“Life has no purpose,” said A, in despair.
“Life has no purpose,” said B, with deep rejoicing.
One of them could be right or both wrong, observed God, thinking of His own purpose, and how He might unriddle exactly what that purpose might be.
<END> … See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His book, At All Adventure: An Alternative Gospel may be purchased via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Signs appeared on a vacant lot proclaiming that a new development would soon arise there, no trespassing (signed) God. But then nothing happened. The signs grew old, rusted. We dared not build in that place, in hope or fear that God would return. Now, as to the signs God has placed in us as well: We dare not appropriate these either, even though we grow old, rust.
<END> … See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His book, At All Adventure: An Alternative Gospel may be purchased via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
When all the breathers of this world are dead …” [Shakespeare, Sonnet LXXXI]
Satan sat on his burning throne, face hard with flame and eyes gleaming white, last-born of the dead and everlasting Force! The forked tongue writhing from his mouth pierced the damned like awls: admonishing, rebuking, transfixing them with Responsible Comment.
Jesus stood before Satan. “Come, follow me,” said Satan, “and I will show you the damned.”
He went with Satan and beheld a pit exceedingly deep, and in them many souls together. And Satan said, “All of these dead, they envy the ‘breathers’ as they call the ones above. They say, ‘I have a right to breathe just as any of them.’
“They say, ‘I have been here six years’ (or six hundred, or six thousand –) ‘and I have earned the right to breathe again.’
“They say, ‘Those breathers are no better than I am.’
“They say ‘They have it so easy, those breathers, you know I used to be a breather once myself and so I know.’
“And then they say, ‘If I will be no breather I will have no breathers there above,’ and they plot to rise from the pit and suck the life from the living upon their beds in sleep, when breathing comes from the Spirit out and in, to catch their breath and swallow it down hard, and lead the breather down to Hell, no breath ever more for him.
“They say all these things and more. But not one of them says, ‘O Lord I loved it when I was a breather; and now that I breathe no more I cry out for the air of breath upon my lips!’
“O no,” said Satan, “they say anything else, everything else. And so they are here.” He swung his arms around in a broad gesture. “And these are the ones you came to save?”
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a thriller from Melange Publications about a new kind of bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a literary adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
A: “We have found Messiah!”
B: “Where is his army come to free us?”
C: “We have found Messiah!”
B: “Where is his armor? Where is his shield?”
D: “He heals our sins and makes the blind to see.”
B: “Where is his scepter and where is his sword?”
E: “He has made the dead to rise and walk.”
All: “How could we ever follow one like him?”
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a thriller from Melange Publications about a new kind of bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a literary adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
“This camel,” the Prophet said, pointing to one tethered in the courtyard nearby, “will crawl through the eye of a needle before a rich man will be saved!”
The crowd cheered and dug their elbows into each other, winking and laughing.
But then a miracle came to pass, so slowly and naturally it was done before anyone noticed the needle’s eye enlarged, the camel’s haunches very small.
Lo! What a comfortable fit!
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a thriller from Melange Publications about a new kind of bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a literary adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
Judas had drafted a statement of policy for determining who would be supported by the group’s charities.
“First of all, of course, we must distinguish the deserving poor from those who could work at something, if suitably washed and got up in clean clothes, and energized, and motivated.
“And second, we must ask that women seeking relief diminish the number of their children, or at least undertake to produce no more.
“Third, we do ask that all applicants for assistance be fresh and eager in attitude and positive in tone, regardless of their previous condition.
“And last, we can of course only support the poor at the level at which we ourselves receive discretionary revenue; and so a budget, reflecting a responsible proportion of giving to receiving, will be proposed for your consideration.”
Judas finished reading, and looked around the table at the other members of the Board. For once, Jesus had absolutely nothing to say. Judas took this as a sign of approval.
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a techno-thriller from Melange Publications about a new kind of bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a kinky sci-fi adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
It was an honor to be on his show. The two guests waited off-stage during the monologue, gauging the response of the crowd. They passed a few quiet, unnecessary words. They knew they wouldn’t get the best of him in conversation, he, the master of debate, sometimes a master of abuse as well; but someone had to speak out for the old ways, for righteousness and faith.
After a short commercial break they were escorted to the stage: the scribe, then the Pharisee.
