The Body of Evidence
Before I divulge what direction and what the intention of this article is, Let's take a look at a specific word:
EVIDENCE
What does evidence mean?
• EVIDENCE (noun)
The noun EVIDENCE has 3 senses:
1. your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief
2. an indication that makes something evident
3. (law) all the means by which any alleged matter of fact whose truth is investigated at judicial trial is established or disproved
EVIDENCE used as a noun is uncommon.
• EVIDENCE (verb)
The verb EVIDENCE has 3 senses:
1. provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes
2. provide evidence for
3. give evidence
EVIDENCE used as a verb is uncommon.
Based on the imaginary, and obviously self-imposed expertise of this word dictionary, we must come to our own quasi-intelligent conclusion ... especially since the dictionary decided to actually use the word "evidence" to describe what "evidence" means. In other words, according to the brilliant linguists and skilled University Graduates, evidence, means evidence. So, now that I have finished my rant ... lets move on.
Trust me for a moment when I say that evidence is simply proof. Scientific (knowing) tangible experiential proof ... for ALL. Much in the same way as science, means proof knowledge. we're not talking phantasms and apparitions ... we're talking tangible, material, unquestionable proof ... easily witnessed by everyone, and not just you and the voice of an old Irishman calling you from the dark corner of the garage for another round.
Now this can get interesting. Because if I tell you that black dogs do not exist in the state of Vermont, you would disbelieve me since it is highly likely that someone has seen a black dog in Vermont somewhere. The scientific probability that they do exist in Vermont is high, and once I see one ... experiential evidence offers the proof needed that there does in fact exist black dogs in Vermont.
But ... if you set out to prove that there are actually no black dogs in Vermont ... it would be an impossibility. We cannot prove a negative. I would have to search the entire state, every county, city, wilderness, under every porch, inside every house and apartment, dams, reservoirs, wilderness, and would also have to go back the beginning of time itself, if it even had a beginning ... all of this to prove that there are no black dogs in Vermont. It would be impossible to prove a negative. Because to PROVE ... requires EVIDENCE. Once you find just ONE black dog in Vermont, search is over ... case closed. Go have lunch and a round of golf.
One more example before I get to my point. You drop a highly toxic pill on the floor in the kitchen. Also meandering on the floor in the kitchen is your little dog. If he finds the pill and eats it, it could kill him. So on your knees you go. Flashlight in hand, searching for what ...? EVIDENCE. Proof that you will have possession of that pill. You know that it can't just disappear. You know that it confined to this universe in the same way that all things that ever were and all things that ever will be are also confined here. Where else would they go? The past is here, the future is here ... all waiting on your thoughts and actions. All is mind. So ... you just KNOW that pill is here.
You won't walk away and say "screw-it" ... first and foremost because of the dog's potential health hazard, but also because you KNOW it's here. It must be, therefore it is. There is not even a sliver of a doubt. There ... in the corner ... under the leg of the chair is that little pill. You grab it up ... and now you have peace. Problem is solved. No worries, no concerns, and it's over. Why? BECAUSE NOW YOU HAVE EVIDENCE. Proof of the pill, it's existence, and your current condition of having it in your possession. The same would go for that bee you thought came into your car window. Right after you see it fly out the other window ... your fear alarm turns off. You got your evidence. No more fear or concern.
Now we get to the major point of this article. Proof. And the comfort and peace that it brings. Even in horrible situations. If a child has been abducted and has been missing for a while, fear looms and people dread the sometimes inescapable truth that the child has been murdered. But in order to know this, to have this understanding and final acceptance, there MUST be a body. As unimaginable as it may be for a parent to lose a child to the hands of an evil killer, but at least when the "body of evidence" is found, it's over. There is now PROOF. The grieving, and the mourning, and the final plans all get underway. The search for the killer progresses, and with serious detective work and forensics, we all hope the killer is found, and punished for his crime. This is his karma.
