merry christmas... from mars!

what's going to happen to christianity when humans start living on mars?

are christians going to be able to find a verse somewhere in the bible, having no connection to living on another planet and be able to concoct a contemporary relevance, like they've been doing for the last 2000 years? will people abandon the afterlife promised by the christ-child for scientology and it's pricey promise of being "clear"? will scientology or another of today's other lesser religions usurp the semite religions to become top dog?

i think we can agree that yes, humans as a whole need to believe in "someone/something" other than himself. whether that's programmed in us by society or it's some kind of innate desire, i cannot answer. this desire will surely not cease once humans start living elsewhere. who or what will we believe in?

i tend to think that christianity will end as the book revelations specifically maps out the destruction of the planet earth and marks that as the end of all time. revelations to christianity is as important as the gospel, if not more. it's what they use to indoctrinate folks, talking about lakes of fire, gnashing of teeth and all that other bad stuff - it makes "unbelievers" so afraid that they have no choice, but to sign on the dotted line. once other planets get involved, it renders revelations moribund.

at the same time though, christians have had the ability to keep themselves relevant, somehow, through all the scientific advances. they refute science immediately and then adopt it without a second thought. i read an article recently on the dome of the pantheon in rome and how it may have been the influence for copernicus' heliocentric theory. after reading the article, i did a little research into his theory and found that apparently the church disputed his theory with actual bible verses that clearly state that everything spins around the earth and not the sun. ask a christian today if the sun spins around the earth. give a christian the option of stem cell treatment over death and see what they do. all the while still firmly believing in god and more importantly, the bible.

i finished reading julian by gore vidal and am now looking through the abridged version of the decline and fall of the roman empire by gibbons. both books address the death of paganism and the rise of christianity.

gore vidal definitely portrays julian augustus as a hero for his attempt to temper christianity before it got out of hand and was assassinated for his efforts. the decline has alot of interesting information on the birth of christianity and islam.

after having read a bit on the death of paganism, i find the subject of shifting faiths to be particularly interesting subject. i am reminded of the wonderful poem by percy shelley:

"i met a traveller from an antique land who said:--two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert. near them on the sand, half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, the hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed. and on the pedestal these words appear: "my name is ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" nothing beside remains: round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away."

link | rss | share | posted: 2007-04-18 23:30:06