Observations during Early December, 2015

Robert Heinlein’s posthumous autobiography, Grumbles from the Grave, might have been an appropriate title for one written by the most famous Palestinian ever.

The increasing irrelevance of Yeshua ben Miriam’s philosophy of peace, tolerance, forgiveness, understanding and nonviolence among most Christians seems ironic unless one understand that Yeshua had nothing at all to do with Christianity. That was the invention of someone who never interacted with him, who probably never even met him and who, had he met him, would have been among those Jews who denounced him to the Romans insisting on his crucifixion, something that would have been much kinder than what he in fact did: pervert, distort and initiate the process that has led to the virtual destruction of Yeshua’s teachings, at least among self-proclaimed Christians. Just as ironic is that the prime believers in those messages today seem to be atheists, Wiccans and, perhaps, one brave Bishop in Rome.

Too many Christians take comfort in their ability to quote chapter and verse from a collection of contradictory and incoherent fables designed to provide political cover for very evil people ignoring any necessity to put off personal comforts in order to protect the weak and downtrodden as Yeshua urged. Vehemently criticizing Darwin, they are in fact devoted advocates of his doctrine of survival of the fittest, now morphed into survival of the fattest. I think Saul of Tarsus would approve.

Christian leaders urge followers to purchase and use guns, launch military attacks, hate neighbors who do not share their values, deprive the poor and homeless of support giving it instead to those who fleece the most helpless amongst us. What a strange world, but then, the philosophical descendants of Abraham seem to share the incoherence, contradictions and hypocrisy that characterized his life.
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2015; all rights reserved