The Mystery of Faith
Let us proclaim the mystery of faith. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
So sayeth the Catholic priest at today’s funeral mass.
I had the misfortune of attending a funeral today. A full Catholic burial mass. If you’ve never been to one or aren’t familiar with Catholic rites and ceremony, it’s a formal affair that always leaves me feeling like I’ve been sucked into a well organized and financed cult.
The priest was clearly intoxicated, slurring his words, rambling on and on and on, at times seeming to forget who or what he was talking about. I gave one of his utterances careful consideration as the worshipers and mourners filed forward to eat Jesus’ body and drink his blood:
“God didn’t invent death. We brought death by turning away from God.”
Really an amazing statement.
Lets pretend the Christian story is true for a moment and go all the way back to the Garden of Eden (are you old enough to remember “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”?) where there is no death.
Now, to be fair, I realize that some Christians see the Garden as more of an allegory. Others, mostly Southern fundamentalists but also more mainstream groups, believe it really went down that way. A garden with no sin, a lonely man, a women created from a rib, a devil disguised as a snake and some really sweet, irresistible apples. Landscaping brought to you by Trugreen.
So, here we are with no sin. There’s a man and a woman. Suppose for a moment the first two humans obeyed and didn’t eat the fruit. What does or what would a world with no sin, and therefore no death (remember it’s our fault) look like?
Could Adam and Eve (important to note that’s not Adam and Steve) have sex and not sin? The absolute and flawless Bible is silent on this topic. And if they had sex, isn’t it likely they would have created offspring, and their offspring would have created offspring (incest), and the cycle would continue and repeat itself, as it has, but without death?
Hmmm. That idea, in and of itself, is the complete antithesis of everything we know about ecology. A world with no death? There are already nearly 7 billion humans swarming around, but think about no death for a minute. Where does that leave us? Maybe God would build an annex for us? Another planet?
The whole idea, of course, is completely insane and only a wilfully irrational or naive person could believe such nonsense. Christians always have an answer, though. A good Christian apologist will tell you that you can’t understand this because your mind is finite and that you have to accept these things on faith.
I found the whole idea of this drunken priest spewing forth such nonsense to a room full of believers really incredible. Beyond bizarre. Yet, it’s the norm. Millions upon millions believe this fairy tale. And that, amigos, is the real mystery of faith.
And speaking of death, the whole death industry makes me want to vomit. You take a dead body, organic material, and for a few thousand dollars, you jack it up with chemicals so you can “preserve” it for some undetermined amount of time? For what? The Second Coming? A future archaeological dig?
Then you bury the body in a metal casket in a concrete vault for a few thousand more dollars. Probably about ten grand in all. Maybe more. It’s one of the most ecologically unsound and ridiculously stupid things I’ve ever heard of it, yet, as with religion, millions of non-thinkers fall for the ruse every day.
Me? I’ve left firm instructions for no embalming. No caskets or funerals. Just put me in my favorite down sleeping bag and dump me in the ground. Abbey style under some rocks in the desert is fine. A Gram Parsons bonfire is okay, as well, although that might not be the best solution ecologically speaking.
My brother-in-law and I also have a pact to never let either linger in a hospital with tubes poking in and out of every orifice. Like Abbey, just carry me outside somewhere and let me die under a big old tree or in a canyon. If I’m terminal but able, maybe I’ll wander off like Lew Welch and end it with a pistol.
But no goddamn hospitals and no goddamn caskets, chemicals, cash hungry funeral directors or Catholic priests. Just a new phase in the circle of life and a celebration of life.
By the way, was Jesus a blond?
Since you started on the religion topic I feel a bit obligated to say something. I studied religion as one of my minors. As far as Christianity goes there are so many flaws, and editorial errors in the bible that if it is divinely inspired or the word of God, he’s a complete dumbass. Even in the book of Genesis we have more than one creation story, back to back no less. People just take it for granted because they’re too dumb to explore these things further. Besides, if anyone’s read the Old Testament, they would have seen what a vindictive, evil son of a bitch their God really is. I’m not saying there’s no life after death, my mom’s always been into the psychic/spiritual stuff so I’ve got my views, however, any form of organized religion seems to be nothing more than a pile of shit used to control people. As far as the burial goes, I agree, dump me in a sleeping bag in the Allegany mountains somewhere and ring the dinner bell for the coyotes. See ya in hell brother!
I had the pleasure of spending eight years in parochial school. It was a strange, strange trip.
I will confess to coming down so hard on Christianity, though. I know some really decent, yet misinformed, Christians. They believe they’re doing the right thing, and perhaps I shouldn’t judge.
But on the other hand, I believe religious fundamentalism is at the root of a lot of problems, primarily because of its anthropocentric misogynistic doctrinal basis. It’s all about hierarchy, and the hierarchy always has a man on the top. The planet and its non-human inhabitants are simply here for our taking and will one day “pass away.”
And although humans are doing their damndest to see that earth does “pass away,” my money is on Mother Earth. If anything passes away, it’s going to be us.
Well, there’s faith and there’s faith.
Some folx have faith in a fictional character nailed to a tree.
Some folx have faith in technology, knowledge and wisdom.
Some folx leave the whole trip of faith as a bad deal and live life embedded in the moment, one with the all that is.
Faith is dependence on external salvation, with no physical evidence to suggest any source for such support. A person of faith gives up personal responsibility for their life, choosing to live in thrall to others.
“Every man should be his own guru; every woman her own gurette.” Ed Abbey
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0401.html#concern
…my bioregion, anyway I gave you a shout out on my blog. I stole one of you’re old entries, but gave you credit.
“We brought death by turning away from God.”
I can’t help but wonder if, like so many things with Christianity, “death” in this sentence is not meant to be taken literally. What you believe determines what it actually does mean, but I for one am certain that it’s not in reference to bodily death, like a funeral commemorates.
If people would be able to think outside the context of what the Bible is associated with and just read it as a work of literature, it is so ridiculously ambiguous that it can be taken a thousand different ways. Thus, we have a thousand different “flavors” of Christianity. In terms of how well it’s written, no work of Shakespeare could ever be compared to the Bible … it’s very nearly mathematical, the way it’s worded and such. Phrases like the one you heard at this funeral are so vague that only one’s faith can interpret them.
It’s so hard to tell what to have faith … it seems like you have to be stupid and not think too much into things to have it.
I completely agree on your sentiments regarding funerals as a farse. They’re more for the living than the dead.
Of course, this again opens up the “faith” can of worms … if self-proclaimed faith-havers possess so much faith in God, why are they so sad when someone’s Earthly body stops working?
I like your blog a lot.
Thanks for stopping by, Justin. You could be right about the “death” statement, although during my religious training, albeit within just one “sect,” I was taught it meant literal death.
Maybe the whole thing is allegorical.
It’s too bad more Christians aren’t focused on the sensible teachings of their faith. Compassion, love, simplicity, forgiveness, kindness, etc.