God Talk: Did Jesus Wear Pants?

God Talk is from the brilliant mind of Big Orange, who talks God every Wednesday.

Today is an ominous day. It is the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the millenium. Satanists everywhere are jubilant. In fact, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, some very famous satanists are marking the occaision with a wedding. Szandora a model and "devil girl" will join Stanton LeVey (son of Anton LeVay, founder of the Church of Satan, in unholy matrimony.

The article in the PD focuses on Eric Freeman, local boy and "creator of gruesome artwork involving dolls and religious symbols". Notice the reporter does not call him an artist. Freeman, according to the article is also known as "Dark Lord 10000000 (if you don't want to count the zeros, that's 10 million - approximating the 3 percent of the U.S. population Freeman says is needed to stand up and change the hypocrisy of the world)". DL10MIL was tapped by the LeVay's to design a wedding gown for the devil girl, a brown and black victorian number. Apparently, they love it. They also love him so much, they are flying him in to LA and putting him up for the ceremony, although they are not paying him for the gown; it was a gift.

They also sold tickets for this wedding and gave them away. It looks like it will be quite a bash, though not one I'd like to attend. I am a firm believer in the Bill of Rights. I love my freedom and I love yours. I also, sadly, love theirs. So I am not moved to take up arms and squash their fun. Well...I am moved so to do, but am restraining myself mightily.

I've never met a satanist, that I know of, but I have been affected by followers of Ayn Rand, who are a just step to the left, if you will, from satanists, in my humble opinion. I also can extrapolate what the effect their self-centered and for-profit stance on life can do to society. Although, I can see their point on one issue: they believe churches should pay taxes. I'm not sure I'd go that far. But I believe churches should be fiscally responsible. They should at least be held financially accountable to an independent auditor, who checks that they are doing what they say they are doing with donations.

But back to what I don't like about them. What happens when you live your life looking out for number one? You may profit, yes. But what if you stumble? What if something happens to you that is out of your control? Now you can no longer profit on your own. What will the Church of Satan do for you then? And just because a person can't be responsible for their own well-being, does that make them worthless? Are we all required to pay our own way?

I realize that I only have a grasp of a very tiny bit of what the Church of Satan stands for and I may not be very fair in my assessments of them. But, I know at their core, they believe in the divinity of the indivudual and that's another palce we find ourselves at cross purposes. I do not believe that individuals are divine, but rather we carry the divine within us. We are touched by God and belong to God, but we are not gods ourselves. If we are gods, where is my power to control the passage of time?

If we believe that we are like gods, that we are totally in control of our own destiny, and that we should do what we need to do to get as far as we can in life, without thought to the others in the world, what happens to those who can't? What if we convince ourselves that we must succeed in life on our own and without help? What happens if we fail? Sometimes, people who believe they have to do it all on their own do fail, and believing it is shameful to seek help, end up in the deepest and most self-destructive depressions. It makes for a dog-eat-dog world. I don't want to live in a dog-eat-dog world.

But let's look at the other end of the spectrum...perhaps the Baptist church? I have had limited but intimate experience with the Babptist church. I spent a few days in a few summers at Vacation Bible School at the Canton Baptist Temple. I was baptised at age 17 at the Massilon Baptist Temple, And I married a Baptist, albeit in an Episcopalian church: St. Pauls. Note: I couldn't find this church's website, but there is a nice picture of the sanctuary and the organ. By the way, Doc, while confident in his opinions and beliefs, is not the typical baptist one runs into in my hometown.

I find the certainty of the Baptists, in general, in their rightness to be nearly as frightening as the certainty of satanists. I remember a sign outside of a Baptist church in Newark, Ohio that gave me serious pause. It read: A tolerant society is a decadant society. While I can see their point that being tolerant of everyone and their quirks can lead to a lawless and uncivilized society, I guess I wouldn't dismiss tolerance out of hand, as this sign confidently suggests. Afterall, I believe Jesus was a tolerant guy and I try to pattern my life after his example, as they claim to. My tolerance stretches a bit further, I'm sure. I believe that there is good in everyone and that there is more than one way to find the Divine.

As an institution, the Baptist church has a very strong set of rules. There is only one Bible that is legitimate: The King James version. It is the rule. You must follow it or face scorn or worse: Hell. At the Massilon Baptist Temple, I drew looks for wearing pants rather than a skirt. It was explained to me that pants are for men, and according to the Bible, women and men should only wear garb specific to their gender. Apparently pants, made for women, sold in a women's clothing department broke the rules. On the other hand, if we are supposed to dress according to what the Bible says, wouldn't we be wearing togas or robes? I'm not completely certain, but I don't think Jesus and his male contemporaries wore pants. But, I nitpick...

The arrogance of the satanists and the baptists are the same. And arrogance is a very human failing; we usually don't have the goods to back it up (especially if we are satanists claiming to be gods). It's actually one of the big 7, is it not? Pride and arrogance are the same really. I know that satanists and baptists alike believe they hold the correct path. I fear these people. Hubris is a dangerous thing. I am a Christian person. But I am not a specific Christian. I try to find the basics and apply them; I'm too busy to thumb through the King James version to help me decide what to wear to work in the morning. To me the basics are these:

• Love your neighbor as yourself, and
• Pray without ceasing.

I think you will find that if you do the above, you will remain within the 10 Commandments. If we value each other as much as we value ourselves, we can all have a chance living a good life, relatively free from undue pain, suffering and struggle. Of course there will always be catastrophes and calamaties, but together, we can lessen the impact, rather than leave the weak for dead. Darwin had a point that, in the animal kingdom, only the strong survive. But I'd rather live in a world that honors life, protects the weak, and is a step to the left of the animal kingdom.