suspends the laws of the physical universe in order to bring about a different outcome than the one that was expected. So which one is right?

Maybe if you tell me what it is you are struggling with I can help.

How about a straight answer.

I think you are forgetting the basic premise of this conversation: I only know what you know.

Alright. Let's talk about your miracles, specifically. I know you have said that there were lots of people who were sick and hungry and suffering but are you saying you didn't heal anybody?

I don't want to make trite statements about what happened. These were moments of grace. There was a stillness in the chaos for just a moment. The "fear of the Lord" is the beginning of wisdom, according to the prophets, and I think some people were afraid. But what I felt in those moments, and what the prophets meant, was not fear in the "scared of" sense, but awe.

But these were rare moments. There were also times when I felt frustrated and impotent. I couldn't save John, my own cousin. I couldn't protect my mother from heart-break. Miracles, whatever one calls them, didn't define who I was. They were not ordinary or common events; they were the exception. Moments when God's love and healing broke through directly. I felt it, others felt it.

Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Song lyrics aside, is this the end of the world as we know it? So much chaos, destruction, disaster. In America alone we have forest fires and oil rig explosions and now threats of Qur’an burning. Fire and brimstone, indeed. What's going on, Jesus?

Did you know that they built a whole village in Russia in just one week following a recent disaster? The houses were even better than the ones before, now they have electricity and plumbing.

And did you know, oh Optimistic One,  that it looks very like it was just a big publicity stunt?

You mean there are no houses?

No, the houses are real but they have cameras all over the village so they can broadcast to the rest of the country how great the government is.

Well, it looks to me like the government did do something pretty damn good! Doesn’t it make you wonder how it is that in America the government can't build houses in Louisiana or Mississippi for those who were left with a slab of concrete and some MRE's? And doesn't it seem ludicrous in the land of milk and honey that it is the Hollywood celebrities (a group second only to politicians in the public polls of most likely to screw up morally and most superficial and self-serving) and not the government who managed to get something actually built?

Hmm! Bit political, don't you think?

If by politics you mean “concerned with the people” then yes. I am all about politics. But if you mean party politics, then no….party politics seems to be mainly a matter of public grandstanding for the sake of private gain. I focus more on the big picture. The advantage of distance, it gives one perspective.

So, back to the end of the world question.

I really didn’t leave the question. It’s all about big picture perspectives. If you focus on specific bad events you tend to miss all the amazing good events – the good news! There are people building houses because someone needs shelter. New drugs and treatment protocols for cancer and other diseases. People walking and demonstrating and donating to so many good causes, standing up to corruption, demanding justice. I see so much hope and virtue, courage and commitment to the good.

Wow! Hope and virtue. Not what most people see when they look at the world.

Ah … as a wise young man once said, “Perspective is everything.” 

And the end of the world, 2012, all that?

We’ll talk again later.

Anne Rice gives up on the Church

Anne Rice wrote about Vampires, you probably wouldn't approve. But she came back to the Church and to God and then she wrote a fictionalized account of your life. Now she has left the Church...again.

Yes, but you are missing the point.

The point?

Anne is still committed to me and to God. And she is committed to justice. Anne recognises that when it uses its resources within the civil arena to fight against justice the Catholic Church has lost its way.

I guess what you are referring to is the fact that Catholic bishops in the US have financed lobbying against the civil union of same sex couples, something that would provide them with civil rights not sacramental unions. And the fact that Catholic bishops have lobbied against extending the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases that would allow the prosecution of "credibly accused," even admitted, priest sex offenders.

The current statutes of limitations has created a situation where hundreds of these known and admitted offenders are being housed and supported by the Church, and many are still holding jobs in which they have the freedom to continue their pursuit of child victims. Yet the church is sending lawyers to lobby against the extension of the statutes of limitations whenever they are being challenged in the courts. I can understand Anne’s disillusionment.

Yes, that is indeed understandable. The behavior of the Catholic bishops, on the other hand, is not.

The Prosperity Gospel

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448,00.html

I have always had a problem with the concept of a "prosperity Gospel," associating it with media millionaires like Robert Tilton, who sold the idea along with prayer cloths that would bring healing to those who sent in their donation or "seed-faith" offering. Am I right to be cynical? Is becoming wealthy really a sign that we are doing God's will?

I find the concept disturbing. When did money and power become associated with being a follower of the Father? By the way, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with "follower of mine" it should be "follower like me" --of the Father. But it's too late to change that, I suppose. But I digress.

So, Jay, What is the problem with seeing prosperity as a gift from God?

Jay? Really? When people who describe themselves as ministers of my word build walls between themselves and the people I would have them serve, then there's a problem.

What kind of walls?

