Atop my Caudron - January 2005 Soapbox / General Interest Date: Dec 30, 2004 - 11:51 AM I was reading about fakery in Biblical-era artifacts in museums, and one museum director said that Christians and Jews have a deep need for physical artifacts that re-enforce their faith . . . and I want to ask, "Why?" Why would anyone need a piece of the "True Cross of Jesus" to strengthen their belief in Him? According to what they tried to teach me, the Holy Ghost is supposed to come to His followers and fill them. Why would they need a bit of wood to strengthen that? What could be more powerful than being filled by the Spirit of God? Actually, the article was about a faked burial box of someone, James, I think. But I fail to see how the funeral box of anyone could strengthen a person's faith in Jesus, or in His alleged father, God. And I fail to understand how any artifact made by a human being could strengthen anyone's faith in anything, in the first place. Maybe that was my problem with trying to be a Christian . . . the Holy Ghost never came to me. When I asked about this I was told to stop doubting, and just believe! That didn't work for me. I figured if God wanted me, then He could send His Holy Ghost to visit me. Never happened. I do believe . . . but not in a God that can be confined in a cigar-box-sized book. Yeah, I've got a Bible sitting right here, the King James' Version, and it is just about the size of a cigar-box. I've been reading Genesis, and looking at pictures from the Hubble telescope. All those stars and galaxies! Oh, my! Star nurseries . . . places where new stars are being born! What could be more awe inspiring than that? Then I dug out an old copy of the National Geographic and looked at the pictures of mitosis, cell division, and the growth of an embryo. Again, I ask, what could be more awe inspiring? A piece of wood that someone claims came from a cross? Not hardly! The sort of god I can believe in is the Creator of all that universe of wonder out there, and the Designer of the incredibly complex process that unites sperm and egg to create a new life. The sort of god I can believe in is not concerned with what name we humans call him or her, nor with what we wear, or fail to wear, when we come to revere him or her. The sort of god I can believe in ignited the Big Bang, and set it all in motion. (Maybe it was a climatic event . . . I could understand that.) The sort of god I can believe in set the process of evolution going, and probably set it going on as many planets in the universe as possible. I mean, why waste all that effort on one little rock circling a relatively unimportant star? Huh? Just so our little human souls could have a testing ground? Let's not be silly. Such a Creator can indeed inspire my awe, but it's not very warm and cuddly. Not very personal. And that personal touch is important to most human beings, so we try to make our deities smaller; something we can imagine hugging, maybe. So, I go hug a tree, and talk to it, and feel that the Creative Spirit that built the universe can hear me. Or I hug a Fred and get hugged back, which is even better than hugging trees, and feel that the Creator of all Life can know that, too. Maybe He/She can slip into Fred for a bit and feel the hug more personally, and when Fred hugs back, maybe that is a hug from the Creator, too. Maybe? Anyway, climbing down from my cauldron perch, now. Ya'll have a fine day . . . Ardy This article comes from Phoenix Phamily - Supporting the Phoenix festivals community http://www.jaxpagan.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.jaxpagan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=508