Before I start, let me make clear that I have no real problem with Christians or Christianity – each to their own, I say. I do have issues with The Bible and various aspects of the religion but I believe that every person has the right to believe what they wish and if Christianity is what floats your boat, then so be it.
About 11am this morning, there was a knock at my door (yes the door with the big purple pentagram in the centre of it!). When I opened it, there were two women standing there – one I would say was in her mid-50s, the other younger in her 20s or early 30s. The older woman opened with “May I ask you a question?” I shrugged and said sure, whatever.
“Do you feel that Jesus has been taken out of Christmas?” says she.
After gazing at her for a long second or two waiting for the punchline, I shrugged again and informed her, most politely, that she was really asking the wrong question – me not being Christian and all that. She asked what faith I was and I told her I was pagan. I was quite impressed (and serioiusly amused) with how quickly she managed to hide the look of horror. As she seems quite insistent on wanting to talk, I figured I had a few spare minutes and I’m always willing to discuss religion with people. I told her I didn’t believe in the Christian version of God – being solely male and obviously schizophrenic! I don’t think she appreciated the schizo comment, so I cleared up what I meant, pointing out the two obvious personalities of God in the Old and New Testaments, and throwing in the whole problem with the Flood theory… she didn’t seem to understand the evil ducks and evil pilot fish and I think I may have lost her totally with the evil herbivores! (If you’re an Eddie Izzard fan, you’ll understand that).
I mentioned a number of problems with the various transcripts of the Bible, not to mention the fact that it’s written by man not God – to which she argued that it’s the word of God set down by man… which I responded to with you’ve only got the authors’ word for that. I briefly touched upon the fact that a number of “Gospels” were left out of the Bible due to their contradictory nature and not fitting in with what the Pope wanted it to say back whatever century it was (I don’t remember offhand) and brought up the King James version with his infamous line “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” which is a misinterpretation and means something else entirely.
I also asked her if she truly believed that Jesus was crucified and rose from the grave on random days in March and April to which she looked blank so I reminded her that Eostre (Easter) doesn’t fall on the same date each year, unlike Christmas, and asked her why it was’t a static date like Christmas.. she couldn’t give me an answer to that (no surprises there!)
She then changed her method somewhat and asked what I thought of the world now. I told her it was bloody awful and getting worse every day. You could almost taste the glee in her expression. Then you’ll agree, says she, that we must eradicate all wickedness from the world!! Oh the fervour in her voice!!! Wickedness is a matter of perception, I told her. What seems wicked to one could be the right thing to do to another.
But you must agree, she spluttered, that killing someone is wicked.
Nope, says I. Again, its a matter of perception and of circumstance. If someone came into my house and threatened my kids, I’d kill them without any hesitation. Would I be evil for doing that?
Oddly enough, it was then she decided she had to continue to another house in her quest. She asked if I’d like some literature to read. I told her that the only Watchtower I wanted in my house was the Jimi Hendrix song…….
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