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a techno-thriller from Melange Publications about a bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a kinky sci-fi adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
“Hold your arms just so,” he said. “Hands relaxed, fingers just a little apart. That’s it, almost. Study the diagrams in the text; practice. Tomorrow’s lesson is at 10.
“Are we bringing these miracles about, or is it all just coincidence? I have another student now; I can’t take time to answer questions. No, you’ll have to ask one of the wise men. I studied praxis, not theory. Opinions vary. There are different schools of thought. Myself, I think it’s better not to ask: we wave our arms at the required times; the miracles occur.”
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page,
http://www.amazon.com/Terence-Kuch/e/B008MC3TMY/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1361111342&sr=1-2-ent
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a techno-thriller from Melange Publications about a bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a sci-fi adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
In his later years, the prophet tries to recall the source of his inspiration. He mumbles the same old words when the Movement asks. But now, the words don’t seem so urgent. What does the teaching really mean? He doesn’t remember. His followers treat him as a beautiful relic whose words are merely of wisdom with no relevance to the world. He is local color, a living treasure.
Tourists take his picture. He shuffles off to sleep. The Movement pays for a pleasant room where his every word is monitored, at first to record his further revelations, later for divergence from official doctrine.
<END> … If quoting or reprinting, please credit http://www.terencekuch.com.
See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc. His speculative fiction novels * may be purchased in paperback or Kindle formats via his Amazon author page. Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com.
*The Seventh Effect: a techno-thriller from Melange Publications about a bioterrorist plot against the USA.
*See/Saw: a sci-fi adventure from Ink Smith Publications about buying and selling memories – mostly of sex.
“We Twelve were sitting together, recollecting what Jesus had said to each of us, secretly or openly, and organizing our recollections into books and epistles. I, for my part, was also writing my book, I must admit. Suddenly the Lord appeared to us. He looked over the evidence of our busy activity: the scrolls, the scribes, the ink, the lists of agents and publishers, the cover designs, the marketing plans. The cock crowed a fourth time.”
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. Reprint OK if http://www.terencekuch.com is credited.
NOW PUBLISHED from Ink Smith Publications, available on Amazon: Terence Kuch’s second novel, See/Saw – a sci-fi gender-bender murder mystery in a setting of international intrigue. (Review copies available.)
//
“Isn’t there another Book? I can’t seem to find it, now. The one Jesus wrote that answered all our questions, I mean. I’ve looked everywhere; thumbed through all the pages from Matthew back to Revelation. I’m sure it’s here somewhere. — Isn’t it?”
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. Reprint OK if http://www.terencekuch.com is credited.
… Read Terence’s Kuch’s At All Adventure: An Alternative Gospel – for Kindle at Amazon.com.
//
I leave it all to mother, dear heart, who never did approve of her accountant son. She wanted me to do with grain or fruit, with growing something in the earth and sun, wheat or lemons, mandarines. Well now, I’ve bought a field I’ve never seen, supposed to be good earth, well settled in citrus and shaded with cedar, good for growing trees; bought for a song – about a man. What will it grow for me?
# # #
The farmers’ custom calls for prayer upon a planting field. “Hosanna for things of the earth!” So starts the prayer the farmers make; they go on at some length. And seeing now that custom calls for prayer I make my own beseeching: Take my bones and blood in this fair field of good brown earth. Let me have to do with wheat and lemons bearing, cedars, mandarines. Bless this land and give me peace.
# # #
“I hear he hung himself with the cord of his robe. I had nightmares all last night. Someone said, ‘I had my nightmares the night before.’ His family gave him quite a bash – Kaddish in the Temple, then a fancy lunch at the King David for the mourners. The Jerusalem Post did a fine obit:
“‘Judas, Charitable Group Financial Executive.’”
# # #
“He left a note – they all do. He wrote a list of the people who gave him trouble – blamed them for his death.
“Your name was right on top.”
# # #
“Haven’t you heard? He burst apart along the seams like a bag of soggy wheat until his bowels gushed out upon his land. Some say it was a curse for turning in that man, you know, the one who made the cripples rise and walk. Haven’t you heard? But one who saw the dead face of Judas – the face, he told me, it flamed with a kind of – delight.”
# # #
“Because there had to be Twelve, one man to mean each tribe, because one had gone away to kill himself, there was a lottery. And because God willed the long straw to win, and because God willed Matthias to draw that straw, the lot fell to him; I lost.
“Rock came to me that day, and told me. He knew that I would bow to God’s will. He knew that I would continue to serve the Lord in any way I might be called. He knew that I would Understand.
