[ExI] The Existence of Jesus (FICTION)

[The Avantguardian]

>________________________________
>From: John Grigg <possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com>
>To: The Avantguardian <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com>; ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> 
>Sent: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 5:17 AM
>Subject: Re: [ExI] The Existence of Jesus (FICTION)
>
>
>Stuart, the phrase "throwing pearls before swine" came to mind as I read your effort at creative writing.  Or perhaps "swine playing with pearls" would be more accurate.  : )  If the story of Jesus is true in terms of him being an authentic historical/mere mortal figure, or especially some sort of real supernatural being, I certainly wish there were strong evidence for it.  My very devout friends would say prayer and fasting, and a manifestation from the Holy Spirit, is the way to get an answer to these questions.  But I admit to wanting angelic messengers showing up in my bedroom, in the middle of the day when I am wide awake.   It would probably be even better if they showed up in the middle of a transhumanist conference, but then they might be viewed as visiting extraterrestrials who were only posing as angels! 

 
John. If there was a historically accurate Yeshua Ben Yoseph, I feel very sorry for him. Mostly because the worst possible crime I can see that he commited was perhaps suffering from Schizophrenia. However from a philosophical standpoint, I *disagree* with a lot of the things he said. For example, you will *never* see me turn the other cheek more than once. I run out cheeks, you run out chances. And while crucifixion is horrible, the romans may have crucified a million people or more all told. Have you ever heard of the Appian Way?
 
In the aftermath of Spartacus' slave rebellion, the Romans crucified *6000* men on a 120 mile stretch of road between Capua and Italy. In my opinion, those 6000 martyrs for freedom deserve more respect than a schizophrenic who died on a cross-shaped gibbet talking to God. In any case in the day where a horse was your fastest transportation, can you imagine travelling 120 miles surrounded by decaying corpses hanging from gibbets?
 
I don't think you would want angels in your bedroom. Angels are kind of like Gods hitmen. In the cannonical Bible, the *most* innocuous thing an angel ever did was announce an embarrasing pregnancy that would lead to a crucifixion. The rest of the time they preside over turning cities into smoking craters, breaking people's hips, evicting squatters from paradise, that sort of thing. And these are supposedly the *good* ones. So yes, I would as soon see a paranoid SWAT team in my bedroom as angels.
 
In regards to your question of where I get my Mormon knowledge from, some of my best friends are Mormons. And to be honest, I admire Mormonism in many respects, its a young vibrant religion currently in its prime. Its dogma, while no less silly in my opinion than any others, has a lot of marketing appeal. Stuff like Jesus visiting the American continents, proxy baptism, premortal existence. So while I myself would never subscribe to Mormonism, if religions sold stock, I would certainly buy Mormon stock over say Catholic stock. Followers of the blond-haired blue-eyed prophet may be the best buffer America has against the followers of the warrior-prophet from the desert. They certainly are every bit as fertile when it comes to average number of children per family.
 
That being said, Mormonism is still a mind-virus. God is the unneccessary hypothesis. To know yourself and to know the universe *is* to know God because there is nothing else.
 
Stuart LaForge

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - Hunter S. Thompson