The Pilgrim at the Graveyard

Once upon a time there was a pilgrim who left his home and all that he could not carry on his back to seek Jerusalem. He went out through the city and walked for days without seeing the end of it. As he went he passed by many people talking and many televisions playing and many newspapers lying on the sidewalk. He spoke to many while he walked and asked if they knew they way to Jerusalem, and they laughed and told him to turn around. Some though there was no path. Some though he could reach it by any path, which was no help at all. Some told him there was a path, but it was a dark and wicked road and so they would not reveal it. And in all he heard and read he found this unwavering assumption that all he loved and clung to was a blatant lie. And a horrible suspicion began to creep into him. He did not know what discovery had been made, what brilliant experiment had been performed, what supercomputer had spat out such an undeniable formula, but he feared that if he encountered it then he would lose his dearest love.

And then one day he met a man who was a skeptic and a freethinker, and the pilgrim knew this because the freethinker told nearly everyone he met about it, just as the pilgrim told nearly everyone he met the place to which he was going. This was in part frightening and also a very great relief to the pilgrim because everyone else he had met had been too polite to tell him plainly why they thought his doctrines wrong and many were too polite to even tell him that they thought the doctrines wrong even when it was obvious that this was what they thought. It had confused the pilgrim very much that they thought it rude to advocate truth, and now he was happy to meet one who could at least tell him that secret, thought it might destroy all he loved. And so he asked the freethinker if he thought the Covenants wrong and why he thought as he did.

"Indeed," said the freethinker. "I do think they are wrong, and, as to why, I will do better than telling you. I will show you the decisive proof!"

So the freethinker took the pilgrim to a graveyard and led him to a marble statue of a bearded man sitting on a throne and of this place he said, "This is the graveyard of the gods. Here is Zeus, or Jupiter if you please. Here is the date of his birth, and here is the date of his death. Look around you, each of these were once worshiped as you worship the palestinian, and now they are all gathered and forgotten in this place. There are thousands of them here, thousands who were all believed to be eternal. That is why we know your god is dying. We have even reserved a plot for him over there."

Upon hearing this, the pilgrim was filled with joy and mirth which poured out of him in uproarious laughter. He said to his startled guide, "Thank you, kind sir. I had been nearly convinced until now that there was a secret discovery which would be my ruin. I had become afraid to say where I was going or to pray in any obvious manner. It was good for me to be made small and meek, but there is something about which I should be bold and loud, and you have set it free again."

Seeing that the freethinker did not understand, the pilgrim explained further. "You told me that Zeus was worshiped in the same way that the Nazarene is worshiped, but this is obviously not true. No one was ever told to save their life by spitting on the works of Homer and then chose instead to kiss them. And when the pagans went to other lands, they believed they had left their gods at home. And though Zeus was called immortal, he was not called timeless. He was born of Chronos and his wife, and before that he did not exist in any form. You have pretended that these are all the same as the I Am, but that is clearly nonsense. They are not all even the same as each other. That doll over there was a household god, and it was said that the god and the doll that represented it were one and the same. Ra's power stretched as far as the Nile, but that doll was not said to have power even at the other end of town. I tell you, spend one hour reading the facts of the case and you will know without doubt that they are not the same."

"And there is something else," said the pilgrim before the angry freethinker could object. "You said that you have prepared a plot for Adonai, and then I saw your chest puff up with pride. I think that you have supposed that it was skeptics who killed these gods and dug their graves, but that is wrong. Some of these died because their worshipers were killed, but that is not how Zeus was killed. I know who killed Zeus, and He is the Nazarene. But He did not kill him as those household gods from Mecca were killed. The splendor and might of Jupiter was laid to waste by the weakness of the martyrs. The pagan worshipers of Jupiter killed the worshipers of the I Am again and again until the blood of the martyrs washed the idols out into the sea. Many of the pagans gave up oppressing and joined the oppressed believers, and the rest died of exhaustion without any successors. Nothing they told their children could convince them that Zeus was more substantial than the Jewish Messiah from the eastern land. That is how this one died, and many others died in the same way. Some others like Quetzalcoatl were killed in war by wicked men desiring power and loot, but there are men like that everywhere and dwelling in all great creeds. And to be honest, Quetzalcoatl was an unusually wicked idol that wanted for a quick and decisive death. And while there are many that were killed in that way, the greatest of these dead gods were put down by slaves and martyrs."

So the pilgrim thanked the freethinker for showing him this field of victory and for renewing his faith, and with great vigor and eagerness the pilgrim set out again in search of Jerusalem.