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James Cameron says he's found the tomb of Jesus. (No, not that one.) He's releasing a documentary about it, and presenting his theories about how the discovery disproves the whole resurrection thing.
Uh-oh.
After reading through some of the comments over there, I decided to put in my two pesetas. Since I can't be sure the comment will show up - they are screened - I've included it here:
What I'd like to know is why this is such a big deal to Christians. From where I stand, what was important about Jesus was not whether he was the scion of a deity - that was not a rare claim back then. Neither was it his ability to do feats of magic - after all, every trick he did was also performed by other magicians of the time, which is why the religious authorities of his day refused to accept them as proof of anything. (The water into wine trick was especially common.) And he was hardly the only guru to do things like walk on water - Buddhists texts from 200 years before Christ contain that exact same story about Gautama. Neither was his "conquering death" the point.
As I see it, what was important about Jesus was what he SAID, what he TAUGHT, what he tried to instill in his followers - be kind, be generous, be circumspect, be responsible. If a man ask for your cloak, give him your shirt as well. (So don't sneer at that guy in the street begging for a quarter - give him a dollar instead. Better yet, give him five.) Do not store up treasure for yourself on earth. (So stop being so selfish with your money and earthly possessions, 'cause they ain't gonna last.) If you come to a town where your preaching is rejected, brush the dust from your shoes and walk away. (So if people don't want to hear your caterwauling about what you believe, have the good sense to SHUT UP AND LEAVE, because insisting on haranguing people gives your god a bad name.)
These and all the other lessons he taught were smart, compassionate, valid jewels from the mouth of a great teacher. Yet how often do we actually see all these people who go on and on and ON AND ON AND ON about how Jesus was God and Lord and Prince of Peace (that's a laugh, coming from the warmongering right) and Grand High Poobah, how often do we see them really abiding by the actual words this man said? I mean, REALLY living by it? Pretty damn rarely, in my experience.
Oh sure, they'll tithe to their churches, but give money away? REALLY give it away, as in handing it out and never seeing it come back in any form? Yeah, right. How about feeding the hungry? (Other than their friends at Thanksgiving and Christmas, that is.) Clothing the naked? (Maybe they'll box up some old t-shirts every few years. MAYBE. If you guilt-trip them hard enough.) Visitng those in prison, which Jesus specifically mentioned? (Your cousin Pete doesn't count.)
How about turning the other cheek? THAT is one of the absolutely central messages of Jesus's mission, and I have yet to meet a Christian who lives by it. Some of the most violently bigoted people in this country call themselves Christians. How often have you heard a Christian talk about trying to understand and show love to the people who perpetrate terrorist acts? And yet that is what Jesus told his followers to do - show love to those that hurt you, compassion for those that persecute you. Not just MOUTHING words of love, actually ACTING WITH LOVE. How often do you see that?
Again, pretty damn rarely. In fact, I can't remember ever hearing a Christian say that maybe if we'd tried to show love to those that attacked us, things might turn out differently. Richard Gere said it - openly, in public. He espoused the very view that Jesus had on the question of violence and retribution and got hounded into silence by all the "good Christians" who were there when he said it. Those "good folk" were completely focused on their vengeance, hatred and violence, and had no interest whatsoever in hearing such un-American, pansy-ass, Commie crap as "Blessed are the peacemakers" and "The meek shall inherit the earth". Not them, oh no.
What most Christians seem to want is for Jesus to be a hood ornament for their gospel SUV, rather than a teacher who proposed difficult concepts such as forgiveness, tolerance, generosity, humility, compassion, kindness, selflessness, sacrifice. (Remember sacrifice? Wow, if that isn't a quaint-sounding word these days, and yet it's what Jesus was all about.) The kind of people who want Jesus to be some kind of sparkly immortal Spirit Guide don't want to give up their comforts or prejudices, don't want to be told their way of life is obscene because it depends on an exponentially greater number of people living in misery, hunger and pain. They want their TVs and their big cars and their iPods, they want their country to pound the crap out of anyone who disagrees with them, they want to live with their heads in the sand, all puffed up with self-righteousness about how GOOD and SAVED and MORALLY CORRECT they are, all the while ignoring the very lessions the man they claim to be God left for them.
