how to be possessed by the ghost of a human sacrifice
one thing i love about the internet is stumbling across stuff that just tickles my brain in exactly the right way and one of those things is when someone takes a very familiar concept and frameshifts it into unfamiliar even jarring language.
take for instance this video (from a creator who is just a little bonkers; i do not recommend nor even condone their content or worldview) which does a sort of heathens-eye view of christian theology:
Christianity is just a religion where people have to be washed in the metaphorical blood of a human sacrifice and then possessed by his ghost in order to break an ancient curse that occurred in a magical garden a very long time ago. A garden wherein the first two people who were made of dust failed a loyalty test because they ate the fruit of an enchanted tree that contained within it all the knowledge of good and evil.
And God didn't like that they chose to think for themselves instead of choosing obedience. So, he cursed them and all of their offspring until the end of time. And after setting up an elaborate system of temple worship and animal sacrifice to satisfy his wrath, he decided that that wasn't working and the only thing that was going to be good enough was the blood of someone perfect.
So, he impregnated a young girl without her consent. He just let her know real quick through an angel and send his son into the world who, ultimately, did his best but did get taken out by the authorities for leading people astray from the path they've been told by the authorities to tread. So, now anybody who wants to be a part of it just has to say they're sorry and invite him to be Lord and Savior of their lives.
And then they get together once a week and they chant in unison and utter prayers that God would change the hearts and minds of people around them against their will. And they engage in ritualistic, symbolic acts of cannibalism where they devour his flesh and blood to honor his sacrifice and remind themselves how guilty they are for his death.
it's remarkably silly and i don't present it here except to say--transposing these concepts out of their original register is sort of enlightening right? i'm so used to all these concepts (they've been drilled into my head via the church and just society in general literally since birth) that i don't often stop to think... oh wow this stuff is weird!
that feeling i get when i read mormon theology must be the feeling that a person never exposed to christian theology gets. how can you believe this stuff? isn't all a bit too fantastical?
and yeah: it is. all systems of belief are a little fantastical actually. have you looked at neoliberalism lately? it tells a frankly ridiculous story contraindicated by any measure of reality. and this is what (american evangelical) christians actually worship at the end of the day. neoliberal capitalism.
honestly i'm not sure which one is more fantastical! the one with the human sacrifice and the possession or the one where loosing the chains on the beast of greed is actually better for everyone despite *gestures broadly*.