“Christ is a teacher who must either be accepted completely or rejected completely; to claim that he was merely one insightful religious leader and philosopher among history’s many is to falsify his doctrine and miss the point. With Christ, it’s all or nothing.” ~ Fr. John Bartunek, LC
Sadly, I fell directly into this trap; perhaps pushed along by a hopelessly confused “Catholic” education, during the 1970s and 80, which strangely offered up surrogate Saviors: from Buddha to Star Trek’s Spock. I can recall several lessons and classroom assignments which encouraged us to seek out Jesus-like historical and religious figures. I came up with Buddha, and the teacher proposed Spock from the recent film “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan;” during the movie, Spock gives his life so that the Enterprise will not be destroyed. While giving one’s life for another is always noble and admirable, these exercises really just belittled Jesus in my mind; for, he was no better or greater than those other men and women. He was merely one in a long line of wise sages and soothsayers. He was a good man, and that’s all. Although the idea had never been proposed, in my mind, He was not God. So, after thirteen years of Catholic schooling, I left with no God. Therefore, I went looking for one - in the only place I knew: the world. And, there, I only discovered the devil.