Time for some heresy

Religion is always a tough subject to discuss, people are touchy about it, my mother called me a pagan the other day when I made a smart-ass remark about something in front of some people we didn’t really know. In fact she was right, people are so touchy about it that it’s better to be carefoul what you say and to who or you are likely to be smithed with a brick between your eyes by some lunatic who hears God talking to him/her. Or was that J.C? Whatever.

Before I get into to what I actually want to say in this post I want to clear 2 things: how I got the idea that I’m gonna explain to you in a sec and why, unlike my mother, I don’t consider myself being a pagan… sort of. First lets start with the last thing, because I’ve read somewhere that the last shall be first.

I believe in God, I’m not an atheist, but I do my believing in my own way. I don’t believe in the church as the instrument of God, or God’s house on earth or whatever you want to call it, because of the flawed people that pretend to be His voice. I just can’t get over it and I keep doubting the good intention of whoever wrote what I consider to be the greatest propaganda work of all time, the Bible. Now you understand the pagan part.
However, all this aside, I do believe in the existence of some force we cannot explain that holds the universe together and I do pray and I do see the power of the Church as the greatest humanitarian organization in the world and as a place for meditation.

Second, what made me write this. Well, every year I have to watch how people come from all over the country to touch some bones in a box at the Patriarchate. The bones were once the proud possession of St. Dimitrie, no doubt a great man who must be remembered (no irony). Yesterday there was also a great protest before the Parlament, people from all over the country came together to let our mighty leaders what they thought about them. Both things were happening no more than 1km away from each other. On one side a mass of people ready to smash heads because they can barely afford to buy food on the other side a mass of people praying they won’t end up like the other poor bastards. Very… Christian, isn’t it? I am quite sure more people touched the dusty old bones than there were in front on the Parlament, and there were some 50.000 people at least, so no small thing. I cannot wrap my head around how an institution that in theory should inspire people to be good to one another can create such egoism and lack of empathy! My small short conversations with the true believers that go to the Patriarchate always leave me with a sorrow taste in my mouth. There is more Christianity in the mud that sticks to my shoes than in many of those people. But hey, I’m the pagan! Anyways, let’s continue.

By looking at that mass of people waiting in the rain to see and touch the holy bones a thought flashed. I bet you that in a densely populated are like Bucharest at any given time there are at least 2 people who pray for exactly the opposite thing. One wants rain, so his crops can grow, the other one wants sun, so he can have a beautifully wedding / birthday party / bbq. One desires this the other that. As always there is the “God works in mysterious ways” thing, so if you don’t get what you want, it’s nobody’s fault. Or better say it’s your fault because you haven’t been pious enough and didn’t give the priest enough monetary support to “rebuild the church”. But what if God, as almighty as he is, choose to make a world were everybody in a acked place like one of the modern big cities would get their wish? What would that world be like? My take is that it would bee a boring beyond imagination kind of place where it’s always the same weather, there are no seasons, everybody has exactly the same amount of everything, all are healthy, nobody has any ambitions, and there are no things that would make us want anything more or less. No thank you, I’d take door number 2 any day.

Here is the conclusion. In a densely packed place the prayer model doesn’t really work. There are too many conflicts of interest, therefore whoever wrote the Bible and other holly texts never imagined us living like termites, piled one on top of each other is such numbers. In a small village it’s much easier to imagine that it is your prayer that was answered. The priest need to do some rewriting to make the stories stick. At least that’s my opinion. The God hears all algorithm is hard to apply to a modern-day city.

And to end let me tell you something I’ve read or heard somewhere. Do you know why the Indian rain dance works? Because the Indians dance until it starts to rain.

Peace!