The Beginning of the Word - Holy Mackerel!

Some, but not all, Christians believe that Jesus was God's first creation, and yet was God, and that it was Jesus who created everything we know of in the big unknown universe. Where would they get such a crazy idea? Well, from the craziest Gospel, of course! In John 1:1-3 we find: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. NIV The "Word" here metaphorically(?) represents Jesus, as the rest of John 1 will show you.  For those who try to deny the claimed divinity of Jesus, these verses are a huge stumbling block, at least if you place any faith in the Gospel of John. Anyway, obviously Jesus and God are quite different, despite them being made of the same stuff, which is why this Sonfish looks nothing like the Holy Mackerel. Finally, you'll notice that I made the Sonfish a bit larger than the Holy Mackerel; a nod to Christian "superiority" in the quantity of adherents over Judaism.  ;-)

I'm Still Here

If you are almighty God, and/or His mighty Son, and the best way you have of communicating to people is by getting believers who have never seen you before to put up plastic signs reminding people that you are still here, you probably don't exist.

These signs have popped up all over my small town, presumably because Christian persecution is so rampant that people no longer feel safe speaking about Jesus face-to-face, so they let these signs outside their homes do the talking for them... signs which conspicuously mark their location and identity.  :-p  (When will the persecution myth die?)

It makes me wonder:  Will the plastic on which this declaration of faith is printed outlast the religion on which this faith is based?  Based on current trends and the longevity of plastic, the odds indicate yes.

Anyway, I will be on hiatus from this blog for a month or so as I reach the conclusion of the Gospels on the other blog.  See you back here in August!  Oh, and, uh, do let me know if I need to put out a plastic sign to remind you when I get back...  ;-)

Before the Beginning - Holy Mackerel!

God had no beginning.  At least that is the traditional mantra.  God is the prime mover, the first cause and only cause without a cause. That sounds reasonable... until you start to ask what happened before the universe was made, because then you have to deal with the absurdity of eternity. Eternity isn't just a one way street.  Sure, it will go on forever after us, but it has already gone on forever before us! In the last frame, I cozied up close to the Young Earth Creationists' start date, because I think they have the most accurate date for the start of everything, Biblically speaking of course.  But the absurdity is not lost even if we rejoin the more-progressive Christians who accept a Big-Bang beginning at roughly 13.77 billion years ago, because God would have existed long before that by definition, like forever. Any way you look at it, we have existed for a trivially insignificant amount of time compared to God.  It is the hubris of humanity to think that, if there is a god, we are the most important beings in that god's world.  After all, what is the likelihood that throughout the eternity before us that we are the only ones? Those who believe that aliens have visited this planet often cite the possibilities if another planet developed life a mere one million years before the earth did.  Likewise, who is to say that a god who could create a universe from nothing didn't already create many universes long before the fuse was lit on our big banging ball?

A New Heart - Holy Mackerel!

Ezekiel 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." NIV One of the biggest problems with Salvation is the potential for sin associated with the persistence of the self into the afterlife.  As many, if not most Christians will fess up to, they still make mistakes and they still sin from time to time in one way or another.  But in the afterlife, supposedly no one will sin in the Kingdom of God. Clearly, something has to change. God will give the Saved a new heart, and a new spirit, such that they will never stray again.  But at that point, will they really be themselves anymore?  Or will they simply be puppets resembling their former selves?  And why not just start out that way, instead of condemning billions to the eternal junk pile as ultimate failures? While our mistakes, errors, and failings do not, or at least should not, define us, the potential for imperfection is what helps us identify and value the best qualities and achievements within ourselves and others, what drives us toward continual improvement and mastery, and what reveals to us the true nature and need of grace and love. As much as I hate to be wrong, I know it makes me a better person.  It would be a shame to lose that facet of existence for all eternity.  To err is human.  :-)