MY REASONS, Ohhh My Reasons
So, you don't think there'd be much point for me going to church. I never really believed in that stuff except when I was a seven year old, even though I struggled with the possibility that Buddhism or Christianity were true well into my teens.
But Church is a great thing. The only real problem with it is the mythological aspect.
The things we can all enjoy about Church are the sense of community, the sense of peaceful contemplation (optional for churchgoers), the enjoyment of having a specialized venue for the purpose of thinking about the general issues in one's life, and the same sort of value we get from going to see a thought provoking movie, play, opera, or lecture.
Pastor John's sermon could have been a really insightful lecture. How nice it would have been to dress up a little, go to the lecture hall, take a walk afterward with my friends and family, over to cozy uptown Whittier, and sit outside Mimo's Cafe, eating breakfast and discussing what we thought of the issues presented.
Instead, what we thought was: what a bunch of freaky nonsense. My wife was the most incredulous, as she grew up in a godless nation, where no one even thought it useful to talk about religion. Imagine that, learning all the myths of your own culture, without being told they are real, or that people actually believe them.
The main myth that Pastor John focused on was something inconceivable to people born into an atheistic culture: Adam, Eve, the apple, and Jesus's loophole.
Before he got into the main topic, he started off good. He started off by noting how we all blame other people for our problems. That's a great topic, because we do it all the time, and it feels better when we can admit it in a group context without having to worry about other people using it against us.
But Pastor John wasn't saying that we should stop blaming each other, do a Michael Jackson, and start with the (wo)man in the mirror. He was saying we should start blaming Adam and Eve.
That was the whole thing. That means, two people, whose existence is unverifiable were immortal until they ate magic fruit. Than they lost their immortality. The man was punished by being made to practice farming, and the woman was punished by having to go through painful childbirth.
This is what we in the audience were supposed to use in explaining why we did bad things.
Rather than employing psychology to explain the choices we make, Pastor John appealed to a myth to explain our inborn nature. Along with modern social biologists and previous environmental determinist, pastor John is bypassing the beautiful simultaneous complexity of our minds. For him, the key is magic fruit.
This story contains an interesting parallel with a Chinese story about magic fruit and immortality.
When I noted this parallel in the pamphlet we were given, "Know Your DNA", and pointed it out to my wife, she started giggling and caused me to experience a laughing fit! I was so embarrassed. Nobody really noticed, but still. I couldn't stop!
The Oriental Connection
What I had written was 长生不老， which is a phrase in Chinese for immortality, used in reference to traditional myths, and Daoist legends. Next to that I wrote 苹果/桃子, which means apple/peach.
The Chinese story most similar to the Eden story stars Sun Wu Kong, the famous Monkey King. Like the Children of God, he was destined to live forever. After going to hell and wiping his name off the official scrolls, thus guaranteeing he could never be claimed by death, he went up to heaven and asked the Jade Emperor (the ruler of heaven) to hook him up. The Jade Emperor gave him a job in a magic garden.
Now, the Monkey King didn't need a talking snake to tell him what to do, since he was a talking monkey. He had heard about the magic peaches in the garden, and how, if you ate them, you would live forever.
Eventually, the Monkey King was put under a mountain by Buddha, in punishment for his disobedience of Heaven's laws. But he got let out later, and no later generation of monkey's were punished for his sins.
Chinese kids learn a lot of these stories, they're just not indoctrinated into believing that they actually happened, that would be insane.
What He Should Have Said
Rather than further indoctrinating these people into false solutions, here's a summary of the sermon he should have gave.
Everyone is always quick to point the finger. We don't do it all the time, but everyone does it all the same.
Admitting your errors, and actively seeking your responsibility for the bad things that happen in your life, helps you to grow.
By grow, I mean it helps you to have a fuller acceptance and understanding of your world. The need to point the finger is a fear based need. It is a need to defend yourself.
But most of the time, there is nothing that can harm us in admitting that we are wrong, that we have lied to our friends, that we have used our anger as an excuse for insulting someone we care, that we have disagreed with someone merely because we were grumpy.
To point the finger at ourselves need not involve assuming false responsibility. There is a type of strength that we need in order to hold ourselves steady in the face of guilt, in the face of accusations from others, or in the doubt we have of our own motives.
To point the finger were your reason says it ought to go, regardless of if it points at you or elsewhere, is also a great act of leveling, of equalizing, of solidarity. It is a great way to help reinforce the fact we are all equal in our capacity to sin, not in the sense of disobeying an object of belief, but in the sense of hurting others, acting stupid, and just messing up.
It is an act of solidarity because it takes us away from being better or worse, from being separate. It brings us together by showing that we are all facing the task of trying not to screw up, trying not take advantage other, and trying to protect ourselves. Letting go of the need to point the finger at others first, allows us to take our place among humanity and grow closer to each other.
That's the end of the sermon, then I would do snack time, rather than the wafers/wine thing they did.
P.S.
Emma said "Those people must be crazy. They go drink blood every weekend."
Also, I picked up a little periodical in the entrance called "The Wonders Of Science." The second paragraph begins "The opportunity to provide these youth with solid reasons supporting their faith." That's what they mean by "Wonders."
Inside they have an article about Answers In Genesis and Ken Ham, who leads this group of people who claim to love science, just as long as it doesn't contradict the bible. So silly!!!
One more thing. Don't mention the blood thing to Emma, it makes her nauseous.
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