“I saw them pass me by in the street, Matthias among them proud and humble, trying to fit in with their talk, learning how to pray with them, learning to make habits of strange ways, learning how each of them is to be spoken with, and of, and how each deals a little differently with life.
“What is there about me that Spirit does not love, or loves Matthias more? Maybe something dark the Spirit knows of me that I do not; a growth not yet seen, a lurking in a corner, something somewhere sudden –.
“Twelve men taste Heaven. I should have been a Hittite slave knowing three hills and a herd; then I would not grieve. I should have been a first-born lamb torn upon the altar, shrieking life away; then I would have had a different grief. My life has come very close; I have almost come to Heaven. One short straw a little longer, and –.
“They pass in the street, Matthias among them, learning how to multiply the loaves, and why.
“I grieve my life forever.”
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. Reprint OK if http://www.terencekuch.com is credited.
… Terence Kuch’s books may be purchased or previewed through his Author Page at Amazon.com.
He said, “One of you will betray me.” And as he spoke I heard the dark wind gather my soul and curl words inside my ear. He looked at me and I expected sadness, maybe wrath, not what I saw.
I lunged from the room, stumbling over chairs and pushing past the others, upset a bowl. Fools always, they thought I had some hurried errand for the poor; but I went to see the priests, and said, “I know where you can take him without the crowd.”
And they said, “Lead us to him.”
They asked my price and paid it.
# # #
Judas felt the silver in his hand, coins caressing each other’s quantity and weight. The rich man’s ostentatious offerings had gone to make up this horde, and the widow’s mite. Once in the Temple, the coins lost their source, became not treasure but treasury, accounts in a ledger, money without history or memory.
# # #
“Here’s your money, here! For pointing out the man the crowds have seen; for doing quickly what you came to do; for kissing him hard upon the mouth and getting out of our way. Here’s your money. Count it!”
# # #
“Invest in land, man, it’s sure to go up. Make your money work for you; don’t blow it all on booze and thrills. A farm outside of town is going on the block today; you could pick it up for thirty. Don’t feel bad about the way you earned the dough – he had it coming, didn’t he? Rousing zealots, pissing off the Romans – they sure nailed his ass good, didn’t they?”
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. Reprint OK if http://www.terencekuch.com is credited.
NOW PUBLISHED from Ink Smith Publications, available on Amazon: Terence Kuch’s second novel, See/Saw – a sci-fi gender-bender murder mystery in a setting of international intrigue.
Judas drafted a statement of policy for determining who would be supported by the group’s charities.
“First of all, of course, we must distinguish the deserving poor from those who could work at something, if suitably washed and got up in clean clothes, and energized, and motivated.
“And second, we must ask that women seeking relief diminish the number of their children, or at least undertake to produce no more.
“Third, we do ask that all applicants for assistance be fresh and eager in attitude and positive in tone, regardless of their previous condition.
“And last, we can of course only support the poor at the level at which we ourselves receive discretionary income; and so a budget, reflecting a responsible proportion of giving to receiving, will be proposed for your consideration.”
Judas finished reading, and looked around the table at the other eleven members of the Board. For once, Jesus had absolutely nothing to say. Judas took this as a sign of approval.
# # #
The others prayed for strength to raise the dead, not I that stupid game of corpses warm and stinking life. The others learned to cast out devils’ nasty souls, not I that stupid game of chasing ghosts as slow to catch as slugs. But I, I knew his Power could grip the earth when angry masses shout for bread. No emperor could stand against that strength.
# # #
“Judas was an easy one to take; that kind always is. I had not so much to turn him, no, as merely let him be.”
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. Reprint OK if http://www.terencekuch.com is credited.
Read Terence Kuch’s Midnight Central: Erotic / Ironic Poems – for Kindle at Amazon.com.
//
He called the Twelve to their professions: apostles, teachers; and to some he gave new names: “Petrus” (stone) or “Boanerges” (thunder); for the glory of natural Force was in them. And some he gave names from the ancient wisdom, as “Didymus” (twin), for the mystery of Heaven was in them.
But to one he gave the name “Iscariot”: knife-man.
# # #
There were persistent rumors of Judas, Accountant Gone Bad, the grist of myth for sure. This man was found to count the cash received, to feed the Twelve, to organize the giving to the poor.
