This is going to be controversial. I know that. It seems that these days, writing which is inspired by any belief in the ineffable is frowned upon. This, I think, is quite the shame. I have seen people share sentiments and quotes on secular groups only to be ridiculed and made fun off.
One does not need to be talking about Christianity as your inspiration. Other faiths exist and have equally beautiful sources of inspiration. Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Ayurveda, Zoroastrianism...my Chronicles of Enoch was such a scary undertaking in the beginning because I had shouldered a challenging task; how to reconcile all of these belief systems with God. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus Christ and seek to emulate Him. I believe Heaven awaits us but what of other people who live good lives and are, if one if literal, are denied reward? What of the children? What of all the questions atheists and agnostics raise whenever we talk to them about scripture?
We often struggle to argue with them. Yet my goal as a writer is to teach. Am I to write a book based upon faith and trying to teach faith yet forget one of Jesus' most important teachings? Mark 2:17 (as well as Luke 5:31-32 and Matthew 9:12) speak thusly
“They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Those who already love the Lord will love Him regardless for their faith is strong. It is those who look upon our world and have doubts who I am aiming at. Here are the strongest arguments I face in challenge of my Christianity I will give my (from the Chronicles) answers later;
1). Why does God allow suffering in the world?
2). Who does God allow children to sicken and die?
3). Why does God reward the evil-doer and cause the good to suffer?
4). Why did God allow the Holocaust?
You know these questions well and the stock "He moves in mysterious ways" argument tends not to wash well with the cynical. I have been a doubter and a cynic myself and I am sure that one of the greatest barriers we face is a lack of flexibility. Look at America today, look at some of those who claim to be Christians and ask yourself, "are not these people giving the enemy more ammunition than the non-Christians?" The answer is, yes, they are. I feel we need to be honest and realistic about our faith so allow me to address the issues;
1). The Bible is quite incomplete. People do not realise that the Devil gained power over the world and we are here to resist him and prepare for his defeat. A lot of sections which spoke of that were edited, lost and mistranslated. Not even Christians remember a lot of this material (i.e. my source material of the Books of Enoch and other Apocrypha).
2). Lilith, the supposed first wife of Adam (and origin of the 'Genesis Contradiction') is responsible for some of this and, as Lucifer has the 'Keys' to Earth until he is defeated, permits it.
3). Lucifer again.
4). He did not and this will lead onto what my books will cover in great depth, the most misunderstood verses in the Bible and also misinterpreted Gift from God.
Free will. 'God make Man in his image' is the most badly understood quote from Genesis and the Bible in general. let me explain; Lucifer was made in God's image too, as were the archangels. The other angelic choirs were not, for they were made to fulfill functions and tasks. Being made in our Creator's image does not mean that He looks just like us because I am certain that He does not (the old man in the robe trope is terrible). No we were made in his image because we possess free will and have the ability to create, just like He does. Free Will the archangels have but not the creation part. That is exclusively human and applies particularly to us writers; for we create and we must be careful what we create.
"In the Beginning there was the Word...."
Words. Words have power and they have the power to create. A person, an event, a place. Words can change how events unfolded, how history took place. Words can change History. A simple choice between this word and that can change the entire meaning of a thing. The Bible has been translated into a hundred different languages in a hundred different ways. Even in English think of how many different versions there are. I have read many of them and the meaning is different in each. Here are my 'fictional' extrapolations;
1). Lucifer and his Fallen brethren sought to corrupt the Bible. When they found that that Word of God was too powerful for them, they sought to hide and confuse its meaning.
2). The fomented the conflict between Science and Religion as the conflict between Good and Evil. Science could help religion and vice-versa but, of course, that is now unlikely.
3). Just like the Tower of Babel "confusion of tongues", they worked tirelessly on the Confusion of Ways. Keep the people fighting over Dogma, Interpretation and Names and they will never see the parts which they all agree on.
4). Drown them in dogma, habit and ritual. The message of Christ, of Mohammed, of Buddha is very, very simple and, in truth, following that message should be incredibly simple (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31)
"Do unto others as you would have done unto you."
Think about that for a moment. Consider it. Not 'go unto this building on this day of the week', not 'act in such a way and call thouself this', not 'disapprove vocally of this or that group thou likest not.' None of that. No, He said the simplest thing in the world, something anyone could do. Think if you will the world in which we would live if that was how everyone thought. The end of the Chronicles of Enoch (which I already wrote) does imagine that. A world of harmony, of peace and of love. A world where the 'lion' truly lays down with the 'lamb'.
As a Christian you would need to tell me what about such a world would be objectionable to you? As a Muslim? As a Hindu? A Buddhist?
A world of peace, of harmony, of love. A world without war or want. A world where all people of all colours cooperate and work together. A world without nations or creeds. A world of the human beings without the devil. How could anyone of faith object to that?
Here is my take on it. We are so absorbed in "being" Christians that we have forgotten what being Christian means, deep down and in the bone. We forgot who Jesus was and is. We forgot what the whole point of this is.
I dare any single one of my friends of Faith to challenge this last point without Judging anybody. That is the point also.
