Jun 9, 2021
All the things I considered after reading Genesis 1:1–6
One of the reasons I haven’t finished the Bible again…
…is that I take copious notes when reading.
Those notes create other notes and then I have a whole music of ideas playing in my head. I would start from scratch again the next time and the same thing happens — newer tunes, longer dances. As reader of the world, you should expect nothing less from book that has survived 2000 years and has been exploited by rulers and leaders to increase their influence. If anything, the Bible can be likened to a power crystal in a video game.
When James wanted to stamp his authority on the Brits as king — and he direly needed to because parliament didn’t support him. His mother, Mary, married into Scotland as a queen and rumors said that he was black. James reinterpreted the bible and changed some of its meaning to increase his influence. Constantine terraformed the word of God to keep his kingdom united.
In the new century, access to info and liberty have allowed humans to re-assess the Bible’s contents. Sources have claimed that the stories were not true of that if they were, they are embellished into folklore due to the unreliability of word of mouth. The Torah may seem impossible by current standards. Preachers have often claimed that it was written my Moses when he saw the back of God as God passed by. One of the most memorable counters to that is, the back of God must have an agenda because the story has so many missing pieces. The argument continues to help the earth spin as both sides go back and forth.
I don't have time for that. My interest lies in the undeniable power of the Bible. Its raw power is by far recognizable even to the most deluded of people. If you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, read the Bible. You don’t even have to be a Christian to tap in.
It isn’t just about the stories. The letters may kill but the philosophies and the wisdom occupying the little spaces have remained constantly universal. Spirit exists in its indivisible between the letters. Never has literary work been able to have an agenda, argue itself in an out of that agenda yet retain all of its strengths.
The Bible forces you to engage its dilemma, thereby tricking you into examining your life by default. It was truly made for the human mind, written by humans. It manages to fool us.
And it is all just a simple recounting of human events.
Well, not quite. It does have an agenda — to establish Jesus as the Lord, God and saviour of mankind — which, true or false, doesn’t deaden the power of the Bible.
The key takeaway from this article right now is that the simple exposition of human stories, fever dreams and artistic expressions, gathered over time have produced something potent and free to all. It is all in the simplicity of faithful writing.
For every word in the bible, there are a million more that didn't make it in. Keep the word coming.
