Recently the surge in people claiming to embrace the Jedi Religion (the Star Wars spiritual invention) was publicized in a number of media reports. The following is a verbatim comment made by a Christian in response to this phenomenon.
"Jedi Knights? We have traded reality for fantasy, the Kingdom of God for Disneyworld, smurfs for angels. I think I will stick with Jesus, the Son of the Living God, the undisputed, historically based Way, Truth, and Life, whose resurrection was witnessed by hundreds, whose martyrs number in the thousands, and followers in the millions over 2000 years. Any of these deceived Jedi warriors willing to lay down their lives for their “leader.” Or do they have one? No wonder the world is such a mess with people’s pop (poop) culture “religions.” Give me Truth any day. The consequences are more predictable. " Mark H.
Naturally, I couldn’t let Mark’s comment go uncorrected / unchallenged:
Mark,
To paraphrase Yoda: “Many statements of fallaciousness it is that you make.” Not one is supportable with objective evidence. Albeit, by substituting "Allah" for God, "Paradise" for Kingdom, and "Allah's last Prophet Mohammed" for Jesus, ostensibly everything you wrote could be expressed by a Muslim.
Your acceptance of Christianity is as much based on fantasy as any other religion, past or present. Your acceptance and deification of Jesus is as valid as any other mythical man-god , force, or creature past or present. That it happens to be YOUR fantasy, YOUR creature is why you cannot discern the difference.
Jesus is "undisputed"? He’s disputed by Hindus, Muslims, Jews, wiccans, animists, and every other religion on the planet, plus non-believers which combined represent 2/3rds of the Earth's population. It's only "undisputed" by you and your fellow Christians.
"Jedi Knights? We have traded reality for fantasy, the Kingdom of God for Disneyworld, smurfs for angels. I think I will stick with Jesus, the Son of the Living God, the undisputed, historically based Way, Truth, and Life, whose resurrection was witnessed by hundreds, whose martyrs number in the thousands, and followers in the millions over 2000 years. Any of these deceived Jedi warriors willing to lay down their lives for their “leader.” Or do they have one? No wonder the world is such a mess with people’s pop (poop) culture “religions.” Give me Truth any day. The consequences are more predictable. " Mark H.
Naturally, I couldn’t let Mark’s comment go uncorrected / unchallenged:
Mark,
To paraphrase Yoda: “Many statements of fallaciousness it is that you make.” Not one is supportable with objective evidence. Albeit, by substituting "Allah" for God, "Paradise" for Kingdom, and "Allah's last Prophet Mohammed" for Jesus, ostensibly everything you wrote could be expressed by a Muslim.
Your acceptance of Christianity is as much based on fantasy as any other religion, past or present. Your acceptance and deification of Jesus is as valid as any other mythical man-god , force, or creature past or present. That it happens to be YOUR fantasy, YOUR creature is why you cannot discern the difference.
Jesus is "undisputed"? He’s disputed by Hindus, Muslims, Jews, wiccans, animists, and every other religion on the planet, plus non-believers which combined represent 2/3rds of the Earth's population. It's only "undisputed" by you and your fellow Christians.
The resurrection was witnessed by Hundreds? The Bible would have mentioned eye witnesses had there been any. If you were alluding to observation of a post death Jesus, it is undocumented anywhere except by the writers of the Bible, none of whom themselves were eye witnesses to a post death Jesus' appearance; they were simply passing on hearsay… except for Paul “the recruiter” and deluded screenwriter for the faith. There are no other independent documented sources that attest to seeing the resurrection itself or a post death Jesus alive out of the so called "hundreds" of witnesses you claim.
Dying for a myth and a lie is rather common. That the Holocaust claimed 6 million Jews doesn't attest to their faith being "True." That 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam doesn't endorse the subsequently proven error of the "Domino Theory." That cultists drink cyanide tainted Kool Aide, or otherwise kill themselves for their belief or at the behest of their leaders doesn't make their belief "true." If it did, Muslims have as much claim to truth by number of martyrs as do Christians. How telling that you’d be more generous and give the Jedi religion more respect and credence if some number of its followers would just die for their belief. . This fascination and obsession with dying as a validation of belief is rather peculiar to the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity.