Well, you have the literal walls of large buildings with security police and body guards. And you have the material walls of excessive wealth and property. And then you have the spiritual walls of claiming to have absolute knowledge of God and absolute knowledge of God's Truth.

But aren't you the Way to the Truth? And if they are ministers of the Bible...

If I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life, why is it that those who claim to be closest to me have the least understanding of who I am?

Maybe they do in their heart?

Is that enough? Did I sit around feeling loving feelings in my heart? And how are other people meant to follow these ministers if they can't see the Truth in how they live? No one can read another person's heart, only the Father can do that.

But perhaps what they see, the big cars, large houses, expensive suits is EXACTLY what they want.

Then that is fine. But don't wrap it up as Christianity. It is not pure or virtuous; it is consumerism. Nothing less. They are worshipping the almighty dollar not the Almighty. And they are making "God" part of their sales pitch. A wise man once wrote, "Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest." Proverbs 16:8.

Did the Gospel Writers Lie?

How do we deal with the fact that the gospel writers made stuff up?

Well, for a good introduction there is a site that provides excellent scripture resources on the Gospel writers. http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/SFS/an0196.asp.

But let me at least say that Matthew, an educated Jew, was writing for an educated Jewish audience of Pharisees and other scripture scholars. So he structured his whole gospel with Judaic symbolism and bible commentary in mind. His colorful story of the magi is, like so much of his gospel, a midrash (commentary) on prophecies from the Jewish Scriuptures. If people take his gospel on face value only and are looking for an historical memory, they are completely missing his point.

I don't know, it is disturbing to people to suggest that the bible cannot be taken on face value.

Did it disturb you when you heard it in college?

Well, no, it actually excited me more than disturbed me. Because I saw the possibility that the problems I had with scripture were'nt problems with you or with God but with the human writers who were involved. So that made sense. And then the journey of studying the background and authors and historical context of each book made the bible so much richer. But Catholics are traditionally unmotivated when it comes to scripture study. The Protestants have always been better at that.

But, sadly, many non-Catholic Christians take a very "face value alone" approach and I am not sure that they don't sometimes miss the point entirely.

What point?

My point. What I was about. Take the "Prosperity Gospel" for example. I really don't know how anybody who has tried to understand me at all can decide that is what I was all about. It doesn't matter what a verse here or there says. We are dealing with human writers; they had their own agendas and sometimes their writing wasn't the best. But if you get stuck on the "take things literally as they say it" approach to the scriptures, you may, first of all, miss me entirely, and secondly, you may actually end up preaching and teaching and believing something I would find offensive and even appalling.

The Theological Agenda of the Gospel Writers

Ok, I admit, I have too many questions. Let’s take this slow. Tell me what you mean about the gospel writers and anachronism.

Perhaps the first thing I need to clarify is that I wasn’t ever anything but Jewish. And my followers, and my mother? They were never anything but Jewish. I’ll deal with Maryology another time. But suffice it to say that if my mother knew what people had done in her name and to her memory she would be appalled. My mother wanted nothing more than to raise me to be a good man and a good Jew. She believed in me, that the Father had chosen me. But she wouldn’t let me get away with anything. She knew me better than anyone; it was my mother who knew when I was ready to speak for the Father and not for myself. As a teenager she saw that my mind was ready but my heart had a lot to learn. And she let me know when she thought I was ready. John was right about that!

Now to the anachronism issue. As you know an anachronism occurs in a piece of writing when something is present that belongs to a different time. The truth is that when the gospels took their written form it was already in the era known as the “Early Church.” I was long gone and the Jewish roots of my followers and I were no longer as important as they had once been. Having become rejected by and separated from their own Jewish community, my followers were developing a different understanding of how to continue teaching my message. They were also developing a different routine of prayer and fellowship and outreach that included non-Jews. I am truly proud of what they accomplished; they took my words and ideas and opened themselves up to the Father and followed where the spirit of God led them. But people shouldn’t interpret what happened long after my death with what was happening during my lifetime and with what I spoke about.

Take Luke for example. I never met Luke. Luke became a follower of my followers, a second generation “Christian.” And Luke wanted to write about how the events in the Greek cities and Roman cities fifty years after my death was what had been intended all along by me. He wrote a beautiful 2-part work called Luke-Acts (The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles). Luke did not witness my life nor the events in Paul’s early life, but he crafted a beautiful work with a central theme showing the symmetry of events which moved my teachings and my followers from the center of the Jewish world to the center of the Roman world. His assumption was, “If this is happening it must be how God intended it to be.” So he wrote about things as if they had been foreshadowed or intended all along.

Can you give me a concrete example?

