The kids and I finished our Orlando trip yesterday with a day at The Holy Land Experience, a historic and religious theme park which is designed particularly for Christians. I was intrigued at the notion of the recreated famous elements/scenes/places of the Holy Land, as who knows if I'll ever get to visit there myself! I love the World Showcase in Epcot, and this promised even more--with dramatic reenactments and such as well.
Alrighty, I'll begin with my very favorite park feature. The Scriptorium Museum is fabulous and ranks as high as virtually any Disney feature, in my book (unless you count the Cirque du Soleil as a 'feature'!). Kudos to them on a job well done! Of course, given my writing aspirations, it does make sense that I'd be in love with this museum. The entire museum is about a book and the historical developments leading to it. Exhibits begin with authentic Cuneiform tablets and progress to papyrus scrolls and then parchment codices. An animated voice explains the history of writing and progresses to particularly important historical events leading to our modern Bibles. I was entranced by the 1300's authentic Bibles opened to pages that had been illuminated by monks. Fascinating! And a great history lesson! This museum was so well done that I'm definitely interested in returning to this theme park at some point, if only to visit the museum a time or two again. Amazing!
Of interest was the one 'play' that we attended. King David (and Bathsheba), the apostle Paul, and Hosea's wife, Gomer, were the subjects of the play, which was only 45 minutes long. I was a bit surprised at the subject matter, the sins and forgiveness each underwent, and, though nothing was technically too inappropriate, I might have avoided the play if I'd known the contents, given that the kids were with me! The intensity of the play reminded me a bit of 'Passion of the Christ'. Immediate emotional immersion--and, yes, I was brought to tears pretty quickly by the dramatizations. So, well done, all in all. The kids were pretty riveted, as well, and they left mostly upset that David's eldest son with Bathsheba was 'sacrificed' by God for his sins. "It wasn't the baby's fault!" was the repeated protest, which I tried to hush until after we left the park! But, yes, I concur with the kids--and I find it a bit offensive--that whole idea of 'sacrificing' someone else to wipe clean our own slates. How very sick is it to think of the high priests of the line of Levites dedicating their days to ritual sacrifice--feeling 'holy' as they murdered creatures--and believing that it somehow 'purified' them? So sick and twisted and the opposite of the truth! Anyhow, in David's case, the dramatization claims that God forgave David and Bathsheba, and, after the terrible 'loss' of their baby son, they were able to go forth and produce the amazing Solomon and live happily after that. Messed up...and the kids knew it, too!
Hmm, I didn't mean to go on so about the dramatization, but I do want to say something about Paul. He is a clear example of why it is harmful to become militantly attached to your beliefs. I suppose it's just personality, but he caused much suffering before becoming Paul, and then, I believe, he turned around and inflicted some suffering in the opposite direction. Paul was a powerful, controlling, and scary man, in my opinion.
If the entire 'Holy Land Experience' was like the Scriptorium and the dramatization, I think I'd have been on here giving the theme park a huge 'Thumbs Up'! However, there were many elements that were too hard to ignore and which typify what I--hmm, I'll be frank--completely despise about the common Christian movements. Honestly, I don't even know the terms for what I'm critiquing, I guess. There's something so very unpious and sacreligious in all the bling, in the blonde Jesuses and the sparkly crosses. "Praise the Lord that I'm a hot thing!" type stuff that just makes me want to vomit.
I've been wondering about this reaction that I have. It's true that I don't think that a loving God would want us to cover up, hide our looks and be Puritanical about everything. But to claim the opposite is just as ludicrous--even more so... When a singer croons something about "Jesus loves me even though I smoke and spit and sleep around and drink my booze...he understands!", she's missing the point entirely. If she had any respect whatsoever, she'd just try to clean up these offenses before invoking his name. His love is there despite--hear that, DESPITE--our sins. He embraces the sinner, not the sins. OMG--listen at me! I don't even hold to all this dogma, but I do at least have a certain respect for what is holy, I think. My point is that it is disrespectful--a slap in God's face, so to speak--to bling up his religion, to shake sparkly butts around and cake on makeup and revel in our lusty ways while claiming with self-satisfaction about how much 'he loves me anyway' and 'I sure do love him!'. And, I swear, it's gotten to the point where folks believe that they're right to mix their common, cheap behavior with what should be held sacred. Agghh!
So, whew! I typically stay in theme parks until they shut down. Always gettin' my money's worth, you know. But the dichotomy between the psychotic, blingy version of the Holy Land--which blared contemporary Christian music the entire time--NOTHING that sounded remotely period of regionally appropriate, excepting this fantastic horn and chants within the Wilderness Tabernacle--and what I imagine the Holy Land to really be like was too much. I didn't feel in the slightest like I was in the Holy Land. Not even remotely.
I entered 'The Jerusalem Marketplace' with high expectations. I was hoping for booths with vendors, for street performers. There were artificial displays and then real stores. Nothing like the outdoor marketplace implied. I swear, our local Farmer's Markets are much closer to the reality of the 'Jerusalem Marketplace' than that was, and I'm pretty certain about that, despite never having been there. Like I said, it was not even alike enough to be suitable as fodder for our imaginations...
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