As for “giving [you] the Truth." it's evident from your attributing the world's problems to a lack of shared belief in your preferred religious delusion that you neither want nor can handle the truth. Your Christian "Truth" ruled the civilized world during the Dark and Middle Ages; and my guess is you'd not have want to live during those times --especially if you were a Jew, a non-believer, a non-warrior or a serf.
Read more history; think more independently; question what you're taught; live life on your feet and not on your knees. Your contributions to society would be the better for it. May the Farce of Religion not be with you.
Once again, the delusional theists point to others and mock the identical behavior that they exhibit. I am glad you set him straight about it. Now we sit back and laugh.
ReplyDeleteThese aren't the smurfs you're looking for...
ReplyDeleteI can't get over the idea of a Christian making a poop joke while defending his faith.
All hail the camel! And now I go in search of my light saber.
ReplyDeleteWell stated is an understatement!
ReplyDeleteYou brought it right down to where the rubber meets the road!
Great post Hump!
Well stated is an understatement!
ReplyDeleteYou brought it right down to where the rubber meets the road!
Great post Hump!
It's almost depressingly consistent: "My imaginary friend is better than your imaginary friend."
ReplyDeleteIf evolution bumps us off, this will be one of the reasons we didn't make it as a species. The persistent failure to deal with the real world, and to retreat into fantasy, just can't impart a selective advantage.
The mystery is how it became so embedded in our neural wiring in the first place. Perhaps it kept fear of the unknown at bay, a fear that might have crippled early hominids. Tough to say....
How telling that you’d be more generous and give the Jedi religion more respect and credence if some number of its followers would just die for their belief.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, by this standard, the countless people burned and hanged as witches by Christians during the Dark Ages would be testimony to the truth and validity of witchcraft.
I am much more likely to believe in a Force (like gravity) that binds all living things than I am in an Abrahamic god.
ReplyDeleteMark H: You said "Give me Truth any day." Well, my young apprentice...here it is in Yoda-speak: Traded fantasy for reality ...you did as well.
Dear Hump
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post...incredible how IGNORANT most christians are of the very book they hold so dear - not only of the bible's content, but also of the historical facts referring to when, how, and by whom the book was written. As for Jedi 'worship', this is a great example of how such religions begin...But hold on...when it comes to fantasy philosophy, L.Ron is still in first place as the Supreme Leader, isn't he?
Han Solo said it best..."You can keep your Hokey religions and ancient weapons, give me a good blaster any day."
ReplyDeleteLOL! Excellent post, Hump!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think "Papa Smurf" would be a good name for a "god." LOL!
I can't believe that nobody (or no camel) has figured out that Mark H. is actually Mark Hamill A.K.A. Luke Skywalker. "Clearly to the dark side this one has gone."
ReplyDeleteHelga has got me thinking, perhaps several quadrillion years ago Xenu was the one who created the dark side. People, we must protect Teegeak at all costs. I am afraid only level 3 operating theatans need apply. We must protect Tom Cruise!!
Zar
Well done, Hump.
ReplyDeleteHow long before we can be as enlightened as Britain?
Hello Hump,
ReplyDeleteOn my site I have a quote from Dr. Laura Schlessinger who posed for nudity pictures, where she said that she converted from “Atheist to Observant Religious Jew” which made her put her cloths back on!?!?!
Warning the photos are “R” rated.
Good post Hump. But from what I know of Jedi religion it's more rational than monotheism... at least they don't expect you to eat their bodies and drink their blood.
ReplyDeleteUgh. They look down their noses at Jedi, but worship a mythical Jewish zombie who had super powers such as walking on water, raising the dead, and transmuting water into wine? Jeez.
ReplyDeleteChristian antipathy toward fantasy isn't limited to sci-fi. The fairie festival in my region is protested every year by fundamentalist Christians who think it promotes paganism. You can't reason with some people...