Crowds converging on Windsor to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Photo by King's Church International on Unsplash
So, I’ll admit it. I watched the royal wedding this weekend. I’m not one of the lunatics who woke up at 4am to start watching the live stream... no, I watched like a normal person who rolls outta bed around nine and scans YouTube for the repeat. But anyway... hubby and I got into a bit of a debate about the tradition and protocol and... yes, he watched with me, mostly making fun of the whole romance aspect. He knows I’m a sucker for the whole romance thing. We ended up having minor religious debate over the differences between the Church of England and the Episcopal church in America. I wasn’t raised an Episcopalian, but my kids were christened in the Episcopal church, and my great grandmother was an Episcopalian (according to the research I did) so I consider myself to be a non-practicing Episcopalian, which kinda sounds like I don’t eat fish, which I do. In fact, I love fish... but that’s not what I’m getting at here. For the record, I should probably eat before blogging, in the future. Anyway... our whole religious debate reminded me of the other time we had a religious debate, (coincidentally, I was hungry that day too!) and I just had to dig it out for your reading pleasure. So here ya go. You’re welcome!
This discussion happened almost seven years ago (wow, I’ve been doing this blog thing for a long time!) while we were in the car on our way to my favorite wing place. (Because I love wings and you should never ignore a craving, right?)
My husband was driving, my son was in the back seat (back when he still went places with us, ah, memories!) and we were talking about everything and nothing, trying to take my mind off the sorts of things that makes a girl on a diet beg for fried, saucy chicken wings and greasy fries. (And apparently, I diet a LOT. This time, I skip the wings and fries, FYI)
I have no idea how we got on the subject, but there we were…talking about the Ten Commandments.
Now let me say this first, I don’t talk about religion…that and politics are two subjects I steer clear of on most every occasion, but here we go.
Like I said, I have no idea how we ended up on the subject of the Ten Commandments, but our discussion involved the actual stone tablets. My husband was arguing his belief that Moses was given the laws of God in a more spiritual way, as in Moses was meditating behind a bush, saw a flash of heat lightning and suddenly, the word of God was in his head, so he ran back down the mountain to share these laws with the chosen people.
Basically, my husband didn’t believe Moses carried these two heavy Flintstone-style notepads down the mountain just to put them on display for all to see. Besides, he said, the idea that those people could read after a lifetime of living as slaves was highly improbable. His opinion, not mine.
My son maintains the entire story was merely told to scare small children and old people. He scoffs at the mere idea of a white-haired old man wearing nothing but Birkenstocks and a robe climbing a mountain, then actually lifting two massive headstones with laws carved into them, let alone carting them down the mountain again without dropping his big stick. (CrossFit wasn’t even invented back then, but it sounds like one of the workouts my husband talks about.)
My son is a non-believer, and I’m sorry to anyone who finds that offensive. We think he may have been switched at the hospital. (But seriously, his sarcasm is a little too close to mine to deny him as my own.)
I, on the other hand, was citing Charlton Heston and the burning bush from the 1956 Cecil B DeMille movie. I know for a fact Moses went up that mountain, saw a bush burst into flames, and the voice of God told him to take those heavy ass tablets back down the mountain and post them outside of every courthouse in Egypt! I know this because I saw it on TV every Easter weekend from the time I was a little girl.
FYI, Yul Brenner was the very best Rameses to ever grace the silver screen, in my humble opinion.
“Besides,” I threw in. “The Ten Commandments were inside the Ark of the Covenant that Indiana Jones was desperately trying to keep out of Hitler’s hands in Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
I know, because George Lucas told me so. And George went so far as to reiterate it in the third installment, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I’ve seen both of these movies at least a hundred times.
My son asked me if I was going to quote Mel Brooks next, and I laughed. I know better than to think there were fifteen commandments, five of which were broken by a clumsy Moses. No, I’m not that gullible. Hilarious as it was, History of the World Part 1 was just a movie.
I know the difference.
I think I won our religious debate. They, at least, let the subject drop. I’ll take that as a win by forfeit if nothing else. And a win is a win, right?
That ends our little history lesson for today. Unless anyone wants to dig out The Mummy for more exciting historical tidbits?
Until the next time… I’ll be searching for pictures from the royal wedding!