The word ridiculous is generally used to imply scorn, mockery, disbelief—maybe even simplemindedness. We use and hear it used in everyday conversation on a routine basis. That ‘routine’ basis is frequently responsible for young ears picking up the term and using it without having a clue about its meaning. On that very note, I’ll relate a humorous story.
Several years ago, I needed to make a trip to a neighboring county’s Health Department to obtain a permit for a septic system for a new bathroom we were installing at our farm and hunting club. My two-year-old granddaughter was visiting at the time, and I asked her if she would like to go with me. Eagerly, she went rushing to my truck. After appropriate assurances to her mother, I loaded her into a car-seat and away we went. She was rather quiet during the first twenty-mile leg of our trip. However, after arriving in the Health Department office, she took over—telling everyone there what to do. From there, we were accompanied by a technician to our farm to make appropriate assessment of layout and soil conditions. After arriving, true to form, miss ’know-it-all’ began giving instructions—both the technician and I were amused to the point of laughter. After the assessment was completed, we departed for home—the route home was different from the one used to get to farm. About halfway home, there is a two mile stretch of strait road—miss ‘know-it-all’ was jabbering wildly in the back seat. Because of my bad ears and the road noise, I couldn’t decipher anything she was saying. So, as we completed a right turn, I simply pulled off the road and, looking back at her, said, “now, what are you saying missy”. She looked directly at me and, with a dramatic demeanor said, “It is just ridiculous”—no explanation. I laughed till my sides hurt. I am reasonably certain she had no idea what that term meant— just as reasonably certain she had heard it used emphatically and repeatedly by her mother. Hope you enjoyed that bit of humor.
The ridiculosity I wish to address today is the number of so-called Christian religions and sects on our earth. How can it be that thirty-three thousand groups can rightfully lay claim to the straightest pathway to heaven or, possibly, the only way to heaven? Does anyone other than I wonder about that? I can truthfully say that I began such wondering and questioning at a very young age, but I had no answers and knew not where to look for them. However, that lack of information did not deter my determination to uncover the truth wherever it lay.
To my amazement and chagrin, it became obvious to me that all religions were wrong. And how am I allowed to say that? I discovered that not a single one of them had defined or could define the essence of their god. I know for certain that nothing in our universe has meaning without an ‘essential definition’—God included. With that in mind, I became determined to define my God’s essence—it took me sixty to sixty-five years of intense quandary, study, investigation, and open-minded understanding to accomplish the feat. It was absolutely necessary for me to shed all biases and pre-instilled misinformation before the Truth became obvious—that Truth, of course is God. God is all-truth. There can be no truth in this universe outside the Perfect Rationality whom I call God.
A quick overview hopefully will help. After Jesus’ death, nothing was written about him for fifteen years and that writing was done by Paul (Saul of Tarsus) who freely admits that he never knew or met Jesus. In fact, he was persecuting the Jews who were following Jesus’ teachings. Saul was a Jew with a Roman citizenship. He freely admits to having some type of overwhelming emotional reaction while on his way to Damascus to persecute them. It was during that reaction that he came by his knowledge of Jesus and his teachings. While I cannot prove it, my strong suspicion is that Paul’s information about Jesus came directly from the people he was persecuting. His ‘reaction’ likely was an uncontrollable fear generated by the sudden realization he was persecuting God, himself. Be that as it may, besides Paul’s letters, northing further was written for another fifteen years until Paul’s companion, John Mark, wrote the first Gospel—he, likewise, never knew Jesus. Sometime later Matthew who did know Jesus copied Mark’s Gospel and embellished it on both ends. Somewhat simultaneously, Luke who was a Greek did likewise, but Matthew and Luke openly contradict each other in their Gospels. Some sixty years after Jesus’ death, John, the apostle who had been banished to the island of Patmos, composed his Gospel which completely omits the last supper story except for the washing of the apostles’ feet by Jesus. By the way, John is reported to have been completely illiterate, so, his writings were done by his followers.
