Reading the Bible

After getting almost two thirds through the Old Testament I can say that I am not disappointed that I read the Bible. The Bible is able to connect what we thought was original or rhetoric from another source to the master and model of all writing that takes place today. Plotz discussed the revelations that he had daily from reading the Old Testament.

"It was as if I lifted a veil off my culture. You can't get through a chapter of the Bible, even in the most obscure book, without encountering a phrase, a name, a character, or an idea that has come down to us from 3000 years ago. The Bible is the first source of so much: from the smallest plot twists (the dummy David's wife places in the bed to fool assassins) to the most fundamental ideas about morality (the Levitical prohibition of homosexuality that still shapes our politics, for example) to our grandest notions of law and justice"

The less you know about the writings of the Bible the better. Then you get to come into the text with a fresh eye and take in millenia of culture and society that still exists today. In taking out the faith that most people think you need to decipher the Bible, it becomes a story about the trials of life and how these situations were solved and you get to answer why things are not done the same anymore. I came into this class as an indifferent agnostic, no different from Plotz himself. I have been able to leave this class with an understanding and a defendable stand point on my personal beliefs and a better understanding of the world around me. Thank you, Dr. Sexson, for opening up this world of information, which I think has helped me grow as an individual more than any other class.

Understanding Myth

I have found a website (http://www.livingmyths.com/What.htm) The "living myths" website uses a simple and straight forward definition. They said that "myths explain the world, making it manageable." When I took a myth class a year or two ago we discussed how people need myth to create purpose within our realities. With this definition I think that myth defines the way were are right now, because a lot of people's ideals are based on societies values and beliefs which were created from past stories and beliefs. A lot of people need guidelines and rules that they are able to follow to create purpose in their lives. Whether the myths are true or not, it still gives people a structured way to live. In 240 I have come to understand the importance of the archetypes of our culture and how myth influences so many decisions on such a big scale. The connections that these myths hold reveal the world through the eye's of culture and society. This link will be helpful to anyone that wants to expand the knowledge we have taken from this class and connect to other mythologies of the world.

Angel Genatalia

Close to the beginning of the semester I brought up the myth that angels do not have any genitalia. Being from a Catholic descent, I figured that is where my bias came from, but I have also seen it referenced in movies such as Dogma. From what we have discussed in class and what I have read the bible doesn't make any distinction between male and female angels. However, anytime that there is a mention of an angel in the bible it seems to get pushed towards the male spectrum. This does not necessarily indicate that angels are male. Matthew 22:30 seems to indicate that angels are “sexless,” without gender, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”

God always refers to Himself in masculine language, although God is neither male nor female. God just uses masculine language because it more adequately describes the patriarchal cultures in which the Bible was written. Moses did get to see God's backside for a brief moment, but not enough to give a good description. As we have discussed in class there is no direct reference to somebody staring God straight in the face, so it is hard to say what the anatomical structure of these beings really is. If angels do have a gender, in some form, Scripture would indicate that they are predominately or universally male. It is more likely that angels are genderless, just as God is, and that masculine language is just used to describe them and their role in serving God.

The Tower of Babel

The small section in Genesis called the Tower of Babel is one of the most disturbing incidents in the entire Bible. This is one lesson that I do recall learning in Catechism, except for my teachers put a lot different spin on it than the meaning I came too from actually reading it. I always had a Sodom and Gomorrah attitude when I was younger about the architects of the Tower of Babel, but these people were the pinnacle of human civilization. After God had just flooded the entire earth and kept what he deemed fit, his people become all that he wants them to be and starts trying to replicate Eden. Obviously God is confused in what he wants, because he doesn't want people to live in pandemonium, but he also doesn't want them to live together in peace.

"Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing is impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

The only conclusion that I can come up with is answered in one of my previous blogs about God's fear of man and how he doesn't want people to become equal to him. It is also interesting that David Plotz skips over chapter 11 in his commentary on Genesis. I don't know why he chose not to discuss this part of the Bible considering the connotations of God's decision. The republicans could be right in trying to slow down the progress of society, because I don't want to have to learn a new language right now.

Great Destruction

There are so many scenes of destruction in the Bible that I could do a blog for each one for the next couple years. Our God, the way and the light, the salvation and glory, is also the God of taking names and kicking ass. The first great scene of destruction that comes to mind in the great flood in Genesis. God decides to erase the memory of humans off of the planet, because they haven't turned out like he would have liked.

"I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created--people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

Luckily for mankind there is the great hero Noah tells God that may be a little rash and to spare all of the descent ones. With this God tells Noah to round up the animal pairs of the world and get them on his ark. This story really brings God down to human level. His emotions let the reader know that they are definitely God's children. Its like building something with your legos and then realizing you didn't like it and then destroying it against the floor. Luckily Noah was able to convince God that we are more than just legos and to give the best of us another chance. That also allows the reader to feel special considering all of us must be decendents of Noah, so we are the cream of the crop.

Noah makes a god-like move himself when dealing with his two sons. After the ship has landed and the first vineyard had been planted, Noah was able to be the first drunk and pass out naked in his tent and have his sons see him. His son Ham looked upon his nakedness and told his brothers to do something about it. Since Ham was the only one to look upon his father's "nakedness" he was cursed to be a slave to his brothers. It makes you wonder just what people did that was so bad that the earth was flooded, if looking at a naked man constitutes slavery.

LDS and Me

In every town I have lived in there have always been Mormon missionaries wandering around spreading the word of Jesus. When your a little kid and your mom allows the people in the house and you receive all of the cool little pamphlets, I had little understanding of what these people were trying to do for me. As I have gotten older though and have began searching into my own beliefs, I have a better understanding and respect for the door to door Christian. Since I have been in this class I have received a new found understanding for the Bible and with that understanding comes the desire to argue.

The LDS missionaries came to my roommates and I apartment and we invited them in ready to religious battle. The format and decorum of the conversations were very polite and civil. The interesting thing about the conversation though was that we didn't really argue the points and facts of the Bible, but instead talked about how Jesus made us feel in our lives. Since my roommate and I were on a mission to debunk some myths, this change in direction made for deep philosophical debate. The one question that I did get an answer to dealt with the hardening of Pharaohs heart during Moses exodus through Egypt. The missionary pulled out his Book of Mormon and showed me the side notes, like the ones that are in our Bibles, and pointed out that the Book of Mormon had answered that question saying something like the pharaoh hardened his own heart. Talking with these guys made me realize that the literary content of the Bible is secondary to the individuals understanding and emotional attitude towards the text itself. It seems a class could spend an entire semester on trying to understand faith.

Jacob and Job

During my readings and in my final paper I was able to contrast Jacob from The Slave and Job from the Bible. Jacob is another man that hasn't wronged God in any way. He was an honest scholar from a Jewish town until the Cossacks came and destroyed his village and took him into slavery.

"He remembered his own children, little Isaac, Breina, the baby; he imagined them thrown into a ditch of lime and buried alive. He heard their stifled screams. Even if these souls rose to the most splendid mansion and were given the finest rewards, would that cancel out the agony and horror?"

Both Jacob and Job lost most of their family and personal property within a day. Job recieved great sickness from God and Jacob had to endure slavery. In the case of Job, he never really questions the existence of God, but he finally does question why God is persecuting him.

"I will give utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me."

Jacob has to answer these questions to himself several times throughout the novel. Job mirrors Jacob's predicament to the point that it may overtake Jacobs relation to his namesake in the Bible. The whole story questions the sanctity of God and the deceptive ways of society. "Where was God? How could he look down on such want and keep silent? Unless, Heaven forbid, there was no God." This story will continue to help people question what is right and how they decide to accept fate.