Okay, that's not quite what you get when the Jehovah's Witness's come to your door. They're far more subtle than that. Some of the techniques of cold call selling have to be employed these days if they want to make any progress at all. But at least they're out there selling their wares. And as far as they're concerned it's the best thing since sliced bread for the wayward soul.
That's great. But what if the message they are pushing is past its sell by date? Or poison? Surely it can't be that bad. Anything that sets us on a path of spiritual enlightenment has to be some good. Well, not if it's facts are wrong and it leads people down a pathway to oblivion. The only excuse we would have before a Creator in this instance is "Sorry, I was hoodwinked, shan't do it again." No. We certainly wouldn't do it again - not in a one shot deal anyway.
As a matter of fact, I had a lengthy discussion on my front doorstep with two of these good people, perfectly decent souls by the look of them. They were soft spoken, polite, totally committed to their message - and very convinced it was the right one. Now - that's the part that made me take a step back and consider. As I slowly drifted into a heated debate with them about doctrine and deity, I took stock - and then cut the conversation short. There was no way either party was going to be convinced of the other's argument, not in such a short parley of words. Looking a little deeper one could say at least a seed of truth might have been sown in those few minutes. But whose truth? After all, a doorstep joust of wills can only be a battle of ideas, a clash of opinion and belief. Truth might well be be a thousand miles away, locked in some prehistoric tomb somewhere.
It occurs to me, this is the problem with religious argument the world over. On the one hand you have the doorstep debate, on the other, reports of mass slaughter in the name of whatever god happens to be declaring world ownership at the time. I won't go too deeply into the celestial players here. We all know who they are. From real sentient beings, to a mere set of ideas and ideals, we all have dealings with the arguments. Even if you believe in nothing you are drawn into the game by default.
The more I think about religion and our possible origins, I always come up with two big options. Either we are pointless creatures that have risen from the primordial sludge, or we are pawns in a Cosmic battle that stretches beyond anything our minds have ability to contemplate. The first option is the one most people seem to go for because it's the rational 'scientific' argument. It's the option that owns most evidence to support its claims - or not, as the case may be. It all depends on which side of the theoretical fence you sit.
I kind of like the Cosmic battle side best, but maybe that's because I have a fertile imagination. Religious organizations have done precious little in my opinion to advance the wonder or possibility that we might be more than an accident. And forget it. I am not going to even speculate on that particular hot potato; there are plenty of people doing it already. The Bible lays out a world history that maybe to a straight thinker is fantastical, to say the least. Yet it is, when you get to the heart of it, just words on paper. It's like anything that purports to boast a mystical property to affect lives - it needs a special component ingredient to make it truly come alive.
It needs us.
Without the back up of belief and action the wise words simply lay dead in a cave for thousands of years. But when that conviction is strong enough, a movement is created that can challenge any well established idea we might have held, even if it flies in the face of what might have been regarded as hard fact. This I think, is the beauty - and indeed the danger of religion. When following becomes fanaticism, then we have a recipe for disaster, as we know all too well.
It's clear to me now, there are always going to be the two camps - and some who embrace a little of both. But the point here is about belief not becoming dogma. I had an urge to throw my knowledge, gained through listening to years of Christian teaching and reading, right into the face of those two sincere Jehovah's Witnesses. Because those years had convinced me I was right. Just like they were convinced they were right. That's what pulled me up short, because on the face of it, the simple mistake of interpretation meant one of us might possibly be going to Hell. I personally find that one very hard to swallow, but as I've said before, that's just me. In any case I let them finish their diatribe, took their literature and they went on to the next house. And I say now, I wish them the best in their efforts to expand spiritual awareness. No doubt they will get some converts in the fullness of time, who will attend meetings, be convinced even further, then go out and spread the message abroad. In the end, it is clear there is a battle for hearts and minds globally - a battle that will likely go on until time burns out. And we will continue to wrestle and wrangle over spiritual world supremacy, until one is finally victorious. Or until we find out . . .
We might all have got it wrong.
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