Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Singing Gospel, Heretically

HELL, YOU AINT EVEN A CHRISTIAN, said some sanctimonious presumptuous senior citizen. To the extent that the essence of Christianity is the central message of Jesus, actually I am, if only in terms of the central messsage, but I tend to let presumption pass. Why on Earth, or in heaven or helll, would you even be interested in singing gospel music in the first place? (Since said sanctimonious sentient citizen is suppositional, so is this short essay.) Aside, I said, from your possibly unfounded presumption concerning my religiosity - you've never bothered to consult me on the matter - and the fact that my motive for singing gospel music is none of your business, I generously consnt to respond. I like to sing, preferably alone. Singing in a group I find challenging because of my inexperience, and its a challenge I find appealing. Also, I embrace open mindedness, part of which I consider being an ability and willingness to step outside one's own personal beliefs, and, as they say, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". Concerning my religious beliefs, although I find some of the fundamental tenets of the Christian religion barbaric, primitive, cruel, vicious, and nonsensical, I, like almost everyone else, consider the essential message of Jesus sublime, noble, and surpassingly wise. I note that Jesus said nothing original. Confucius, among others, articulated basically the same philosophy centuries earlier. My personal favorites are the admonition against casting stones, and the one urging giving unto the poor, and rendering unto Casear, paying taxes willingly. The doctrine of unconditional love and forgiveness are maybe the most sublime of all. Jesus almost always spoke in "parables", which were highly metaphoric, and often confusing and difficult to understand. I strongly suspect that all Christians find his words often vague, contradictory, and hard to understand, but are unwilling to openly admit it, for fear that such an admission might give the impression of a lack of piety. He said that he confused spoke unclearly on purpose, to confuse people. Much if not most of the time his followers and family members had little or no idea what he was talking about, and they said so. He said that he fully embraced the Old Testament laws, many of which are conspicuous by their harshness, harshness to the point of being insane. That is, unless you think that people should be put to death for working on the sabbath, or for cursing mothers and fathers. Sometimes Jesus said that he was God, sometimes he said that he was not. He told people that with faith they could perform miracles, but there has never been the slightest evidence of this. He told people that in order to avoid sinning with their hands they should cut them off, and with their eyes, they should gouge them out. This seemingly crazy viewpoint overlooks the fact that all action proceeds from thought, which originates in the brain. If we kill our own brains, we have no chance of following the teachings of Jesus. He taught people not to resist evil. If people fail to resist evil, evil spreads like wildfire. Of course evil should be resisted. He told people, essentially, to behave like doormats, to allow others to harm them without resisting the harm. This is contrary to nature, and reason. Scholar and writer C. S. Lewis insisted that either Jesus was a raving lunatic, a madman, or truly the son of God. Taken as a whole the madman option, a mentally ill person with delusinons of grandeur, much more closely fits his actions and teachings as described in the gospels, overall. Lewis omits the most likely probability; that the four unknown people who wrote the four gospels simply misnunderstood what he actually taught, since they had no primary, firsthand sources of information, never met nor spoke to Jesus, and got their information about him third or fourth hand, decades after he lived and died. Jesus taught that prayers were always answered. Studies repeatedly prove that prayers are answered at exctly the rate of random chance. The best Jesus is the one we invent with our best intentions intact, since we know hardly anything about him, nor even whether he existed. I'll keep singing gospel music to improve my ability to sing with others, to particpate in a harmless and even beneficial social activity, and to express my admiration for and appreciation of the creator of the universe, what Einstein called "the infinitely superior spirit". But I don't want to wash away my mistakes with anyone else's blood, and cannot imagine why any decent, responsible person would. Johann wolfgang von Goethe, the undisputed prince of European literature, said it best, as he said many things best: "Pure was Jesus in his passion, in his heart but one God serving. Who of him a God would fashion, from his sacred will is swerving."

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