Jesus found him in a counting-house, at a desk in the back. He was known within the firm as clever, to have a head for numbers. He could make a debit disappear quicker than you could flip “heads,” they said, and it would appear again in another account, or spread so thin to the right of the point it could hide forever.
He brought in the fees, they all said of young Judas, but some thought he would never make partner: he gave them an uneasy sense, and their skin grew cold at his glance.
Jesus approached his desk.
“May I help you?”
“Follow me.”
“Do you wish to engage me to examine your books?”
“Follow me.”
Judas knew from his look that there were no books, nor would there ever be.
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. Reprint OK if this blog is credited.
… Read Terence’s Kuch’s At All Adventure: An Alternative Gospel – for Kindle at Amazon.com.
//
Once upon a time there were long and passionate arguments over whether the stones the wise men had set up long ago were images (imago) of the gods, or were the gods them(ipse)selves.
Adherents of the imago theory were implacably opposed to adherents of the ipse theory, and vice versa. Contests were held in which priests of both sides prayed to the stones, waited to see if the stones would favor them or the despised others.
The stones, however, perhaps wisely, revealed no preference, not striking down the imagists as the ipsists had prayed, and failing alike to favor the ipsists by destroying the imagists. As these contests were accompanied by disputes of knives and spears, each side saw its adherents dwindle in number.
Finally one Saturn’s Day, there appeared a scoffer, who said that the stones were just stones, neither images of the gods, nor gods themselves. “A lump of dung,” the scoffer said, “has as much claim to be god as a rock does.”
This is how the Scoffists came about, and why we worship shit to this day.
The list has come down from the Emperor’s pet eunuchs: the gods of the tribes the empire has conquered this year. In a fond wish for civic tranquility, we must now respect these gods, allow and encourage their parades and holy days, tolerate their cruel celebrations and wretched food: the Emperor will have it so. In this way we turn savages into citizens. Perhaps. It’s a beginning, anyway.
Each tribe, each fraction of a tribe, has its own distinctive idol. Some tribes say the idol only represents the god, is not the god itself. Other tribes hold that their chunk of wood or stone is verily the god Itself, or Himself, or Herself.
Each year’s crop is a varied lot: a few tree stumps, carved pathetically into a fierce face or a sorrowing mother; rocks of obscure provenance that fell from somewhere in the sky; a goat to be laden with gold trinkets, then strangled; and so on. My job is to greet them as they pass in parade, accept their tribes’ offerings in the name of the Emperor, bid them peace.
There are always one or two cushions in the parade with nothing upon them. These are from tribes who worship an invisible god. I don’t like invisible gods – I don’t know where to fix my eyes when I pretend to honor them.
TO BE CONTINUED …..
<END> … Copyright 2012 by Terence Kuch. OK to link, or reprint if this blog is credited.
.. see www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc.
“… the Scythians fixed a knife in the ground, worshiped it as a god, and then killed a man with it.”
– Giambattista Vico (1725)
“Saint Anthony’s tongue,” the priest said; “there it is preserved behind the altar, under glass. At the moment the saint died, they say, he opened his mouth to speak, but too late. Several of us have examined the tongue’s configuration to divine God’s holy message, measured its width, its curvature, its weight both in the humid season and in the dry. We have published papers and given scholarly talks; we have uttered brilliant profundities; we have prayed. And now, finally, we have understood the saint’s message. Even so, there are those who speak against us.”
[title from Piero Camporesi] The tongue actually exists; it is displayed in the basilica at Padua, and may be spoken of in that place.
<END>
1. “Freud [claimed] that in dreams contradiction is ignored, that any element can be represented by its opposite. … [And there was an] early Egyptian linguistic practice in which many words have two meanings, each the opposite of the other.” (Edith Wyschogrod, “Disrupting Reason”)
2. We still have that practice, where the same word or phrase can be taken in a literal sense, or in an ironic sense meaning just the opposite.
3. In the Old Testament era, many Jews considered it sacrilegious to curse anyone. Upon occasion when the text reads “God bless…,” the context makes it plausible that the real meaning is “God damn…”
<END>
Ref.: 20 January 2012 interview of Rick Santorum by Piers Morgan on CNN, published in the Washington Post, 11 February 2012, page A6. The following exchange concerns the hypothetical rape of one of Santorum’s daughters, resulting in pregnancy. Would Santorum approve an abortion in this case?
MORGAN: It’s an almost impossibly hypothetical thing to ask you, but there will be people in that position, and they will share your religious values.
