The Wrong Idea...

A pretty popular Kansas City area comedian and good friend of mine wrote the following on his MySpace blog this morning (I apologize in advance for some of his words):

Who’s Jesus?

i just don't like religion. it really bothers me actually. (george carlin) "there's a magic man in the sky, who is all knowing, all powerful, and he has a list of 10 things that you should Never do, and if you do any of those ten things, you will spend Eternity in a fire pit of suffering and torture and burning in hell for all of time...

but he loves me.

he loves me...and he needs...

MONEY! always asking for money."

i think the bible was written about 40 years AFTER the time of jesus. there were over 100 historians and scholars that lived during that time, and not one of them wrote about him. You would think that a guy that could walk on water and rise from the dead would make the papers.

i think that the story of jesus is the story of our sun in the sky. its the 'sun of god'. giving life to the world. well, in the wintertime, the days get shorter and shorter, and the sun appears to move south in the sky. on or around december 20th, the days are as short as they will be all year. they call this 'the death of the sun'. for three days, the days don't get longer or shorter, but appear to stay the same. after three days, the days begin to get longer. this is 'the resurrection'. we celebrate the resurrection of 'the sun' on easter, because that's the spring equinox, when the daytime is officially longer than the night.

basically, jesus is a fictional story based on the pagan beliefs of nature.

when i was 6, i was wearing my dad's cowboy boots and slipped in a gravel driveway and was knocked out cold for hours. when i awoke, i had no idea that any time had passed. i think that's what happens when you die. there's no heaven, no hell, it's just over. and there's nothing wrong with that. religion is just a lie to help people feel like there's more. i believe that we are meant to make our mark, leave our mark on the earth, and after that, it's over.

religious organizations pay no taxes, it's a multi billion dollar industry. and if anyone asks "hey, isn't this bullshit?", then they're blasphemous.

religion is a way for people to answer the questions that we don't have answers to. the greeks or something, they had gods for everything. the rain, the moon, fire, etc. over time, scientists have figured out that "no, god didn't make the rain, it's actually a result of this...". so then the people were like, "oh, okay well then there's no rain god, but there's Definately these other gods"

and now all religion has left is "where do we come from?" and "where do we go?" but that's fine. that's all they need.

so, lets see what religion gives us: it gives money to the people in charge, the people who know the real truth (that it's all lies), takes money from the people who believe it, people who are mostly poor, or suffering.

because that's when people turn to religion, when things get tough. "oh god, please help me out of this situation."

i don't buy it.


Typos, grammar and capitalization aside, I have just one thing to say: How sad.

How sad that he confuses Jesus with “religion.”
How sad that he is more inclined towards creation than the Creator.
And how sad that you can literally feel the lack of hope my friend has.

I am, however, quite interested by his opinions of Jesus being, in actuality, a story of the “sun of god” and how he compares certain acts of nature with the story of the resurrection. What a fascinating observation! Even though I am more inclined to believe that it is nature corresponding with the story of Jesus rather than the other way around, those are some extremely interesting thoughts.

But, to me, the what isn’t as important as the why. I can’t help but think where he managed to get these ideals. At the beginning of his blog, he quotes another comedian: George Carlin. Some of you may remember George as the father of Ben Affleck in Jersey Girl or the first host of SNL way back in the day. As a fellow comedian, my friend can easily identify with him so I did some research on him. Wikipedia has a section under his name entitled “Religion” and lists the following for him:

Although raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Carlin has often denounced the idea of God in interviews and performances, most notably with his "Invisible Man in the Sky" and "There Is No God" routines. In mockery he invented the parody religion Frisbeetarianism for a newspaper contest. He defined it as the belief that when a person dies "his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there", and cannot be retrieved.

Carlin has joked that he worships the Sun, because he can actually see it, but prays to Joe Pesci (a good friend of his in real life) because "he's a good actor", and "looks like a guy who can get things done!”

Carlin also introduced the "Two Commandments", a revised "pocket-sized" list of the Ten Commandments in his HBO special Complaints and Grievances, ending with the additional commandment of "Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself."

So…my question now is: How do these men come up with these ideals?

At the risk of incriminating myself (again), I’ll share what I wrote to my friend in response to his blog:

I read your most recent blog and just had to comment. How interesting! I especially like your opinions about Jesus being, in actuality, a story of the "sun of god" and your connections of nature to the story of the resurrection. I've never heard it like that before.

However, the struggle I face is trying to figure out how nature manages to, in a sense, run itself. Also, how could a large number of people, who all lived at different times, manage to view all these events of nature in the same way and come up with the same story enough to turn out an entire book based on one man?

Granted, my thoughts on the matter come from a pretty strict Christian upbringing but I've found myself a lot more open-minded due to some recent events with some fellow “Christians.” But, ultimately, I don't like to leave things unresolved so I constantly question. Thanks for making me think a little today. =)

In truth, I wrote this mostly because I felt like I needed to say something. I don’t believe all that much in “accidents” so I don’t think my happening onto his blog was a mistake. If he doesn’t reply and that’s the end of it, so be it but, I’m starting to believe that, if we let things like this go unanswered, it’s worse than any fight that may come from commenting. If we stop questioning things that come up and immediately dismiss them, either because we’re afraid of a fight or think the other holds no authority on the matter, how will we ever find the right answer? I don’t have it. You don’t have it. I believe no one on earth has a full comprehension of God. It would be like trying to explain the internet to an ant. Our heads would explode! But, I also think that, if we could fully understand Him, He wouldn’t be God.

I had and have no intention of fighting with my friend on this matter or any other that may come up as a result of his blog. That would be useless and won’t get us anywhere. Plus, why? Why would you fight with someone about what they have come to believe? Especially if you don’t know him. He may be a good friend of mine but, ultimately, I don’t know him from any other stranger on the street. I don’t know if he had a rough upbringing or if life is extremely tough for him right now. Any number of things could’ve lead him to believe the things he does and who am I to judge him for drawing those conclusions based on what he knows? After all, I’ve done the exact same thing.

We are all a product of our surroundings. How we were raised, the people we talk to, the places we frequent, the books we read. All of it contributes to who we are today and who we are becoming. Remember that the next time you meet someone you don’t like. You can’t hate people for who they are. How ridiculous is that? And you can’t scoff at people because they aren’t as smart as you or don’t dress the same or are a constant annoyance. Who we are is determined by whatever life we are thrown into.

That’s why it’s important not to judge people right away and to be a good friend, a good neighbor, a good parent or sibling, a good co-worker. The people around you influence you as much as you influence them. Stop worrying about what others are doing or not doing. You are responsible for you. Think of it this way: If a child is neglected by a parent, who is to blame? The parent or the child? If that parent shows up in court and says, “Well, my child is just weird. Our personalities clash and we don’t have anything in common,” judge and jury would go nuts! Put every one you know and meet in this scenario and be the parent. Take initiative and pay attention to the child. You might just find out you both have the same DNA after all.

Blessings,
Mandy ><>