So here is my actual point; why do those who ascribe to no faith challenge those who publicly declare it? The answer is in Matthew 6:1-14
Hypocrisy. That is what kills it; the hypocrites do. Those same people Matthew warned about 2000 years ago are still there, doing what Christ advised us not to do. The hypocrites; the ones who support adultery while crying out about homosexuality and other faiths. Those who forget Matthew 7:5 and John 8:7 for themselves while trying to apply other parts of the Bible to other people. That upsets them a lot. You see, not all non-Christians are evil devil-worshippers, a lot of them are decent people who have become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of Man and blame the Word of God. The two have become greatly confused these days but it wasn't always that way. Mark 7 is the key there.
"This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:6-8)
For trust to be returned we must remember all of this. Not be organisations founded upon the words of man but upon the power of God. Look at how all the 'sects' of Christianity fight and bicker not over what Christ said but over the words on a mortal man. Not over what God declared but over what man decided. Not over the Word but arguing on words on paper. Here is what I say we must abandon;
1). Judging. The OT and NT speak expansively and at length about this and not doing it yet on we go. Here is my take. God may disapprove of homosexuality. God may dislike certain behaviours and lifestyles. God will Judge those people in His own good time! No human should DARE presume to speak before God. To do what so many Christians are doing is to say God does not know what He is doing!
2). Hypocrisy. Again these are popular topics which is so often ignored by so many. Jesus tended to pray quietly in isolation and not make a song and dance about it. Also he demanded nothing from his followers he was not willing to do himself. None of this super-rich ministers with their "do as I say don't do as I do" nonsense.
3). Conflict. All Christians are, as the name implies, followers of Christ. You either follow Christ or you don't. There are no Better Followers of Christ and no true or false followers of Christ. You do what Christ taught or you do not. You honour Christ or you do not. You honour God or you do not. You read and learn from the Bible or you do not. The rest is noise and static.
4). God Complex. Related point. Stop telling everyone else they are wrong and only you are right. Only God had the right to make this claim because, by default we are human, we are fragile and we are mostly wrong but we can learn. Also God probably doesn't care what Name we use for Him only that we respect It. Anyone who claims to speak for God should therefore be ignored because God does that rather well by Himself and Jesus said it too in John 14:6 did he not? Man has nothing he has not been Given therefore no right to tell anyone whether they are right or wrong, only God has that right.
So onto my full and actual point; that is the point of the Chronicles of Enoch, to strip away all this dead and necrotic flesh until we reach the essence, the true message. To burn out, excise and defeat the lies of the Adversary; to cast out the shadows and the deceits. For people who doubted the Word of God to find their own way to it, not even realising that is what is happening. There are Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Native Americans and Spiritual folks; people from a time when no such titles existed even. We go back to the dawn of time when no-one had to explain what worshipping God mean or explain what to call Him or what it all Means. We learn that even Lucifer, who seeks to subvert, bend and cheat at the Rules ever chance he gets has limits. There are levels of disrespect to the Father even he will not tolerate.
"When he learned of what the Nazis did during the Holocaust, of how they murdered six million Jews like they cattle, Lucifer flew into a rage like no-one had seen in him ever before. He gathered everyone up and spoke
"They are the Chosen People, the most beloved of our Father!" he screamed, smashing his fist on the table, spilling cuts and candles onto the floor. "They are sacrosanct! Even were it not the Jews this...this...sickness cannot go unpunished." His voice calmed, the flames left his eyes and he actually smiled. "Bet you a fortune they are going to blame me for this. They usually do!"
Everyone laughed at that one, everyone smiled and congratulated Lucifer on his wit because no-one wanted to see that fire light in his eyes again, that Wrath flicker just barely in sight. He summoned Lilith not long afterward and sat for a long time in conference with her. He set Abaddon's Watch-Dogs the task of hunting down each and every one of those Nazis and their collaborators. Some can wait, he said, let them think they go away with it! They have not and, when the Dogs hand them over the Lilith's - haha - children, they shall learn just how deep the Wrath of an archangel, even a - haha - lapsed one, can run. Even I, the nastiest and most twisted of Lucifer's 'Captains' want to think about what those fiends are doing to them, only that the <redacted> deserve it!" (Azazel)
Now think about that for a moment. The most demented, twisted and evil of demons congratulating the enemy of humanity for doing what the human race should have done themselves. We continue. We allow priests to rape children. We allow 'Men of God' to get away with crimes they should receive a visit from the Watch-Dogs for. We allow then to be rich and steal from the poor. We allow them to seal their doors on the needy. Attack the funerals of those they think God will judge for their crimes yet think that their crimes will be overlooked...
To kill in "the name of God" is still murder and still forbidden
To Judge in the place of God is forbidden (unless we talk elected Judges of human law) because only those who are free on sin can judge the sins of others.
To decide your version of worshipping God is better than everyone else's based on your own opinion is also wrong because only God knows that. It is like telling everyone that you wrote the best book in existence but nobody reads it.
If you admit to being imperfect and not knowing what is best for everybody you'll be amazed by what happens. If you encourage everyone to be good and not criticise them for disobeying man-made rules, you'll be surprised If you let people make their own choices knowing that they will have their own Judgement with God when the time comes - as will you. A time when ALL your sins and crimes will be considered - it is not your place to anticipate that conversation. Unless you want it to be added to yours that is....
So; faith writing? By all means go ahead and do it but be consistent is my advice.We need people to represent but they need to do it honestly.
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