First, let me caveat this post by expressing certain salient features of my past: As a fifteen year old, I spent the summer with my paternal grandparents in Oklahoma, and was compelled to attend church with my granny. I was rather an awkward youth as a high school freshman to be, and had not felt as if I fit in at any of the schools I had attended to this point in life. I attended a large Baptist summer camp called Falls Creek, and at the end had the typical emotional conversion experience. The kids in the youth group were very nice to me, and the youth minister was particularly welcoming.
The structure and community created by the church I attended was fairly nurturing, and offered a needed boost to my self-esteem. Because I had not been exposed to anything better (which I later would when I found myself amongst the company of hippies--real hippies, mind you, and not mere stoners), I continued on the path to become a minister, and was licensed and ordained and pastor of a small church by twenty-one years of age. Whilst attending a Southern Baptist University, however, I began to be exposed to ideas by various Humanities and Social Science profs which caused me to question what I had been taught in church and in the quite conservative religion department at OBU. Before my undergraduate career was over, I had resigned my ministry and picked up a second major, History.
I then attended a Master's degree program at the University of Chicago, one of the top universities in the world in my field of inquiry, and many other disciplines as well.
Basically I am saying I was given an inside view of Christianity and church, and have the professional historical training to qualify my opinions even by institutional standards. I am grateful for the kindness and community that was offered by a local church, and value those aspects of said institution, however . . .
Anyhow, those things established, on to the meat of this post . . .
Essentially, I shall contend herein that mainstream Western historians have systematically lied about the history of "the Western world" (I use quotes to call into question the very designations of "West" and "East"--India is closer to where I sit writing this if one travels West, for example). Abraham and Sarah and Haggar were preceded by Brahma, Saraswati and Ghaggar, Hindu creator deity and his consorts; Jeshua ben Joseph (aka, "Jesus Christ") was preceded by Krishna, whose mythology is an obvious pattern after which the life story of Jeshua was devised (not that he didn't really live, and not that he was not an avatar, mind you); and Islam likewise followed various patterns set in Sivite mythology (for more on these obscured and intentionally hidden roots of "Western Civilization," see previous post "Hidden Origins of the West").
The fact that Western historians and theologians had to lie, obscure, edit and dishevel regarding the roots of their religions speaks volumes. Religions that purport to expound absolute truth cannot hinge on denials and historical fallacies. Very telling of this sick tendency was a statement one of my religion professors at Oklahoma Baptist University made when we were discussing the founders of Judaism, mentioning the aforementioned connection between Abraham and his posse and Brahma and adding, "but we know better than that, don't we?" with a rather menacing furrow of his brow and frown. INDEED, THEY DO GOD DAMNED WELL KNOW BETTER, THESE SUPPOSED SCHOLARS OF PURPORTED TRUTH PROMOTE BALD-FACED LIES!!!!!!!
Beyond these glaring historical fallacies upon which Christianity bases many of its claims, the teaching that Jeshua's death somehow fixes what's wrong with the world and his follower's sins is clearly in conflict with Jeshua's own words as recorded in the New Testament, "You shall reap what you sow," i.e., karma-dharma, and also with his very strong words in the "parable of the sheep and goats," wherein the church builders and prophesiers and exorcists are sent to hell 'cuz they didn't attend to the poor and hungry, and those who weren't even his devotees yet who ministered to the needy got to hang out in heaven. In other words, karma-dharma, actions reap consequences, and compassion in action outweighs religiosity. It rather seems that many, if not most Christians are trying to write themselves a free-pass by selecting "truth" and twisting teaching from their own sacred books.
Another glaring fallacy of the teachings of Christianity is the notion of getting into some eternal heaven-realm just 'cuz you say a prayer and get dunked or sprinkled. Just say the magic words and mean 'em, and you go to some never ending paradise. Even the last verses of the New Testament deny this by stating, "and heaven and earth shall pass away . . ." Also of note, one renound evalngelical theologian promotes a version of afterlife that sounds rather like one of the hell realms told of in Hinduism, wherein the sun is gone or obscured, and only some "inner light" remains. Indeed, sounds like a "dark planet" hell realm in Hindu cosmology . . .
In the name of Christ, millions have been murdered and tortured and villainized. In the name of Christ, millions have been fed and clothed and sheltered. In the name of Christ, many have been unjustly judged (yo' you fuckin' puritanical witch hunters and scarlet-lettering shits, you forget "judge not, lest ye be judged?"). In the name of Christ and practices he promoted, many have found a path out of whatever personal sin or spiritual mire.
My point is, though Jeshua ben Joseph may have been an avatar--likely of Krishna--and though much wisdom and truth might be found in some of his recorded sayings, those who promote the religion that claims him as their own base their beliefs on numerous historical lies, and an excessive denial of "father Abraham's" roots (see previous post, "One, Two, Three, What Are We Fightin' For?"), and quite a number of convenient twists on Jeshua's own words. Though many have been given food and clothes and shelter by those who claim allegiance to Jeshua, many of those were stripped of land, means of making a living, and healthy cultural integrity by Christian colonialists who conquered and destroyed and violated indigenous peoples lives whilst bearing crosses--in other words, destroyed their lives, and then offered a few token gestures "in the name of Jesus," whilst continuing to exploit people and steal land and gold and freedom.
My claim is that there exists a sincere need to unabashedly and self-critically reexamine the roots of civilization and religion, and dismantle or "deconstruct" the myths (and lies) upon which "the West" has promoted and justified itself. I wouldn't necessarily wish for a dismantling of all "Christian institutions," mind you. Rather, I would ask those who claim they revere honesty to be honest with themselves and the rest of the world, and to cease to harm others with their conflation of Jeshua and capitalism, us-versus-them-isms, and traditions over truth.
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