Rollin' with Rollins

Here's another great little story from Peter Rollins' book "How to [Not] Speak of God":

There was once a wise teacher who would go to the temple every evening to pray with his disciples. By the temple there was a stray cat who would wander in every evening during these prayers and disturb the peace. So, each evening before prayers the teacher would tie the cat to a tree outside before entering. The teacher was old and passed away a few years later. His disciples continued to tie the cat to the tree each evening before prayers.

Eventually the cat died and so some of the disciples purchased a new cat so that they could continue the ritual. After a hundred years the tree died and a new one was quickly planted so that the cat (by now the eighth-generation cat) could be tied to it. Over the centuries learned scholars began to write books on the symbolic meaning of the act.

Rollins had a particular point he was making with that story, but to me it seems to have even broader application (read the book to know his intent).

The story reminds me of another book "A Canticle for Leibowitz", that describes future history after a third world war (nuclear) ravages the world and a new dark age follows. Some of the traditions and myths that are formed over hundreds or thousands of years are hilarious (especially the prophecies of The Poet and his famous line "Non cogito ergo non sum").

Of course, none of these references clarifies what this post is about. Then again, it's not just about one thing. I'm struck by many things that remind me of the symbolic cat tied to a tree and the canonization of Mr. Leibowitz:

* Plymouth Brethren communion services
* Asking Jesus into your heart
* the song "Mansion Over the Hilltop"
* The modern use of the term "saved"
* Systematic theology
* Neo-Reformed Fundamentalists
* The Religious Right as a political force
* "culture" and "truth" wars
* Bible version wars (especially KJV-only)
* The terms "heaven" and "hell"

There's probably more, but that's probably enough of a taste to get this iconoclast improperly branded. Sometimes I think God cares more about the poor cat tied to the tree than our loud prayers as they tried to drown out its mewling.