Deconstructing Bono ..and some other stuff..

With this latest edition, I'm beginning to feel like a Brant Hansen tribute blog. I'm considering changing "punchworthy" to "Hello to Juliet."

This post jumps off Brant's latest post. Could I have commented on his blog? Yes, I could've. But that would have gone against 3 strong points of logic:

a.) any internet discussion that can't be had in less than 25 words is pretty much a waste of everybody's time.
b.) I've got a lot more than 25 words to say.
c.) I need to get up some kind of post on my own blog, anyway, or everyone will stop reading.

THIS IS NOT REALLY A RESPONSE.. to Brant's post, specifically.. (i say that now, but i know, sadly, that i will probably end up saying it again). But that post, plus the article it linked to, plus past experiences with this topic, plus the 33 years that I have spent on this earth, plus nature, plus nurture, plus too much red meat in my diet, led to this post of my own. So if you want to know the backstory, go read the link above, and go read the link that the link above refrences, and then start... here:

Deconstructing Bono is a dangerous game. Not like rugby. More like taunting bikers. It's always going to end in serious pain. Or at least a bad case of disillusion.

This is especially true if we try and play the game on our home field of modern, western, rationalized Christianity, because Bono is not playing in that game. He's not even playing in the same stadium. He's not even playing in the same league with us, people--he's participating in a completely different version of the sport. We're baseball, he's cricket. We're football, he's futbol. We're greco roman, he's freestyle. We supposedly share a savior, and a faith, but we certainly do not share a walk.

So, again, every time someone looks at what Bono says or what Bono does and then tries to parse it for greater spiritual significance, and make it jive with Christianity as we know it, we may just as well be asking for a punch in the nose.

That being said, here are some options for what "without question, the most influential person in the world" could have meant by his words, "Jesus, Jew, Mohammed—all true."

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1. That in their entirety, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are completely true. Or, one and the same. Cut from the same cloth. Peacefully coexisting despite their logical disparities in a relativistic etherworld of monistic bliss. And probably pot. Lots of it. All roads leading to Rome, or wherever you think is groovy, baby.

This doesn't seem likely, does it? But hey.. you never know. Maybe Bono has flipped his wig. Maybe the personal testimony of pretty much every Christian who has ever spent time getting to know him is completely off-base. Could be. Anything's possible. (wait! no it's not! darn.. now I'm confused..)

2. That these 3 Abrahamic faiths all teach essentially the same things. "Be good." "Don't kill," "don't steal", etc. They all point generally to the same style of life.

Okay, an existential post-mod wandering.. he's confused or whatever. He'll get over it? Or it will turn out he didn't really have a grounded faith, and he'll just wander off into the fires of hell?

3. That Jesus, the Jews, and Mohammed were all searching for truth. A political statement. They may not all have been arrows pointing straight to heaven, but at least they were shooting. We should all likewise be one in our pursuit of purity and truth.

Maybe kinda vague.. heart-string-y.. political.. activist. Completely out of line with the f-bomb-dropping Bono we've come to know and love, right..?

4. That Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all teach things that lead to the Truth. Christianity with it's focus on Jesus the God/man. Judaism with all the glory and history of the one true God, and the plan to deliver his people. Islam with it's recognition of Jesus as holy prophet--in some cases chief prophet, and even "Messiah" who will return at the end of the world. Oh.. and also all that "don't kill, don't lie, don't cheat" stuff.

I know, I know. This would require an intelligent, well-read, well-travelled, spiritually-aware person, with a strong understanding of Christian thought, a long and deeply-personal pilgrimage, and a desire to see all mankind united for peace and equality. It would require that we a.) give the guy some credit, b.) accept the idea that pointing out similarities breaks more ground than pointing out differences, and c.) not completely freak out every time somebody shakes our fundamentalist bubble as they brush past it on their way out to save the world. A lot to ask, I realize, and I probably shouldn't even have brought it up and wasted everybody's time. "United" indeed! pfftt!

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Now... am I saying that I think that Bono actually meant number 4..? Or even #3? No. I'm not. I have no idea. Maybe he really has gone universalist/unitarian on us. I don't know. Maybe he didn't even have to "go" there! Maybe he's always been a universalist! Who knows? And why do we all care so dang much?

Okay.. maybe we care because we are human. And that's okay. Really. It's just fine. But while we're all rubber-necking our way along the top 40 here, let's agree that it's not really that important, and that we're never going to know for sure, okay? Definitely not based on one comment that he made in concert. Or even one Rolling Stone interview, or essay, or even book about his spiritual journey.

We are not going to know, and not only that, but that our focus on the issue serves to highlight our own stupid version of "the faith"--that we would be so concerned with whether or not something that one guy said somehow excludes him from the fold. And, hey! Maybe that's it! Maybe Josh Henry said it best when he said,

"I think maybe the question, rather than 'How can we make church safe for the artist?' is 'How can we make the artist safe for church..?'"

What is it about us.. us modern-day Christians.. that is so focused on exclusion? Why is it that we insist on holding every single person's faith up to our personal scrutiny, so that we can say, "yes, this one's good" or "no, this one's not quite right?" Isn't God a big boy? Isn't He the one that's all about that "sheep and goats" business? Isn't it our job, as Christians, to be going about His work here on earth--or is it our job to watch His back and make sure no baddies slip through the gates while He's not looking? What, in short, is it that we are all so AFRAID of?

Yeah, I think that's it! I think that's what gets me. Maybe that's the reason we all care so much... Maybe Bono is gonna get into heaven.. (whoo-hoo! Praise God, Brother!) Maybe he's not. (That would stink.. but maybe he's not.) But what_on_earth difference does it make to what we, as Christians, are supposed to be about? And why is it so concerning to us that what he does makes perfect sense and is completely in line with the Christian walk as we know it? I think it's mostly just flat-out fear.

Fear related to Bono, really, at all. Interest not related to Bono. It has nothing to do with him, in particular. Rather, fear that there may not be a way to do this thing.. that there may not be this clear-cut set of rules, regulations and behaviors. Fear that, if we acknowledge or accept someone who does it a different way, that suddenly all bets are off! We no longer control it! God is outside the box! Running amuck! The lines are blurring, the shades are graying, and how, oh how will we manage to save ourselves now!?! huh?!

Is it just me, or is there a scary, scary tendancy in modern Christianity towards Orthadox Judaism? Do we like our rules, our extrapolated codes of conduct, just a li-ttle too much? I don't know, but I feel like we're living right there on the wrong end of a Pauline epistle, saying, "now, make sure you wait until the eighth day to cut that sucker off, or all the Jesus in the world won't save your sorry behind!"

How will we save ourselves now? We won't. And we never would have in the first place.