But what it this scenario doesn't play out this way? What if the child is never found? What if the body is never found? There can be no closure ... no conclusive PROOF or EVIDENCE of murder, abuse, or evil wrongdoing. The evidence is everything. Not circumstantial evidence or hearsay could ever settle a matter, in or out of court ... but cold, hard, factual, and provable experiential evidence for ALL to see. All else ... is opinion, not fact. Subjective vs. Objective.
The parents of the child may never find out if they're child has been injured, abducted, sold, taken into a new home illegally, abused, murdered ... nothing. They may never, ever know ... for the rest of this live that they may suffer each day here and now. There is rarely peace. Often, there is irreparable psychological damage, medications, institutionalizations, divorces, and sometimes a parent will commit suicide never being able to be released from the suffering and unknowingness of the whereabouts of their child.
No let's go where you expected me to go if you know me by now. Religion, faith, and higher powers. I'm going to jump right into the deep end by saying that there is no PROOF or EVIDENCE that there ever existed a Godman named Jesus Christ who walked the hills of the Galilee outside of the Bible stories. Roman records know of no Jesus. Secular history knows of no Jesus. The Jesus Christ taught in the churches of modern Christianity, is a conglomerate entity of multiple Saviour figures based solely upon Celestial Theological Cosmogony. Basically, the movements of the heavenly bodies and the seasonal effects that the Sun and the Planets have upon our Earth and Earthly lives.
This conglomerate Saviour of Iesous Christos (Greek), or Iseus Chrestus (Latin) is interlaced with Crios of the Druids, Joshua, Buddha, Krishna, Osiris, Horus, Odysseus, Attis, Apollonius, Romulus, Dionysus, Mithras, Heracles, Glycon, Zoroaster, Quatzacoatl, and a myriad of so many other Saviour Godmen of ancient civilizations such as Kemet/Egypt, Greece, Persia, Asia, Sumeria, and numerous other geographic locations and civilizations.
But ... now the fascinating part. Somehow, without Google and Yahoo, the worldwide similarities of the spiritual Truths taught by all these myths are at their very foundation ... nearly identical. Choose any location, and region, and civilization, and the deeper revelational teachings are all based on Ancient Pagan Wisdom. The idea that WE are God ... collectively. The concept is very simple. If everything came from one point of origin, then each thing has an essence of that original thing still in it. It is our Divine Spark of God within mankind's superconsciousness ... tying us all together as One. As God. The miracles, signs, and wonders of Jesus were allegory, metaphor, parables and myth. These are surface stories, true or not but irrelevant, with the deeper lessons and Truths beneath the layers of the surface stories.
The birth of the begotten of God, the miracles, the illumination, the crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension ... Armageddon, the Tribulation, the Second Coming ... are all to take place WITHIN us spiritually. The Lake of Fire, Heaven and Hell, all metaphors for the Apocalyse - which means unveiling of something hidden - not the end of the world with real horsemen and battles with bloodshed knee-deep in the battlefields. Theses things are OUR history, the story of our spiritual lives. Not out there somewhere historically or literally.
You think that a literal Jesus died on a literal cross and resurrected his dead flesh after three days of rigor-mortis and blood draining and a pierced heart and lungs only to walk around and have dinner with his Apostles?
Then I say ... prove it. Present evidence ... OUTSIDE of the Bible and church records and fathers and founders of the faith. Evidence and proof that will hold up in a court of law, and I will look at it. Otherwise, it remains in the category of myth, hearsay, circumstantial, blind faith, and spiritual and emotional hope. But there is NO evidence. There is NO proof. There is no Second Coming, Rapture of the Saints, 7 year Tribulation, Coming in The Clouds to collect all the dead and living believers.
There are deep spiritual Truths to be learned from the esoteric myths hidden within the stories ... from all loving and caring religions. But other than that, it's time we give up on Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Superman, and Jesus. In fact, any and all world religions who have at their roots a Saviour figure who had not led the world into peace, unity, and harmony ... should have everything turned into a museum. Religion taken literally and historically has destroyed civilization and set back human progress for more than 2,000 years.
Just a thought ...
~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.
