| Another Parable of the Lez Witch The Lez Witch and her friend the Astonishing Stephanie were walking through a wooded area somewhere near Northfield, Minnesota, the exact location of which must remain a closely guarded secret lest any of my readers be moved to move there…Minnesota is NOT for everybody. It was a cold and gruesome day in early June and the wolves were noticeably unhappy. upset, and very VERY ravenous. But the L. W. and the A. S. took little notice of this for they were intent on the subject of their conversation. "It's like this," the Lez Witch was saying. "Truth can be of two kinds and most people confuse the two outrageously." "How do you mean?" her companion inquired. "Firstly," her friend explained. "There is OBJECTIVE truth. An objective truth can be demonstrated in a scientific manner and is true for all people everywhere. An example of this kind of truth is `The Mean Distance from the Earth to the moon is 384,400 kilometers from the Earth'. We know this…we have measured it." Her friend nodded. "And the OTHER kind of truth would be SUBjective, I take it?" The Lez Witch nodded. "Very good," she said. "And what is a subjective truth?" "'The Bible is the Word of God.'" "I know, but what has that to do with it?" "That is a subjective truth," the Lez Witch responded. "Oh?" "Certainly. For those who BELIEVE it is a truth…for those who do not, it isn't. And it cannot be demonstrated scientifically. Yet it is just this category of Truth that has caused most of the troubles in the world." "Why?" "Perhaps precisely BECAUSE it cannot be proven in any rational sense. I mean, you cannot imagine anyone killing someone simply because they deny that the moon is 384,400 km from Earth. But people have been killed over religious differences. Now why should this be? Simply because you can show them the measurements and if they choose to say `Well, I refuse to believe it! In MY opinion the moon is only 3 km from Earth!' all you can do is say `Okay' and move on. It would be nice if people could do this about other things too." "How come they don't.?" asked the Astonishing Stephanie. The Lez Witch paused to admire the scene around them, for they had reached a clearing where the last rays of the setting sun glinted off a small pond (both of them noticed then that the wolves seemed to be gathering in their immediate area...but so caught up in their conversation were they that they paid that little heed at the moment). "I love the twilight," the L. W. said musingly. "Such a peaceful time, I always think." Astonishing Stephanie looked at their ever-increasing lupine following and cleared her throat. "Well…." she began. "The reason they don't," the Lez Witch interrupted. "Is that subjective truths are always emotional triggers. People base their entire lives on BELIEFS and any challenge to these beliefs is viewed by them as a personal attack to which they respond with great violence. They forget, you see, that religious convictions are a matter of personal taste and try to apply them to ALL. Even Jesus was forced to remind his followers not to judge another's servant…by which, of course, he meant those who belonged to a different faith…and even those who were of the same faith but observed it differently." "I don't get that," the Amazing Stephanie said, her brow furrowed with confusion. "Well but look at the different versions even of Christianity that one encounters today. You've got Catholics (both Roman and Eastern Orthodox) Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians…the list goes on and on. And the same holds true of any other religion you could think of…Islam, Judaism, Buddhism...all of them have different SECTS within the overall FAITH…each with varying beliefs and practices yet each considering itself a part of the wider grouping. Thus: whether one is a Presbyterian, or a Baptist, or a Roman Catholic one considers oneself primarily a Christian." "So what you are saying is that instead of arguing with each other over which approach to their particular religion is the most AUTHENTIC these differing sects should just agree that `In my father's house are many mansions' and let it go at that?" "YES!" the Lez Witch cried joyfully. "And the same principle holds true as far as the different religions are concerned too. "For if, as Christianity teaches, `the Lord is not willing that any should be lost' and since it is clear that the same method would not appeal to ALL (because people have different tastes in religion just as they do in TV shows, or books, or music, or what-have-you) then surely a Wise Divinity would offer many different methods all designed to do the same thing. That is, to bring Mankind to enlightenment. Call it Salvation, call it Nirvana, call it Summerland…it's all the same concept…a place where there is no more suffering and all one's pain is eased and all one's questions are answered." (Continue) |
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