SANTORUM: It’s not a matter of religious values.
Morgan didn’t follow up on this; too bad. Perhaps he didn’t understand what Santorum was saying, or didn’t think it merited further discussion. But it does. Normally, those who oppose abortion say that it’s against the will of God. But if not God, then … ?
<END>
“Anselm’s Dream”
A final refutation of the ontological proof, and the world suddenly
“The Talk-Show”
It was an honor to be a guest on his show. They waited off-stage during the monologue, gauging the response of the crowd. They passed a few quiet, unnecessary words. They knew they wouldn’t get the best of him in conversation, he, the master of debate, sometimes a master of abuse as well; but someone had to speak out for the old ways, for righteousness and faith.
After a short commercial break they were escorted to the stage: the scribe, then the Pharisee.
<END>
<Excerpted from “Tell No Tales: Adventures of the Dead”, a book in search of a publisher>
Again there were thunders and lightnings in the mountain, and trumpets, and smoke there, and fire. Again Moses came down from the mountain carrying the tables of the Law, came a second time to Aaron and the people. They swore, the people, this time, to take the Law into their selves, their bodies, and live in the grasp and clutch of the god, forever.
Moses set up the tables of the Law in the midst of his people, so they might read what the god had commanded. Each one read with eyes and fingers probing the still-hot grooves where the god had burned his Law into stone.
They pondered and studied, discussed and argued, interpreted, wrought commentaries, and commentaries on the commentaries, and after a time they forgot that there had been anything but commentary, while the grooves in the stones of the Law slowly filled with desert sand.
or — They read a different thing, each as he wished or dreaded to see, and together they sought a reading from Moses, to settle the Law forever. And then Moses himself read the tables, probed the cold grooves with his fingers where the fire of the Lord had once burned hot, and stopped. He said something very quietly, something they couldn’t quite hear.
or — They read, tried to read, but the letters merged into each other, the words turned soft to their sight and blended into other words; hot grooves of the Law burned together: and the tablets crumbled into sand. Each one groped in the dust to carry off a commandment, a word, a letter.
or — They read the words of the Law together, aloud: I will rule you with a rod of iron. I will crush you where you stand, if you do any of the nine million things that displease me. I will make every other nation despise you.
And then they turned over the final table and read the final curse: I will preserve you as my holy nation, your children and your children’s children, forever.
Aaron and Moses observed all this and more. Finally, Aaron turned to Moses and said, Well, what did you expect when you went to the mountain? And Moses was silent.
<END>
If God says he is God, what reasons do we have to believe Him? He moves mountains? But there may be other beings in the universe who could do the same. Save souls? Ah, there! He must be the Evil One indeed!
The following, from , the Washington Post, March 29, 2009, is verbatim but abridged.
“Members of One Mind Ministries denied a 16-month-old boy food and water because he did not say “Amen” at mealtimes. After he died, they prayed over his body for days, expecting a resurrection, then packed it into a suitcase with mothballs. They left it in a shed in Philadelphia, where it remained for a year before detectives found it last spring.
“The boy’s mother, Ria Ramkissoon, has agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge on one condition: The charges against her must be dropped if her son, Javon Thompson, is resurrected.
“Psychiatrists who evaluated Ramkissoon at the request of a judge concluded that she was not criminally insane. Her attorney, Steven Silverman, said the doctors found that her beliefs were indistinguishable from religious beliefs.
“”She wasn’t delusional, because she was following a religion,” Silverman said, describing the findings of the doctors’ psychiatric evaluation.”
<END>
“The origin of life seems to be an incidental adjunct to the early development of a planetary surface.”
– Carl Sagan, Intelligent Life in the Universe [paraphrase]
<END>
When confronted with beings of evil intent it is, or was, customary for some Christians to make a protective gesture, the sign of the cross.
What should non-Christians do when confronted with beings of evil intent, e.g., Christian missionaries? Are they really evil? They are, after all, after your souls. If they would just settle for your wallet and cell phone like more practical assailants, it wouldn’t be so bad.
Atheists are sadly mistaken if they think they can just laugh off these emissaries. If only atheism were true …
It might at least make us feel better if we had our own protective gesture, even though ultimately it would have no more real effect than crossing ourselves.
But what gesture? No, that that one; that’s just crude. We need a more serious sign.