My birth. I was there but Luke certainly wasn’t and neither was Matthew. If my mother had told them or I had told them about those events surely they would have had the same story. But they don’t. And that’s fine as long as we understand that the stories they wrote about my birth were not historical narrative but theological reflection. For Luke it was important to show that God was directing things from the moment of my conception, and that my message was for everyone, the poor and lowly and even the non-Jews, like himself and so many Christians by the time he was writing.

So, it’s not that he was lying, and its not just beautiful creative writing, Luke actually had a theological agenda, a message about you that he was trying to teach.

Exactly! He didn’t see this as deceptive. He was writing the truth about me and my message as he understood it and with certain concerns or issues in mind, and his stories of my birth, for example, were the vehicles for that truth.

And Matthew?

Matthew had a similar intention and a similar method, but his personal, theological agenda was different from Luke’s.

But isn't the Catholic Church the One True Church?

The Truth that the Father has tried to communicate through the prophets and poets down the ages was not found inside the temple, is not found inside the church, any church.

Sacred scriptures are windows onto the Truth, but Moses had it right when he said that the truth is written on the heart. You don't need a temple or a priest to tell you what is written on your heart. You need to become open to the Father's word. I wasn't the first one to talk about the law of God being written on the heart, you can read the same idea in the Jewish scriptures ... Deuteronomy, Proverbs. So much of what I taught and preached was simply what I had learned from studying our Jewish scriptures and opening my own heart to the Father. That was, after all what I was trying to do ... open people to really hearing God's word. I didn't think it would all end up in a new religion.

We definitely need to have that conversation. Did you intend to establish a church? Was the Last Supper when you ordained the 12 Apostles? Was the Last Supper the first Mass?

First we need to clarify what an anacronysm is. Then there is the issue of what the writers of the gospels were trying to accomplish at the time they wrote about me.

The Abuse & Cover-up Crisis

What about the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church?

What about it? You realise there are sexual predators in every level of every organised religion.

That makes it ... something we just accept?

Of course you don't accept it. Ever. You fight it with the truth, and with courage. I am glad that the SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and Religious) organisation is creating support groups for other religious denominations, including my own.

Your own?

Judaism. There are evil men leading Jewish congregations too. But I do think that because of the size of the Catholic Church the size of the problem is greater there than in any other religion or church. And the size and complexity of the organisation has meant that the predators had an incomparable network of protection and re-assignment.

So, if you had one thing to say to the Catholic faithful?

Stop being faithful!

I'm sorry?!

How can anyone continue to be faithful to a religion that has become so off-center, so focused on power, property, prestige...

Penises!

Yes, those too. But I don't want to get into the gender issues here. And it is not appropriate to bring in your usual sarcasm.

Sorry.

It's OK. I know your humor here is self-preservation. You know only too well ... I am the one who should be expressing my sorrow -- to you. My mother weeps daily for you and for all the children who have been hurt by men and women claiming to be my "holy" followers. So, again, I say to them, Stop being faithful. It is time to stop enabling this organisation to abuse children.

Like the Sadducees in ancient Israel, there is a tendency for religious authorities to think that any compromise with evil is justified if it protects the "Temple," the religious establishment and traditions. What I say to today's Catholics is, It's time to turn over the tables of those who traffic in children. Stop giving money to feed this corrupt "temple" and instead support causes of justice by giving your time and commitment as well as money. Money is easy to give if you have it. But time, effort and personal commitment to the pursuit of justice is much more costly, and much more valuable.

God on Demand?

Sometimes people think that traveling with me meant that my followers lacked for nothing: food, shelter, courage. But that wasn’t how it was. The stories told about that time were always about single events and didn’t take into account the bigger picture.

I’m sorry, do you mean bigger picture in a philosophical sense?

No, I’m actually thinking about the geographical bigger picture. Let me explain. There were a lot of people in Palestine who were hungry, homeless, afraid, doubting, angry and abused; even just in Galilee itself there was a lot of suffering. And it didn’t go away while I lived there. There were also many storms on the Sea of Galilee; some while I preached on its shores. And sometimes they came and went very suddenly. Were they all miracles? Did the Father make us sea-sick one day and provide us with a magnificent catch the next?

The problem with the Gospels is the stories they don’t include.

Are you saying that you didn’t cure people or heal people?

I’m saying that even if I helped a few people there were many more I didn’t help, but their stories weren’t told. The Gospel writers wrote about the events that fit the beliefs they had formed about me. It might help today if readers of the Gospels consider the unwritten stories as well. Maybe then their expectations would be more realistic.

The Meaning of "Adam":Insights into the Hebrew Language

The Meaning of "Adam":Insights into the Hebrew Language

One in Being - One in Substance

"And God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ " Genesis 1:26

I’m not sure the “dominion” thing is working too well for us is it? Look at how busy we are destroying the resources we need to stay alive: food, water, air. Any thoughts?