I have a suspicion these people have a really, REALLY nasty surprise waiting for them on the other side of the grave. If Jesus really is the guy the Bible claims he is, when they get to his throne, he is going to unleash a serious can of whupass on them. Because you know, irony can be pretty ironic like that.
James Cameron says he's found the tomb of Jesus. (No, not that one.) He's releasing a documentary about it, and presenting his theories about how the discovery disproves the whole resurrection thing.
Uh-oh.
After reading through some of the comments over there, I decided to put in my two pesetas. Since I can't be sure the comment will show up - they are screened - I've included it here:
What I'd like to know is why this is such a big deal to Christians. From where I stand, what was important about Jesus was not whether he was the scion of a deity - that was not a rare claim back then. Neither was it his ability to do feats of magic - after all, every trick he did was also performed by other magicians of the time, which is why the religious authorities of his day refused to accept them as proof of anything. (The water into wine trick was especially common.) And he was hardly the only guru to do things like walk on water - Buddhists texts from 200 years before Christ contain that exact same story about Gautama. Neither was his "conquering death" the point.
As I see it, what was important about Jesus was what he SAID, what he TAUGHT, what he tried to instill in his followers - be kind, be generous, be circumspect, be responsible. If a man ask for your cloak, give him your shirt as well. (So don't sneer at that guy in the street begging for a quarter - give him a dollar instead. Better yet, give him five.) Do not store up treasure for yourself on earth. (So stop being so selfish with your money and earthly possessions, 'cause they ain't gonna last.) If you come to a town where your preaching is rejected, brush the dust from your shoes and walk away. (So if people don't want to hear your caterwauling about what you believe, have the good sense to SHUT UP AND LEAVE, because insisting on haranguing people gives your god a bad name.)
These and all the other lessons he taught were smart, compassionate, valid jewels from the mouth of a great teacher. Yet how often do we actually see all these people who go on and on and ON AND ON AND ON about how Jesus was God and Lord and Prince of Peace (that's a laugh, coming from the warmongering right) and Grand High Poobah, how often do we see them really abiding by the actual words this man said? I mean, REALLY living by it? Pretty damn rarely, in my experience.
Oh sure, they'll tithe to their churches, but give money away? REALLY give it away, as in handing it out and never seeing it come back in any form? Yeah, right. How about feeding the hungry? (Other than their friends at Thanksgiving and Christmas, that is.) Clothing the naked? (Maybe they'll box up some old t-shirts every few years. MAYBE. If you guilt-trip them hard enough.) Visitng those in prison, which Jesus specifically mentioned? (Your cousin Pete doesn't count.)
How about turning the other cheek? THAT is one of the absolutely central messages of Jesus's mission, and I have yet to meet a Christian who lives by it. Some of the most violently bigoted people in this country call themselves Christians. How often have you heard a Christian talk about trying to understand and show love to the people who perpetrate terrorist acts? And yet that is what Jesus told his followers to do - show love to those that hurt you, compassion for those that persecute you. Not just MOUTHING words of love, actually ACTING WITH LOVE. How often do you see that?
Again, pretty damn rarely. In fact, I can't remember ever hearing a Christian say that maybe if we'd tried to show love to those that attacked us, things might turn out differently. Richard Gere said it - openly, in public. He espoused the very view that Jesus had on the question of violence and retribution and got hounded into silence by all the "good Christians" who were there when he said it. Those "good folk" were completely focused on their vengeance, hatred and violence, and had no interest whatsoever in hearing such un-American, pansy-ass, Commie crap as "Blessed are the peacemakers" and "The meek shall inherit the earth". Not them, oh no.
