The Good News
According to... Rupert?

Posted to XTIANITY March 13, 1998

Probably the oddest skeptical complaint I've heard registered against so-called liberal Christianity is that it is unremarkable.

Presumably, this means that a faith that does not showcase blatant violations of the natural causal order isn't worth believing. You know what I mean - the sun stopping in the sky, foreknowledge of events, re-animated corpses walking out of tombs, that sort of thing.

Seen through skeptical eyes, liberal Christians believe in a Jesus who makes the deaf see and the blind speak. Where Satan says, "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into rocks".

(Egads! He did it! :-)

Just to set everyone's mind as ease, I'm here to assure you that liberal Christians are - at their foundation, if nowhere else - as irrational as religionists can be.

Probably no better way exists to demonstrate this exists than to show you an honest to God, liberal Christian miracle.

Enter Rupert, the Hero Parrot.

To give a brief summary, about two weeks ago, a person in my neck of the woods was burned out of their house. Probably the only reason they didn't lose their life was that they were awakened by Rupert's loud squawks. Grabbing the family dog, the person made their way to Rupert's cage, but, mistakenly thinking Rupert was dead, left the African Grey in the house..

Later on, firefighters discovered that Rupert was alive, and a local vet gave Rupert somewhere between three and four thousand dollars of free veterinary care.

Things were nip and tuck this last week when Rupert, having stopped breathing due to a lung infection (a side effect of smoke inhalation), was only given a 50/50 chance of survival.

But yesterday, the vet announced that Rupert (who, as a result of this affair, was correctly "diagnosed" as a female parrot), was up and "strutting like a Mummer". And today, he plans to discharge Rupert.

[For those super-skeptics who might be inclined to think I'd fabricate this miracle, I have independent confirmation from the folks at the Philadelphia Inquirer who, presumably, are not Rupertians and have no religious bias in the matter:

Check out: http://www.philly.com/newslibrary/

So, how is this a miracle?

It is not the event ITSELF which is a miracle. It is the perception of the event as indicative of God's authority over the power of death which makes it a miracle.

On the day of the fire, there were any number of horrible things that took place in the world. Rupert's saving of her owner's life and her subsequent survival would certainly not - along any objective scale - undo or re-dress those dreadful things.

Yet, for those with faith, the Rupert Event (as Rupertian parrogians are wont to call it) is accepted as the guarantee of the positive value of life.

This cannot be defended on rational grounds (though I would argue that it is no more irrational than any number of other decisions regarding the nature of human existence that ordinary people - including skeptics - make every day). The acceptance of this foundation, IMHO, is the one and only "irrational" (I would call it "transrational") epistemological duty of a Rupertian.

And, as with Rupert, so with Jesus. The sole "irrational" epistemological duty of a Christian is the acceptance or interpretation of Jesus' life and death as somehow foundational for the discernment of the ultimate meaning, purpose and value of existence. (We can explore why I'm a Christian and not a Rupertian at some later date, if anyone is so inclined)

But after the death of Jesus, his followers - in many and various ways (including resurrection appearances or visions) - experienced his victory over death. Some, such as the people of the Q community and the Gospel of Thomas, experienced his living presence through his teachings. Some, such as the collectors of the miracle or signs source, saw his victory over the grave as his greatest miracle. And some, such as the Apostle Paul, saw him, paradoxically, as defeating the power of Death through his submission to it. A defeat which was apparent to believers through God's raising of Jesus from death.

And, in the end, it was this last conception (IMHO) that became the dominant tradition and blueprint for the gospels, drawing and subordinating the other traditions to itself.

[And, two thousand years later, causing me to carry on at great length about a parrot! :-]

[Note 1: The original link cited (http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/98/Feb/28/city/HERO28.htm) is dead. The Rupert Saga can be found through http://www.philly.com/newslibrary/ . It will cost you about $2 to download each article. Use search terms "Rupert Parrot" and set the date criteria to 1998. The article I cited is dated February 28th. Rupert's name has now been changed, in accordance with her newly discovered gender and heroic properties, to Saint La Rupe]

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Bill Bekkenhuis

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