the Redeemer

So, I've been thinking about Jesus. I don't mean the historical guy, I mean the legend, the mythic hero that brings light into the world. As Campbell said, mythology is just the word for other people's religion.

I feel the Catholic Church's interpretation is wrong. Hey, they tortured people into converting, okay? They have no moral authority on this soapbox.

The redeemer sacrifices himself (or herself, it's a common myth of which Jesus is only one example) for the good and the future of the world. He leaves, must leave as he is sacrificed. And we are left alone, with only his memory and his legacy to guide us.

So, he doesn't save us. He gives us a world wherein we can save ourselves. He gives us hope, enough to get us through hell.

Hope is a horrible thing, because without hope we could just give up. Curl up and die. But we have hope, hope of a brighter day, of a better world. Hope that I myself could be a better person someday. And so I keep fighting, one day after the next.

The Redeemer falls, and in so doing wakes us up to the fact that we are worth dying for. That we are so holy and precious - God thinks so even if we don't - that God will suffer and die on our behalf. That maybe I am bitter and greedy today, but tomorrow is different, and the day after and the day after... I can be some one I am proud of. I can be someone worth dying for - God can see it if I can't.
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