Warning – this blog entry concerns my thoughts on Christianity… right or wrong; for better or worse. If you are a Christian, a person of faith, or are otherwise easily offended, you should not read this blog entry. Consider yourself warned!

I truly believe that Peter screwed over Christianity. After a vision by Peter (Acts 10:9-16), it seems that god cleansed all animals and made them fit and lawful for human consumption. But I’ve got to wonder… what was the political climate at the time? Were pig farmers putting undue pressure on the government? Did such pressure help raise revenues by allowing pigs to be eaten by those who, only a few years earlier, would have gone straight to hell for breaking the Jewish dietary laws? Let’s remember that Jesus was Jewish… he would not have eaten pork or shellfish. So did Peter really believe that god suddenly tossed 1,500 years of dietary law into the garbage can? On the basis of a dream? Yah… right!

In recent years, it has become commonplace to ask “what would Jesus do?” (WWJD) when placed in a situation of conflicting viewpoints. I’m pretty sure that Jesus would not have eaten pork or shellfish. The book of Acts was written after Jesus died… most likely in the 12 years between 48 and 60 AD. So, no sooner was Jesus in the ground when his followers – those who had sworn to uphold his teachings – turned their back on his and their own faith.

I believe the early church, while making a noble attempt to help the illiterate population evolve into good and compassionate people, built some huge mystique about Jesus. This was compounded by an attempt to clean up the language of the bible to make it somewhat less ambiguous than it otherwise was; perhaps an attempt to make it more user friendly.

I believe that the early bible writers and scholars grossly misinterpreted the name of god to suit themselves... to suit the mystique that had arisen with respect to Jesus and the belief – or, at least, the political assertion – that he was the son of god. In John 14:6, Jesus asserts: “I am the way”.

Now, god’s name, as revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14) was “I Am”. I firmly believe that the early scholars deliberately altered Jesus’ comment from: “I Am is the way” referring to his belief as a Jew that “I Am” – or god – was the way to salvation to: “I am the way”, meaning Jesus himself and not god. Perhaps they found the original to be too much of a tongue twister. At any rate, that one simple change forever altered the world.

Jesus goes on to say (still in John 14:6) that, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” which smacks just a bit of nepotism if you ask me. I mean, doesn’t this pretty much point out how arrogant Jesus was? No Jew – at least, no practicing Jew; no Jew worthy of respect within the community – would have ever suggested that he was some sort of intercessor between god and the common man.

There is a Zen saying, “if you see the Buddha on the road, kill him, for he is not the true Buddha.” Why? Because the true Buddha lives inside each of us… and the Buddha on the road is but an expression of our longing. From where I sit, this whole Jesus thing is much the same.

People so desperately wanted to believe in something greater than themselves, that they took an otherwise explainable mystery and created a whole religion around it. What’s the mystery you ask? The idea that Jesus rose from the dead.

Let’s not forget that Jesus was Jewish. After his death, his body would have been watched over by someone in the community until his burial. So, what happened? We’re told that he was left alone in a vault – completely contrary to Jewish law – and that later on, when they went looking for him, he wasn’t there. This is just so bogus. Jews would never have left a dead body unattended – never… it was the law. Still, the fastest way to raise Jesus to godhood was to suggest that he had risen from the dead – and you know what, it worked. Whether it actually happened seems a bit irrelevant. As far as I’m concerned, Jesus’ body was dragged off and eaten by a wild animal... and the whole resurrection story was told because no one wanted to admit that the body had been left alone.

Bottom line – someone lied to cover up a mistake, and that lie has been perpetuated ad nauseam.

So, for 2,000 years now, Christians have believed – mistakenly, at least as far as I’m concerned – that Jesus is the way to salvation, and not god! I think Jesus would roll over in his grave if he knew that church leaders – in their vain attempt to bolster their own position in the community – had so completely screwed the message. So, here we are today. Religion seems to have been at the root of almost every war since the beginning of recorded history.

If heaven exists, then I think that when Christians get to the pearly gates, Peter is going to look at them with a somewhat amused grin on his face and say (in a voice reminiscent of Mr. T.), “I pity the fool.”