The greatest story ever told ?

Dave Hitt www

The story of Christ is boring and mostly stolen from older, cooler religions.

The Greatest Story Ever Told is “The Princess Bride.”

Or maybe “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

Or one about James Bond going back in time to fight off dinosaurs with a light saber.

But the Christ myth? Pffft.

SmartLX

It was only ever regarded as “the greatest story ever told” in terms of its importance; for Christians, it’s the most important story there is. For them it’s not required to stand on its own merits as a story. For the rest of us it is, and it doesn’t hold up that well.

George Locke

I’m not sure if it’s the greatest story, but I’m quite fond of the Mahabarata, the Hindu myth.

Evil princes plot to usurp the throne. If they succeed, chaos and despair overtake the world for all time (dharma will be no more). Our heroes can wage war to uphold dharma, but if they do, the whole world will be destroyed. What to do? Stand by and do nothing as weak and corrupt men create hell on earth or defend righteousness at the ultimate cost?

Along the way, there’s intrigue, fantastic revenge (as a woman stands “upright and rigid on one toe” for a hundred years praying for a way to defeat her enemy), and wonderful imagery. There’s even a kind of post-modern element where the poet who dictates the story interacts with the characters. IMHO, it’s way more fun than the Bible, with pregnant moral lessons and beautiful tragedy to boot.

Here’s a really lyrical video presentation: DVD.

Reed Braden www

A virgin giving birth in a stable in the desert? Yawn. Most stories I’ve heard told are better than that.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are three stories that, not only are more fun to read, but prominently feature dragons and sword fights.

Throw a fire-breathing dragon into the stable with Jesus and the livestock and stage a sword fight between St. Joseph and King Herod, and maybe then we can talk about the Nativity story being anything greater than dismally mediocre.

logicel

At present, I regard evolution to be the greatest and true story ever told with its details still unfolding. The basic core of the common descent plot line is constantly being extended giving us an deeper understanding of the relations between the characters. What a saga! And it is a living story, just look at yourself in the mirror and photos of your ancestors! Further more, because of evolutionary understanding, many people have been really saved, that is, their deaths have been delayed, because of medical breakthroughs based on evolutionary principles.

In France, there has been lots of television coverage on evolution via fictionalized TV films (theorizing that the discovery of agriculture inspired people to idolize icons related to the fruitfulness of the earth via the Gaia goddess setting the way to organized religious beliefs), documentaries, biographical presentations of the main movers behind evolution, etc. And of course there is Richard Dawkins latest book. Much more time has been spent on bringing the story of evolution to the masses than the less-riveting one of Jesus which is well known and easily understood.

I consider the story of Jesus to be a paltry, non-interesting, trite, stale, often told tale, not to mention immoral with its primitive cleaving to scapegoats and guilt being thrust upon following generations. You heard one savior tale – whether it is Jesus or Luke Skywalker – and you have heard them all. In sharp contrast, the story of evolution is unique, especially if we find out that evolution is the means for the creation of species on other planets.

The evolution story is a bloody one, just like Christianity. However, evolution lacks the insane inanity of insisting on an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-merciful, loving god reigning over the killing fields. Thereby, its intellectual honesty just crushes the Jesus tale.