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Sometimes it takes a different perspective for someone to see the reality of how things are handled, and Marquezs insights into the way "Mainstream Religion" has dragged God and Christianity through the mud to the point of non-recognition. This is illustrated by Pelayos and Elisenda's not even seeing the wings in the beginning. My end goal here is to bring out this wonderful storys points and compare them to mainstream religions fallacies. The description of the weather when the Angel is found very vividly paints a picture of the mood in Pelayos house that day. "The world had been sad since Tuesday. " Is the text, while Elisenda had been nursing a sick child that they feared might die. The sea and sky had come together in a foreboding leaden gray that squeezed all hope from anyone subjected to it. The sea itself, seen as a life giving, sustenance providing entity, has risen up to threaten a helpless child to Elisenda.
The crabs that provided food and retail value, are now a cause for the childs sickness. The neighbor woman even says the Angel must have been coming for the child. This shows how the thought processes were turning in reverse. Most of our mainstream churches seem to have their thought processes in reverse also.
We are of the "Janet Jackson" school of theology; "What have You done for me Lately?" This is not how the Bible teaches us to behave, but to serve God and one another in love, with understanding, knowing that we too were once the enemy of God, but through grace and love, adopted into His family. How can we condemn others and receive the love we are denying them. Marquez chooses his character very carefully. God the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being, cannot be portrayed as having been affected by the world without some feeling of blasphemy. An Angel on the other hand can be very old and still not carry the same connotation. This Angel projects the image of being alive throughout time, and also carrying the weight of fighting the worlds battles for much too long a time.
The lack of hair and teeth are evidence of battles fought to much dismay. I am reminded of the story in the book of Daniel: Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, "O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you. " While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. (Dan 10: 10 - 13 NKJV) How many of these battles must the Angel have been involved with throughout the ages?
How much this worlds pain can an Angel possibly carry, before it collapses to the ground, in disheveled weariness? The text even states "His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, were forever entangled in the mud. " What a beautiful image of the Divine overburdened with earthly matters. The disheveled appearance is also representative of the bankruptcy of the heart of God. God in His infinite grace and wisdom has still grown weary of a world where even His representatives have turned to butchering everything the name of God stands for.
There are precedents for this thought by the author. God destroyed the earth by flood for the wickedness of man in Genesis 6. He also wanted to destroy the Hebrews when talking with Moses on mount Sinai in Exodus 32. Todays church has continually tested the grace of God in perverting His word to allow things that are expressly forbidden. Some denominations are saying that the reason for Sodom and Gamorrahs destruction was not homosexuality, but simply being inhospitable to strangers.
By changing this text they allow for homosexuals to be not only Christians, but even clerics in the church. Yet the very word sodomy comes from the literal translation of the story. There is another concept beautifully portrayed in the decrepit personage of the Angel, and this is the stripping of divine attributes of God. This is shown throughout the story, from the Angel being held "captive" in Pelayos house to being locked in the chicken coop, to even having the villages interest wane with a carnival freak show. This image is representative of the way mainstream religion has started this "name it and claim it" idea of dealing with things they want. Some preachers are teaching that if you are sick, you deny the fact that youre sick and only think well thoughts.
On the surface this sounds like simple visualization, except this denial keeps people from seeking medical treatment and tells them any action other than coming your healing is a lack of faith. This is presumption, and also trying to hold God hostage for your healing, by claiming if you do this He must heal you. I understand Gods Word has promises, and those promises are true for all, but when we say okay if I do this You have no choice, this is putting yourself in control of God and is not what the Word intends. Look at the way the sick came to see the Angel. They tried to touch, prod even hold feathers to their ailing parts in hopes they would be healed. In only one place in the Bible is the power to heal given to an Angel and that is concerning the Pool of Bethesda.
An Angel would be sent down to trouble the water and the first person into the pool was healed. Jesus showed this to be an antiquated idea when he healed the man that had been sick for 38 years. (Jn. 5: 2 - 9) The priest and Romes treatment of the Angel is a very familiar story for any person familiar with the Bible. The Jewish priests (Pharisees) reacted to Jesus in the same manner as the angel. The priest presumed that God spoke Latin and would treat him better or at least with a certain amount of reverence for his position. The priests, even though astounded by His wisdom and power expected to be treated like VIPs by Jesus. Mainstream preachers sometimes do the same things to people.
We have a very large church in Toledo where the preacher actually goes around in public with bodyguards, and will even throw people out of his church if they dont conform to his rules. This is a man condemning someone according to his own standards. The most overused verse in the Bible is seen at sporting events, quoted by even the most inexperienced of "church" people and used as a hammer to pound others to believe the same as them. This verse is John 3: 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. " This verse, taken out of context is very dangerous and shows how the Bible can be made to say anything if...
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Research essay sample on Mainstream Religion Thought Processes God
