Theology

The trees did it long before us.

I fear that those of us who have never known war first hand will, in our ignorance of and inaction to distant evils, serve only to give them time to perpetrate those horrors again and again.

On the one hand there are those who, given the opportunity, would kill us without any thought of our individuality. “American” or “United States” or “Christian” is sufficient reason for them. I know. I’ve seen their stares and overheard their not-so-softly-spoken threats walking the streets of my world travels.

As the pie chart shows, there are plenty to consider, and that’s without sub-dividing Christianity into its dozens of factions from the Bible-thumpers to those that barely mention Jesus, or breaking up Islam into the multitude of Jihadists versus peace-lovers in that rather significant slice.

The image is of the rock beneath which the Nag Hammadi documents were found in 1945 inside a sealed jar. The Gospel of Thomas is one of several early Christian documents found inside.

As near as I can translate, I’m quite sure that God said,

Who was Jesus? Who is The Christ? Are they the same or was the reality molded to become a stronger unifying influence – with all good intent, mind you – by the early church?

This is the Chapel at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland.

Christianity and The Bible today are the evolutionary result of their very human history. Some say they are divinely inspired and that the latter is the “word of God” but, speaking only for myself, I have to say, “I don’t understand.”

Historians believe that what we know of Jesus today has come about through not only word of mouth, but also by virtue of what was memorable, useful and adaptable to needs as they arose.