The Civilization of God

(5)

Let us hope.

(I should mention that the previous entry was powered by whiskey, not by 3.2 beer. It seemed to me that the mood here was way too serious and needed to be upgraded.)

Concerning the general subject of religion (which we are now on) my notes (after Pat Robertson) read, 'prove Jesus?' Frankly I was mystified. PR would never touch such a subject. Then I remembered that some dude in Italy had brought a suit against The Church which claimed that the existence of an historical Jesus had not been proved and that The Church was therefore a scam, presumably punishable under the law. Did I get that right?

I laughed, of course, at the very idea. Jesus' actual historical existence is irrelevant and can never be proved or disproved in a court of law. No religion can be 'proved or disproved.' It is the nature of religion to be unprovable. 'Provability' belongs to Science alone.

But the very idea of Jesus seems to fit in with the VOOT: God, bloodthirsty back in the old days before he became somewhat civilized, demanded payment in blood from those humans who had offended Him. Lamb's blood would work, so long as you left the lamb in question for the priests in the Temple to cook. In fact, lamb was the priestly preference. God loved sacrifice. So did the priests.

This theme led logically to Jesus' cruci-fiction as the ultimate sacrifice which served to pardon believers who had offended God. Jesus became known as 'The Lamb of God,' 'The Savior,' The Messiah.' Through Jesus' bloody death God became civilized (more or less).