The Druid's Apple

When the first Christian missionaries arrived in North West Europe they encountered a people known as the Celts with a reverence for Apples.
Of course the people didn’t refer to themselves by that name. They used whatever their tribal designation was. Loyalty to the tribe was of first importance. Though they were divided as tribes they generally shared a common spirituality. A spirituality based on closeness to the land, to the seasons and a reverence for the forces of nature that could nurture them or destroy them. The Priests and Judges of their spirituality were the Druids.  The Druids believed that Apples were sacred,
So the Christians told the story of Adam and Eve and though their Bible held no reference to Apples, they told the people that the forbidden fruit was the same fruit that the Druids held as sacred. They spread the story that the Apple was the fruit used by their god of evil to draw Adam and Eve into wickedness and death. The story can still be heard today but that twisting of the tale was pure propaganda.
So why was the Apple sacred to the Druids? What was the secret that the Christians wanted to hide?

The Apple and the Pentacle.

The secret of the Apple

It was believed in those days that the World was made of five elements; those elements were; Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The fifth element that bound them all together was Spirit. These elements were usually represented by a Pentacle, a five pointed star. If you take an Apple and place it on its side and instead of cutting it from stem to flower, cut it through the equator. You will see that in the center of an apple is a Pentacle. Inside the Pentacle lie the Apple seeds so the pentacle holds the seeds of life. If anyone would eat the Apple seeds they would detect a somewhat bitter taste. This is because Apple seeds contain arsenic. A very small dose and quite harmless but a large enough quantity could be lethal. So the Apple contains a Pentacle with the seeds of Life and Death.
This was the secret of the Apple. The reason why it was so sacred and holds such an important place in the spiritual life of those of us today who seek the wisdom of our forefathers, lies in its symbolism. A simple fruit that nourishes nurtures and teaches a lesson that reaches out of our past into our lives today.

The Christian Religion

Christianity

Understanding of Christianity is based first on the leap of faith that there is a God. The condition and nature of God varies considerably from one denomination to the other, however, God exists. Some other generally accepted views are;
God created the Heavens and the Earth. God is the fount and basis of all goodness. God knows everything.
God dwells in Heaven. This is a not easily described. Various denominations attempt to say what living there will be like but agreed specifics are hard to come by. Two principles, however, are generally agreed upon by all denominations.
a) It is the most desirable place to be.
b) God will not allow sin to enter Heaven.
c) We are all sinners, every one of us and we are born that way.

This raises an important question: “What is sin?” The answer generally is, “To disobey the will of God.” The question that logically follows then is, “What is the will of God?” With slight variations, the answer is given that: “The will of God is that you Love Him with all your heart and soul and that you accept Jesus Christ, his son, as your savior believing that he died for your sins at Calvary then rose again to conquer death and lead those without sin into the presence of God. Then strive to live the commandments of God that you may demonstrate outwardly that you are a new person inwardly.”

This is Christianity as I understand it. Various denominations within Christianity have variations on what all of the above actually means but this seems to be a common thread.

Christian beliefs and their difficulties
I have a number of difficulties with the above philosophy. Not least is the idea of worshipping a God who was tortured to death. That seems way too freaky. The belief among Christians is that this was done at the will of his father. That is disturbing.
I also find it strange that otherwise rational and sensible people will insist that the reason we are all “Born in Sin” is because a talking snake convinced a woman she should eat some fruit.
Another bothersome point is that love is shown to God and absolute devotion must be given in total faith and total love. These are the prerequisites of entrance into Heaven. “Love me or I won’t have anything to do with you and I will banish you from my home forever.” This sounds like blasphemy. It appears to take the creator of heaven and Earth, a being with the ultimate in intelligence, inspiration and creativity and give him the petulance of a small child. Moreover, this love extends to kneeling on the floor, clasping hands together with head bowed. The God who created iron, who made the wind and the storms, how can it be believed that He made slaves? How can anyone believe that He would want slaves?

Most troublesome of all is the doctrine of Hell. This is the place reserved for those who do not love God in the manner described and who reject the notion that someone could take on themselves the karma of the world. Those who refuse to believe are damned forever. If the Bible is to be believed, and Christians insist it is the word of God without lies, then hell is a place of eternal torment. A lake of fire and brimstone where the pain never ends. So somewhere out in the cosmos is a massive concentration camp. It’s not like the Reich, built for a thousand years, but for eternity. The Kommandant is God and the guards are his angels. If you ask a Christian why would God do such a thing? The answer is “Because he loves you.”

This is my understanding of Christianity along with some of the questions I have. If anyone has serious answers I’d be glad to hear them.