How about the ASL sign for “go”? (see http://www.lifeprint.com for an illustration)
<END>
Do you remember this scene near the beginning of The Matrix?:
“[Agent Smith:] We’re willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start, and all that we’re asking in return is your co-operation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
“[Neo:] Yeah…Wow, that sounds like a really good deal. But I think I’ve got a better one. How about I give you the finger, [Neo does so] and you give me my phone call.”
Quite a few centuries earlier, God offered Abram [Abraham] what sounded like a really good deal, too:
“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. [etc. etc.] –Genesis 17: 7-10 (ASV); see also Genesis chapters 13-15)
To Abraham, the deal must have sounded too good to be true. Actually, it was. Abraham, suitably overawed by God, didn’t think to make the same response Neo did. And so the Law.
(Michael Shaw writing in the Washington Post, 19 March, 2011, page A15:)
“In your March 9 editorial about tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [“A crude idea”] you said that historically, “presidents have tapped the reserve to cope with acts of God (hurricanes Ivan and Katrina) . . . .” Hurricanes are not “acts of God.” They can be described as “acts of nature” or “extraordinary events” or the like, but, since there is no evidence of a “God,” the events are definitely not “acts of God.” It might take insurance companies a long time to eliminate the terminology, but The Post should do it right now.”
TK: Have you ever noticed that “acts of God” are all really bad stuff, like tsunamis and volcanic eruptions? They’re also big stuff. A one-inch snowfall isn’t an “act of God”, but a 36-inch snowfall could be, if it causes enough disruption. Where’s the boundary? And if an old woman in Des Moines suddenly finds herself cured of metastatic cancer, that might or might not be a miracle, but no one would call it an “act of God”, especially the insurance companies.
“Acts of God” is right. There is a God. And He’s pissed.
<END>
As queer (yes) as it may seem, those Westboro folk may be on to something. You will recall the injunction “Be fruitful and multiply.” That is, Yahweh (the Abrahamic god) wants there to be lots of human beings, just as human farmers want their own crops to breed and flourish. Homosexual people have fewer children, statistically, than hetros; in most cases, none. God is displeased, because he enjoys the taste of fresh soul and can’t get enough. Therefore, the more human beings the better, even if they overwhelm the planet and cause the extinction of thousands of other kinds of beings. It isn’t just the same, eating rabbit soul, when you can gorge on the top earthly predator, i.e., us. God must feel threatened when He looks down and sees people voluntarily not reproducing, and yet they take bread from the mouths of those willing and able to breed again and again. There are pests loose on the farm, and they must be eradicated, ’cause they’re buggering the crop yield.
But the idea that God kills U.S. soldiers is truly stupid; service members are just the kind of healthy, vigorous breeding stock that He wants to see more of on the farm, not fewer. And they’re good eatin’, too.
<END>
An excerpt from the script for the film Pitch Black
RIDDICK
What're you doin'?
IMAM
Blessing you like the others.
It's painless.
RIDDICK
And pointless.
IMAM
I see. Well, even if you don't believe
in God, it doesn't mean He won't be --
RIDDICK
You don't see.
Riddick shrugs into the harness, snugs it down.
RIDDICK (CONT'D)
'Cuz you don't spend half your life in
lock-down with a horse-bit in your mouth
and not believe. And you surely don't
start out in a liquor store trash bin with
an umbilical cord wrapped around your neck
and not believe. Oh, absolutely I believe
in God. And I absolutely hate the fucker.
IMAM
He will be with us. Nonetheless.
<END>
Dystheism has two basic beliefs: (A) Yahweh, aka the God of Abraham, exists and affects events in this world. At the extreme, Dystheism holds that Yahweh created the universe and everything in it, and is the continuing underlying cause of all that happens, everywhen and everywhere. In either case, (B) Yahweh is evil. “Evil” here does not necessarily imply intentionality. It could be that Yahweh views His work, according to His own values, as neutral or supremely good. But the nature of God and the nature of man are very different, and our values are very different from His, primarily because we are mortal but for many other reasons as well. If a man suddenly became all-powerful and did many of the works that God is credited with, both in the New and Old Testaments, we would consider him the most evil, most sociopathic person ever to have lived. In the early parts of the Old Testament God is more feared than loved, and for good reason.
Yahweh is the divine farmer. He grows people (and other species, perhaps) as a farm crop. At death he harvests our souls. He moves people to have many children, so He can have more souls to raise to Heaven, i.e., to devour, making us (it is said) “eternally happy”.