What most Christians seem to want is for Jesus to be a hood ornament for their gospel SUV, rather than a teacher who proposed difficult concepts such as forgiveness, tolerance, generosity, humility, compassion, kindness, selflessness, sacrifice. (Remember sacrifice? Wow, if that isn't a quaint-sounding word these days, and yet it's what Jesus was all about.) The kind of people who want Jesus to be some kind of sparkly immortal Spirit Guide don't want to give up their comforts or prejudices, don't want to be told their way of life is obscene because it depends on an exponentially greater number of people living in misery, hunger and pain. They want their TVs and their big cars and their iPods, they want their country to pound the crap out of anyone who disagrees with them, they want to live with their heads in the sand, all puffed up with self-righteousness about how GOOD and SAVED and MORALLY CORRECT they are, all the while ignoring the very lessions the man they claim to be God left for them.
I have a suspicion these people have a really, REALLY nasty surprise waiting for them on the other side of the grave. If Jesus really is the guy the Bible claims he is, when they get to his throne, he is going to unleash a serious can of whupass on them. Because you know, irony can be pretty ironic like that.
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What most Christians seem to want is for Jesus to be a hood ornament for their gospel SUV
...coupled with the judgement day can of whupass had me cheering and laughing in agreement.
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I'm gonna go kill my brother now, cos' he and his wife planted beans next to tomatoes a few years ago. I've been waiting much too long. Well... I feel like killing my brother anyway, but that's beside the point...
Very good essay. There's another person in there that I like, arguing with one of the mindless drones. It's good to speak up.
What a WONDROUS RIDE this shall be!!
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I am so glad to hear someone else say that! I'm a Christian and I don't care if Jesus was resurrected, I don't even care if he was literally the son of God, he was a good man who taught some very good lessons on how to be a good human being. I know a lot of Christians and non Christians who act through love and give selflessly not because they want something in return, but it's always the "Good Decent God Fearing Christians" who speak the loudest and do the least. They have all the money and don't give it away to those who really need it. They condemn gays because love is apparently abhorent if you're not the 'right' gender. They condone wars because it makes the darker skinned people go away or step into line. The vocal minority are the least Christian-like Christians I have ever seen. I'm sorry to say too that there seems to be a disproportionate number of them in the US, though there are some here too.
And so many people don't even know their history, there are people who say "Jesus wasn't even real", yet if they pick up their history books they'll find out he did exist - that's not something that's unsure, what's unsure is if he was the son of God. And the crap some Christians go on with, saying Mary wasn't anyone special - no she was just the mother of the man they're worshiping!
Who cares if Jesus' remains are still here, who cares if he did marry Mary Magdelene and whether she was a former prostitute or not, we should care about living with some morals instead of judgements. But I guess people like them will never get it and just see us as 'heathens'.
One thing I don't get about the current debate over whether it's Jesus' tomb or not is that they say the name on the tomb is Yesua yet I leant at school that his real name was Yoshua Ben Yosef. It's possible of course that some translator along the line changed but it's an odd discrepancy
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\0/
Very well put, luv - you have a definite way with words, and you've totally expressed what I've thought for years.
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I find it ironic that it's James Cameron, one of the most arrogant, hubris-filled assholes of all time (sorry if I'm stepping on toes, but that's how he strikes me) who seems to be getting the job of sticking it to the Christians. God's probably laughing himself silly as he prepares the next Deluge and sharpens his lightning bolts. By picking Cameron, he has begun The Great Smiting by humiliating the lot of us. The problem is, of course, that so many believers will dismiss Cameron for the very traits I've mentioned, and the fundies will just get louder, meaner and more dangerous in their insecurity.
I have to admit that I still want my TV and my car (though I'd trade mine in a heartbeat for a fuel-efficient model quiet enough to preserve my hearing), but I don't want us to pound other people unless they threaten invasion in a way that cannot be disputed. If we'd taken the high moral ground right after 9/11, when the world was sympathizing with us, we would not be in the mess we're in now. Whether Christ was resurrected or not, he's spinning in agony somewhere as we crucify him all over again.
Time to go to bed and have nightmares, now.
Catherine
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