Yeah... I got your passion right here...

As the high holy day approaches, the intelligent fibers of my being are having what I can only call ... mini-seizures.  This is in response to the many, many references around me that are celebrating it. It just boggles my thinking mind that there is a large portion of our population that believe Jesus - you know, the one they have no evidence for even having existed -  was created by God, as the god to willingly go to his own death in order to save the gazillions of other believers that will come after him and then is cruelly killed by his fellow human beings; showing just how truly bad and evil people really are. Then, three days later he mysteriously rises again. And don't forget, he did so along with all the other holy ones. Cool story and if you believe that... I've got some land that has a huge oil deposit under it.

Funny thing, that story... it's been retold many times, even before the Christians took a hold of it and made it their very own. Osiris, Krishna, Mithra, Horus and Buddha, just to name a few, have their very own versions, too. Al Stefanelli, wrote a nice article in reference to it. We have so much documented and corroborated history at our disposal that, at the very least, you would expect that it should make a person question the ideology they choose to believe and at the very most, make one reach the conclusion that the majority of this is just incredible story telling. I like to call it "Telephone - Extreme Edition". There are people who actually take the time to understand our history and are constantly verifying what went on before us, helping us to understand how cultures operated and lived.  So, knowing this, I always find it hard to believe that people wouldn't question what really amounts to indoctrination, initially, and a continued acquiescence without really examining realities or facts.

I would encourage my fellow human beings to really exercise their synapses and read up on the chap who is allegedly going to deliver them safely to the here-after, as well as, all the other information available that counters the traditional stories they have wrapped themselves in. My original jump-start into clarity was with the bible itself... page for page, cover to cover. Interestingly, The Pew Study done recently showed that only about 37% of the believing population actually reads the good book. Faith will do that to you, it doesn't require verification of any kind. Also, of the ones who do read it, my guess would be they only read specific passages during church services or bible study, so as to contemplate or highlight specific character traits that needed working on. So in essence, it's not really being studied, just cherry-picked through to get just the right pieces.

After you've read the bible, then go to Amazon and search for every non-christian author who writes on the subject of not believing... Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens being some of the well-known ones. There are so many astute and qualified people who have done tons of research on the subject that is in complete opposition to religious thinking. After that, pick up a copy of Nailed:Ten Christian Myths that Jesus Never Existed At All. It is written by David Fitzgerald, a very nice, articulate man I met last year at Skepticon III. He does a very good job in his book exposing the inconsistencies or the lack of evidence of a Jesus that most Christians revere and continue to revere, in spite of evidence to the contrary. If this would have been my starting point many years ago, this alone would have saved me many years on my so-called religious journey. He also recently published an Easter Quiz that highlights some of the problems with the traditional views of the events surrounding Easter.

Coincidentally, while writing this entry on my blog, I took a break and checked my Facebook page. I was just told by a believer "~He went through that for you too Susi~If Jesus Christ is good enough for the rest of us, he's good enough for you.~".... so there. Well, if that's the case, since I'm such a reject from the religious community and terribly evil... God must have some pretty low standards, that or he deems me worthy because of my wickedness! Her statement doesn't even begin to make sense. I'm just shaking my head right now and experiencing continual self-inflicted facepalms.

And so, my day and rest of the weekend will probably go very much like that post, as I continue on my own version for passion of the christ. In this version, I will defend myself against their unwillingness to challenge their, in my opinion, illogical belief system. One they hold on to because of fear, laziness, delusion, sense of safety...whatever it is that makes them continue it. I call my passion wanting knowledge, understanding it, reasoning skills, continual learning and educating myself and being in complete awe of knowing that I can't possibly know everything, but have learned quite a lot.

I also have a passion for something I like to call reality. It is deeply rooted in me and something that I am very grateful that my mind continually craves for.