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"The Legend of the Cherokee" according to "Dr. Ken"

Submitted by Ken Watts on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 15:30

THE FOLLOWING IS KIND OF NEAT. 30 years ago, when I was almost fanatically religious, I would have ignored this.

At 60, I occasionally think.

And it has occurred to me that faith, when it's used in the sense of "believing stuff without any evidence" or even "believing stuff in spite of the evidence" may not be the wisest choice.

I've seen the following story used to make a case for that kind of faith, and I marvel at the ingenuity it takes to turn a story's meaning inside out.

It makes you wonder what those same people are doing to parts of the Bible .

So I'll tell you the story, and give you a little sermon on what it really means.

Dr. Ken

Legend of the Cherokee

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.

The traditional interpretation of this story, among believers, is that the father represents God and the youth represents you and me: human beings.

He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.

The youth finds himself cut off from any evidence of God and required to rely on his own resources. Likewise, we live in a world where there is no concrete evidence that God exists.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

He is forbidden to cry out for help to those he cannot see. Likewise, we are forbidden to cry out to supernatural beings, be they gods or saints or angels.

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

The point of this exercise is that it's a rite of passage. The youth moves from being a dependent child to becoming a responsible adult by making it through the night on his own resources.

Likewise, we are put on earth to become spiritual grownups—to learn to stand on our own two feet, and deal with the difficulties of life without appealing to supernatural entities. If we succeed—if we make it through the night of this life without calling out to God for help, we will have passed the test.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

To be concluded next time...