Your Religion: Semi-Rational

FRI., SEP. 19, 1997, 6:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

Your culture, the North American, is, in theory, quite rational. There is emphasis on education… and it is to be “free” of religion. All children should be able to read rational material and be able to use rational arithmetic. Science, of course, is a major base for your way of life, augmented by the technology that is spawned by science.

For Christianity to be the major religion for such a culture it should be rational, also. The “best” it can be is semi-rational, meaning that some of its most important aspects must be soft-pedaled, left out, or rationalized. It just doesn’t fit very well. It is subversive. Let’s explore what this means.

It is fundamental to rational thinking that 3 and 1 are not the same. Am I, as your God, really one or really three? Islam and Judaism are more rational, proclaiming that there is only one God, Whose name is Allah or Yahweh. But you claim, and I certainly urge this, that there is One God, but He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You accept this, but have to stomp on the rational to do so.

As God I am Spirit, and I also am Holy Spirit, One with God. Also there was, from the beginning, which, apparently, was void, Me, as Jesus, the Christ, Who would, at the right time, be born into the earth as a human. So, at a particular time (not scientifically verifiable) I was conceived in a virgin young woman, by Me, the Holy Spirit, Who has no body.

My birth is heralded by angels, which is not common with births. One Gospel account has Me going to Egypt as a newborn, but I don’t reappear until I’m about 12. There is one short story, in which I disobey My parents, but show forth wisdom beyond what would be expected of a pre-teen. Then there is no more detail, only that I “grew in stature and in favor with God and man”. I was, supposedly, a carpenter like My earthly parent, Joseph, but there is no record of My making anything.

At about 30 I was baptized by a hippy cousin, John, who baptized many who came to him. Then I, Holy Spirit, came down as a dove, and I, as Father God, spoke some approving words. I then began My ministry, preaching but also doing some miraculous healings. Most of your Christians, of the West, accept that I have some healing powers, but you have much more faith in modern, scientific, technological medicine. Only a strange few of you would let Me be the sole healer. There is a good deal of feeling that complete medical care is a right, leaving Me with a decidedly secondary role in maintaining health and well-being. It is even considered a Christian duty (at least action) to work for universal medical care.

As a vigorous young man (the son of man, the Son of God, or God, Himself!?) I preached and healed but also declared that I must die for the sins of the world. Now you Americans honor heroes who give their lives for some worthy cause (mainly the saving of the lives of others), but you also are not in favor of suicide, the taking of one’s own life, no matter what the motivation.

So the death that I, as Jesus, and I as God, saw as necessary had to be semi-rational. There had to be a Good Friday in order for there to be an Easter morning – My rising from the dead, a supreme miracle. So I provoked the Jews, my people, to back up their leaders and demand My crucifixion. I gave up My life willingly, but I was put to death by the actions of the people I chose, earlier, to be My special folk. More than 2/3 of your Christian Holy Scriptures are the Old Testament, the story of these chosen Jewish people who then demanded My death.