Before his banishment, John, Peter, and James had establish a hierarchy of sorts through transfer of power by ‘laying on of hands’—bishops were established. It was a given that a bishop was the absolute authority in his jurisdiction—usually, he was the richest and most influential person in his community.
As Christianity of sorts spread westward to Europe and North Africa, many bishoprics were established. Most Christian teaching and observation were spread by word of mouth. Some writings were copied and distributed thought the land. Since there was a need for a great many copies, it sems certain that major mistakes and deliberate alterations were made to suit the whims of local bishops. By the time Jesus had been dead three hundred years or so, there were eighteen-hundred bishops in the Roman Empire, and they were squabbling severely among themselves—many different teachings and beliefs prevailed creating overt hostilities among them.
Emperor Constantine reasoned that it would be wiser to make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire rather than attempt forcing them into cooperating with him. Accordingly, he called a general council of all the bishops at Nicaea. It seems very ridiculous that only one hundred eighty or so attended. Be that as it may, Constantine commissioned them to form a religion of their liking—it would be enforced by the Roman army to the death or banishment of any dissenter.
Had they been truly holy men who knew, loved, and respected Jesus, the religion they formed would have put themselves in a subservient position just as Jesus reportedly taught them to do. It seems very likely they thought that ideation to be ridiculous, so, they formed a religion which put themselves in positions of unquestioned power—the Holy Roman Catholic Church was formed, and it was formed directly from the Jewish ritualistic, ‘sacrificial’ playbook—the very religion that Jesus despised, and which got him killed for saying so openly. That seems unbelievably ridiculous to me. In retrospect, they were not holy men at all—they were self-serving scallywags.
As might be expected, such a corrupt institution was doomed to failure, and fail it did. First, it split into because of power struggles. The remaining Roman Church final split over both dogma differences and corruption resulting in the Protestant Reformation. Since then, the spinoffs have been rapid-fire ostensibly because of different interpretations of the bible, but ultimately always about power, control, and money. The Eastern Church continued to fragment along both different dogma and ethnic lines.
It seems so ridiculous that the very institution which purported to advance Jesus and his teachings has proven to be his worst adversary.
So, with that condensed historical summary one must ask; “what is the remedy? How can Jesus’ and his Father’s Church be reconciled to him”? The answer seems ridiculously simple to me—all must become likeminded. And how do we do that? Again, a ridiculously simple answer—we must all recognize and worship the same God. And who is that God? Again, a ridiculously simple answer. That God is a Perfect Ration Being. That God permeates every particle of energy of which everything in this universe is made. That Perfect Energy contains all truth in this universe. Jesus told us that—it seems stupendously ridiculous that absolutely no on in position of authority listened or cared—there was no power, control, or money in Jesus’ plan. They eagerly destroyed him and conveniently distorted his word for their own selfish gain—and that ridiculous beat goes on, even today, to the detriment of mankind.
But God doesn’t really care—God has no cares—he is Perfect and with his Perfect Love, he accepts us the way we are. We are the ones who suffer—we are the ones fighting, killing, stealing and, maiming each other, worldwide.
By defining God’s essence with a ridiculously simple six little words (God is a Perfect Rational Being), I have presented a ridiculously obvious pathway to permanent peace. However, the world is blind. Jesus told us that. He said, “The Kingdom of God is spread out all over the Earth and you don’t see it”.
Please read my ridiculously plainspoken books with an open mind. I’ll guarantee one thing—read them with an honest, open mind and you will gain an entirely different view and understanding of your God, your preacher, and your fellowman. You do not have to quit going to your church, but when you do go, you will have a ridiculously different understanding of what you hear and see. Read Wilderness Cry first—maybe re-read it. Then you’ll understand Peace in Spirituality, and Provocative Catholic. If you want to know more about me with some added humor, read growing Up in Fancy Farm Kentucky.
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Buddhaism Christianity Eternity Faith Future of Christianity God God's Will gods Hilary L Hunt MD Hinduism HolyGhost Holy Spirit Islam Islam Christianity Jesus Judaism Judaism Buddhism Money Philosophy Power Religion religions salvation Science The Trinity
WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 