Comment: Modern-day Fairy Tale
Conversations with Zak
I never found out where he came from, but Zak wanted to know about us – humanity. After reading books on science, technology, psychology and sociology, he continued “Progressive and updatable, that’s good. Most commendable. Now, what is religion?”
“I can tell you about Christianity. But there are many others”, I said tentatively. I explained that Christianity is about seeking another world that is everywhere, but cannot be seen or touched. However we know that God – he is all powerful and morally perfect – resides there with his son, Jesus. Other religions don’t believe that about Jesus though. Zak looked sceptical. “How do you know?”
“Well, we have a book that says so. The Holy Bible describes God, Jesus, life after death, heaven and hell, how to behave, and what to worship. I had to explain that ‘worship’ meant something like feeling unworthy, and serving God and then feeling constant gratitude. “Curious” was all I heard from Zak. And then “Tell me more”.
I explained that the Bible was written some 2000 to 3000 years ago based on some events in the Middle East: after a bit of searching, I showed where on the map. The Christian part is about God’s son, a man called Jesus, sort of half-man, half-God. In fact he is the same God as well – it’s a bit confusing, I said somewhat awkwardly. He was executed after one year of preaching or, perhaps, three, but that was enough to start Christianity. He exorcised demons, reanimated dead bodies (that happened to him as well) and performed other magical feats like walking on water and solving food shortages. “Do you have demons?” Zak asked. Well no, I explained. “Maybe Jesus got rid of them all.” Zak suggested, somewhat sarcastically, I suspected.
“Can I see this Bible?” “The originals were lost a long time ago, but we have copies” “Who copied the Bible?” Zak asked. I explained that Christians don’t know, but they believe that it’s totally accurate; in fact, many see it as the literal word of God – that’s part of their faith. “Do Christians change the Bible after learning more about the world?” “No, there is no need. The Bible already represents absolute truth.”
Zak left dismayed to continue the conversation another day.
Alex McCullie
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