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Religious Nuttiness About A Cheese Sandwich

 

By James Donahue

 

Does anybody ever wonder whatever happened to that infamous cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary on it that sold on eBay for a whopping $28,000?

 

The sandwich, which was already 10-years old when it sold on the Internet auction in 2,000, is not about a quarter of a century old. It has to be quite hard and withered, if not infested by mold and fungus by now. The image that made it so valuable may have been erased by the very age of the sandwich and all of the biological fixings that went into it.

 

That very old sandwich made the national news after bidding got into the thousands. At one point eBay pulled the sandwich out of the auction thinking it was all a joke. I thought perhaps that would be the end of the silliness. But lo, the sandwich went back up for sale about a day later.

 

That people would want to pay so much for such a perishable item was then, and remains today one of a long line of events expressing a religious fanaticism that appears to be present throughout our troubled world.

 

It seems that people everywhere are seeing what they believe are “miraculous” images of either the Virgin Mary or Jesus appearing on rocks, on tree trunks, on stained walls, steamed windows or even in the clouds.

 

The moment someone reports such a vision, it is amazing how quickly the place of the observation becomes a holy place where thousands of people flock to pray. They set up make-shift alters complete with lighted candles, flowers and written prayers. When it happens on someone’s private property, the rush to worship has been a serious problem for the property owners.

 

We have wondered just what the draw is to such images. Photos of those that ever get published don’t appear to be very clearly defined. And from what we know about the Christian religion, the practice of bowing down to images was prohibited by God in the Old Testament. A bubbled up piece of cheese on a sandwich that somehow takes the shape of a woman in a cloak, while some might think it reflect the Virgin Mary, appears to be nothing more than an image. Anyone can pray to it if they wish, but they might look pretty silly to the rest of the world.

 

Some person willing to fork out $28,000 for such a sandwich really needs his or her head examined. The real miracle in this story is that some fool would be willing to do such a thing.

 

I have always had a problem with these miracle images of both Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Nobody ever captured a photograph of these people, or even painted their portraits when they lived, so we have no idea what they really looked like. All we have are popular impressions given to us by “inspired” artists.

 

When somebody sees a Jesus image on a tree trunk, or even dreams of meeting Jesus and receiving a message, they seem to picture him as looking exactly like that famous bearded, handsome, but slightly effeminate appearing man in portraits hanging in most Christian churches. I have no idea who painted that picture, but it seems to be accepted as the standard for what Jesus looked like when he walked the roads of Palestine over 2000 years ago.

 

I have a feeling that if we could really meet the real Jesus we wouldn’t accept him as a deity at all. That is because he wasn’t a deity. He was a human, just like us, but he possessed ancient knowledge and wisdom that set him apart from the others. He was not only a prophet, who saw future events, but he was a magician.

 

Those kinds of people still appear among us today. None, since Jesus, have been declared children of God, however. That was an angelic scheme concocted by Roman and Jewish leaders for political reasons. Paul’s peculiar visions on the Road to Damascus sparked the erection of the Christian faith many years after Jesus was dead and buried.

 

I have always thought of Paul’s “conversion” as a possible alien abduction. It occurred at a time when such miraculous visitations were rare and accepted as divine messages from above. Paul was a dynamic promoter and the perfect man for the job. His abduction and consequent brainwashing was brilliantly executed.

 

And thus was born one of the worst religious belief systems to ever sweep this planet. It has enslaved millions for years and seems to show no sign of disappearing.

 

That so many people would get excited over a “face” on a cheese sandwich is a sign of the total insanity that has impregnated the masses.

 

Because of the “end times” teachings attached to the Christian belief system, there is a collective awareness that something terrible lies in the near future. There is a frantic need to snatch onto any sign of divine help.

 

The thought that humans still could do a lot to help themselves doesn’t seem to be crossing their minds. That is because their thought processes have been carefully implanted with the idea that a “savior” named Jesus will come back in the nick of time and do it for them.

 

The human mind is a powerful force. The god we seek is within each of us. Consequently, humanity needs to get out of that frame of mind before we make the horrors of an apocalyptic end of everything come true.