I’ve always found that verse in Genesis intriguing, the plural “us” and “our image.” It seems to reflect a time when the Jews were caught between polytheism and monotheism, which was true for a long time, even after Moses tried to straighten things out.

But exegesis aside, what do I think? I think whoever wrote that was letting the uniqueness of the human race overwhelm their understanding of the more obvious shared nature of all living things. And, for clarity’s sake, it is better translated as humankind not man because it says “male and female” in the next verse. (Although I should point out that the Hebrew word for earth used here is adamah, which actually is the feminine form of the word. So if you are going to translate the word in the singular it should be feminine! )

Something that modern science has made very clear is that we all come from the same “stuff.” Talk about “one in being!” I like that phrase, but we shouldn’t limit it to talking about the nature of God; it describes the nature of all “nature.” Something the Council of Nicea couldn’t possibly have known, because it is about the foundational elements of life, the atoms and molecules that we share. And being or substance? Pointless semantics. Who is better the Greek speakers or the Latin speakers? Come on, it’s a bit more important than that. It all boils down to “stuff.” “One in stuffness.” Doesn’t have quite the academic ring to it but it gets the point across.

If you think about it just a little you realize that the stuff you pollute eventually becomes the stuff we are made of, not us individually but us as humans. And of course vice versa. What goes around comes around in a very tangible way on this planet. But it is easy to get short-sighted.
So what if there are other planets with life on, I don’t know, but it shouldn’t affect how we treat this one. You shouldn’t give in to the creators of science fiction and imagine making planets the dumping grounds of your effluent and excess.
We don’t even think about the next generation, let alone the distant future. And it’s time we did.

What you’re saying sounds very Circle of Life/ Hakuna Matata to me. Have you been watching my videos again?

The truth is the truth, whether it is found in a cartoon movie or in a CNN special about the oil spill polluting the gulf of Mexico.
Point taken!

Not for profit -- prophet!

So, how long did it take?

Be fair, I was just investigating.

Really? It seemed a little more intentional than that. Looking at when payments are made?

Google makes it easy to get ads on a blog, and then if people respond, you get paid. Wow!

I know, I was there, too. But don't you see how it would look if I had ads on my site, and what ads would google deem appropriate based on our conversations, I wonder?

Your site? Now wait...

How about our site. But let's face it, if people ever read this it will be because they are interested in my thoughts not yours.

Yes, but...

Yes, I know...you are me, "in your mind!" But if we get associated with making money from this conversation, what moral weight will my words have against Christian preachers who use me to line their pockets and put gas in their cadillacs.

Point! So when are you going to let that post rip?

I'm working on it!

Meet My Muse

Well, here goes. This is a Blog. I know, it’s an unpleasant sounding word. Let’s just call it a conversation.
And you are?
The author of this Blog.
And I am?
You are my muse.
Well, I’ve been called worse. What is this conversation going to be about?
Important things: Religion, faith, God, meaning.
That’s important stuff. What if I get it wrong?
You can’t. It’s not really you, remember. It’s all “in my mind” to quote Eddie Izzard, appropriately.
Why “appropriately”?
I’m British.
I see.
Do you? You sound rather hesitant.
OK. I'm not sure I do see, and I do have a reputation to protect. And some people might come across this Blog and think you are “channeling” me, or some such newageism.
Would you feel better if you got to create some guidelines up front.
Yes, actually, I would. I think my mother would appreciate it too.
Your mother?--- Never mind! I’ll shelve that one for later.

My first suggestion is to avoid the humor. If you want others to take you seriously in this conversation you need to take it seriously, first.
That’s a fair point.
And you need to go back to the sources.
The sources?
Yes. You have a degree in theology and you taught for 27 years. You need to put that experience to work here. Don’t ever be embarrassed by your knowledge.
Embarrassed? I…
I think your humor covers up an innate insecurity about your expertise.
Ok. Now you are therapising me. I get enough of that from my therapist.
How’s that working out for you?
Now who’s being “humorous?”

Second. The prophets always had important things to say at important times in Jewish history. And I believe there is a universality in their themes that allows them to speak again to us today.

Third. A number of people wrote about me. Some of them were published. The ones that were published got a lot of things right. But, like many religious leaders through time, they often used me as a mouthpiece for their own agendas. Paul was great, but we didn’t ever meet and get to discuss things. I suppose you could say he was having an internal conversation with me, too. So that is setting the bar pretty high for you!
So when using the written sources, make sure you utilize your “critical thinking skills, your degrees and your intuition, and check with me if you’re not sure.

You do know that you are me, right?
Whatever you say.