Why So Threatened?

Anyone who knows me knows I am a die hard athiest. I think no less of people who do believe in a higher power and no less of people who adhere to an organized religion. (ok, a little less...)

Throughout the years I have had some very interesting conversations/debates/arguements with those that are truly offended by my lack of faith. A high school girlfriend's mom ask me to leave the dinner table (I bowed my head respectively, but did not physically SAY grace. Even if I wanted to fake it I don't know the words.) I have gone head to head with my born again "aunt-in-law," and I have faced off against protestors.

That's right protestors. I was an usher at the lonley ol' Grand Avenue Twin in Baldwin, NY when Scorcese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" was released. I had stuff thrown at me (eerily reminiscent of being stoned) while I sat innocently on a wooden stool wearing an ill fitting red sports jacket and bow tie. "I am not here to debate whether Jesus was horny, I am just here to rip your ticket..."

As I have written before, my daughter attends a Catholic Pre-school. So maybe there is a God because that is one of the great cosmic screwings of all time, but I digress. Last night my wife handed me a brochure the school was distributing. It was called, "The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code." Apparently this novel about a secret so mighty it will cause the downfall of the Catholic Church is so full of crap, so factually incorrect, so worthless of their time that it just might...cause the downfall of the Catholic Church.

I have read the Da Vinci Code. I saw the movie. I enjoyed it for what it is. A fun, suspenseful way to kill a few hours. But what kills me is how people so sure there is a higher power, so sure there is an almighty, all knowing being, are so afraid of A BOOK. I guess a book binds their faith, so this one could tear it down.

I am not going to get into a whole debate defending or ridiculing the accuracy of the novel - quite frankly I do not have the research to support it, nor do I want to take a second out of my day to gather it. But I can apply logic, my own "twisted, personal, I don't care if you agree logic"...

This brochure addressed each fallacy the movie supports and found quotes from the scripture to contradict and defend Dan Brown's (or whom ever he stole the concept from, if you support THAT theory) story. Mary couldn't have been this because in Fred 3:14 it says this, Jesus couldn't have been that because in Bob 8:11 it say this. I personally find that any of these arguements completely miss the point.

The Bible is a book. It is an oral/aural history that was eventually written down. I don't have to explain the game of "telephone" to you. I somehow screw up answering machine messages when writing them down 5 seconds later - imagine keeping the spiritual history of the world to the letter after thousands of years. I garuntee you somebody wrote down the wrong fucking number once or twice

Secondly, it is fact that history is filled with societies conquering other societies. The Greeks, The Romans, The Turks, The Nazis, The Americans (I know I will get shit for putting those two groups back to back but all I am saying is that the slaying of Native Americans wasn't really "letting freedom ring...") When one society absorbs another their cultures merge. In the ol' days leaders/emperors etc. would smartly adapt some of the conquered society's traditions to keep the battered down people from completely revolting. So one culture's religious law borrows from another's etc. The accuracy of this oral history is getting a little muddled, don't you think?

My point being, don't use the scriptures to defend what Dan Brown hypothesises. What he is saying, and many historians say as well, is that the scriptures cannot be trusted. Every generation that recieved these stories tweaked it to their own specifications or interpreted the words as their culture/king saw fit.

If you want to believe in God or a higher Power please do so. If adhering to the commandments, if a belief in going to a fiery hell if you are bad motivates you to be a better person - go for it. But don't tell me on such and such day two thousand years ago this person said that, or this guy did this. There is absolutely no proof that these writings were not molded as time passed.

I know, I know, there is no proof THEY WERE doctured, but this my blog so screw you. Which seems more probable?

If your belief in God, Buddha, Mohammed etc. is so true, is so absolute, I hardly believe a book or a cartoon or a movie is going to dethrone an almighty being. I think your infrastructure is safe.

P.S. I will leave you this to chew on. It is agreed that Greeks and Romans invented Gods to explain the unexplainable - what is that fiery ball that moves across the sky? Where does lightning come from or...why did it rain for 40 days and 40 nights...what causes low tide...how did that bush catch on fire...