Beliefs in the soulful meal are apparently of long standing. For example,
“Whatever men want, ghosts want. … Often the notion is that the gods eat the souls.” (Sumner)
We raise chickens and care for them. We feed them and harvest them and eat them. They become part of our selves, part of whatever bodily glory we have. Are they eternally happy to be so honored? That’s not quite the question. The real question is, is the universe arranged to accommodate the purposes of chickens, or people — or God? The latter, apparently; and that is what is evil to Man.
Notes:
.. Dystheism is also known as ‘Maltheism’.
.. William Graham Sumner, Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manner, Customs, Mores, and Morals (1907), p. 336.
.. See the Baltimore Catechism [of the Roman Catholic Church], edition of 1885: “LESSON FIRST[:] ON THE END OF MAN “6. Q. Why did God make you? “A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.” <END>
Shelly, the poet, in his essay “The Necessity of Atheism”, begins “There Is No God.” But he immediately continues “This negation must be understood solely to affect a creative Deity. The hypothesis of a pervading Spirit co-eternal with the universe remains unshaken.”
One of the gods Shelley didn’t believe in is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, who is said to have created the world, and is worshipped by Jews, Christians, and Moslems.
Is there, beyond local gods such as Yahweh (some of whom don’t exist and some of whom, perhaps, may) a Spirit of the universe, something akin to what Hindus call “Brahman”?
A warm belief in a somewhat chilly being. But the universe would be no different if there were, or were not, such a being; there is no possible evidence that would make a difference in our thinking of such a being. That’s why belief in a universal spirit is harmless. It’s also pointless.
<END>
What’s wrong with the world society we have built? It’s threatening to destroy itself. This has been true for all of human history, but now we can actually do it, pushing and tugging each other in all directions. What’s needed, as Anakin said, is a strong leader. But human leaders are infected with the same problems the rest of us have, disastrously so; and God seems to have no interest in saving us from ourselves, the ultimate strong leader being occupied with his own ends, largely to our detriment.
<END>
Thousands Flee Fargo as Floodwaters Surge in N.D.
Washington Post, March 28, 2009, page A4
Fargo, N.D. — As thousands of residents left North Dakota’s largest city Friday, others stayed and prayed that miles of sandbagged levees would hold against the surging Red River.
“It’s to the point now where I think we’ve done everything we can,” said resident Dave Davis, whose neighborhood was filled with backhoes and tractors building an earthen levee. “The only thing now is divine intervention.”
(Isn’t that what they’ve been suffering from?)
= = = = =
[Can there be an evil god? Is the concept contradictory? In the book of Job, Yahweh certainly seems to be evil, but that’s only from the point of view of Job’s dead sons, and his dead servants, and his dead sheep). In the end, Job’s faith was rewarded with seven new sons (among other gifts) -- as if his sons were all just interchangeable, no matter about the first batch now that he has more.]
<END>
A thought-experiment:
1. Empty your mind of everything you’ve ever heard or believed about Christianity. Pretend, for the sake of this experiment, that there is no Church, no Christian religion, and that you have never heard of Jesus of Nazareth.
2. Read the Gospel of Mark in some reputable and literal (or almost literal) translation, such as the Revised Standard Version of 1946 (or as revised in 1990), or Richmond Lattimore’s, or (especially) Reynolds Price’s. Read it front to back, in one sitting; this can easily be done in one evening.
3. Assume, for the sake of this experiment, that every matter of fact reported in Mark’s Gospel is literally true.
4. Now: Based on this reading, what do you think of the character of God? What are his apparent motives? What do you think of his relationship to Jesus? Your answers may surprise you.
———
* Notes:
Why Mark, and not the other Gospels? Because Mark was written first, and has a freshness of encounter the others lack. (Scholars agree that Mark was written before Matthew; and even if they didn’t, in reading the two together it just becomes obvious that Matthew was retelling and elaborating Mark’s work, especially with respect to fulfilling O.T. prophecies.)
Translations: the translators of the RSV had tin ears, so bear with it if you read that translation. The Lattimore and the Price are better, but not easy to find in libraries or bookshops. The King James (1611) and ASV (1901) ** versions are my favorites for reading, but both suffer from the unavailability of XXth Century scholarship.
** The ASV is identical, except for a few matters of spelling and punctuation, with the [English] Revised Version of 1881.
<END>
