Christ Clone

I hate pedantic literature. I don't think there is anything worse. I mean, all literature, all writing, says something. It says something about the author, about the culture, about biases, about.... whatever.

Before I left the country for a year and a half, I read the first two books of the Christ Clone Trilogy. It was well written and interesting. The story was compelling and the characters intriguing. The story was a little irreligious; the premise is the cloning of god. It also messes with the judeo-christian myth, figuring god as a tyrant, and satan as a liberator. Very miltonesque, very turning your world view upside down. I really liked it, especially as I was doubting god, looking for alternative viewpoints, looking for explanations, for history. Even for out-there ideas. Dialogue. Anything.

The book takes new age ideas, a little bit of scientology. It places power with individuals. It takes a good look at the god of the new testament, honestly evaluates god on the basis of his actions. God of the old testament IS a bastard. He punishes people, he is fickle, he is cruel.

Well, I got to the last book. I was up at 2 am, when I should have been getting a good night's rest for my training the next morning. In a COMPLETE reversal of plot, a drastic shift in several of the characters, in a short shot, it comes out that our Christ clone is the anti-christ, that he is cruel. So after provoking thought, it returns all its readers that they are nothing without god.

As a lit major, I should have known this. I mean, we talked about it in my junior year with "the chimney sweep." Questioning the status quo as a way to return to the status quo; questioning so that the people CAN"T question; thinking for the people so that the people can feel as though they are questioning without actually questioning. Religion has used it, government uses it. It is the great evil institution of Marx.

I just find myself disappointed. It really upset me that a book, that a thought process, that a theory that points out some really valid points about christianity returns to the unthinking realm of "feeling." Well, if you feel bad, it must be god telling you no. If you feel happy, god must be inspiring you. Nothing you do or feel is your own power. You are all dependant on god, even for your own feelings. Individualism, belief in your own power, is bad. It's evil. Wanting to be a grown up, to think for yourself, is evil.

So, in Catholicism, wanting to be like god is heresy. In mormonism, wanting to be like god is required. I just don't like going through my whole reversal of religion in 3 hours of reading a novel. Maybe I should just stay away from those crazy evangelicals.