Back to the question of religion...

Did I ever really leave it behind? I just heard a satire of the convolution of faith with prescriptive ethics. "Keep your Jesus off my Penis" was performed by a satirist that put it very clearly: "Believe as you see fit, don't ask me to conform." I have to wonder, however, if that is a fair representation of any religious conviction. If I claim to have an absolute truth, then it by virtue of the fact that it is absolute nullifies all other pretended claims. If Christianity - or any other religious expression for that matter - claims an exclusive franchise of the truth then it must stand apart from other attempts to explain that which is transcendent. I don't think that this is the case, however. If it were the case all other religious systems would have to be lies concocted to deceive. The premise behind that is that somehow a lie is mightier than the truth. Deception stands against what it true.

No, I think that God is too great a subject to be revealed in one all encompassing expression. The myth of Jesus and the Resurrection is one of hope to overcome our most deeply seeded fear: that of being extinguished and falling into an abyss of oblivion. The apocalyptic writers in the Old and New Testaments both come to the same conclusion: God will defeat the pretended powers of darkness and shall prevail in the end. All Christianity is apocalyptic in its core: it all sees darkness and seeks to bring light. But that is not unique to Christianity.

I tend to think that humans are by nature seeking answers to question that vex us in the dark hours of the night. We are born story tellers that value metaphor and imagery. We tell stories of heros and evil-doers that symbolize our fears and moments of despair. We are looking for a way out.

Is there but one way? Perhaps. But is it not conceivable that there is more than one metaphor for that way? If I am of good faith and am attempting to understand, how can I as a Christian that believes in the enduring influence of the Spirit deny that God can do whatever the hell God wants to do?

It is late and I am getting drowsy. I shall have to see what fears come to haunt my dreams in the small hours of the morning. Is there but one solution to their questions?