Oh God, Where Art Thou?
Gandalf Grey
By Nick Paccione
Created Dec 8 2006 - 9:38am
Read the Bible! If nothing else read Genesis and then ask yourself if a
rational person could actually believe that these are literal, historical
stories about our human ancestors and earth's creation. I'm talking about
Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Moses, Noah and the rest.
A recent poll taken by Rasmussen Reports indicates that most Americans, 63
percent, believe the Bible is literally true and the Word of God. The survey
found just 24 percent thinking otherwise.
Aside from all the scientific proof that debunks the Bible's literal account
of the world's history, there is a more pressing question in my mind. The
Bible immerses the reader in stories where God is always popping up in
person. He single-handedly catches Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit. He
tells Abraham to sacrifice his son to prove his love. He speaks to Moses in
the form of a burning bush. He gives Noah the blueprint for an ark. In the
New Testament he sends his son to die for our sins. And he speaks directly
to Christ a couple of times too. If we are to believe the Bible, God was
much more direct in the old days. He was "personally" involved.
My question: "Where's he been during the last 2000 years"? Evangelicals say
he still speaks to us every time we pray and read the Bible. Some
environmentalists say he speaks through nature and all its wonders. Others
find him in their loved ones and within their own souls. Atheists say he
didn't exist then and he doesn't exist now.
Today if someone says God is literally speaking to them, they end up on
Zyprexa or one of several other anti-psychotic drugs. In some cases, they
get their own TV show and make a fortune collecting from the gullible.
If the Bible is the literal truth then we must ask, "What happened"? Did God
die? Did he abandon us? Or is he actually speaking to us through Pat
Robertson? (Wouldn't that be the ultimate kick in the head?) I don't have
the answer. And I believe to my core that anyone who thinks he or she has
the answer (a fundamentalist of any stripe) is deluded.
I refuse to believe that God, once so meddlesome in people's lives according
to Bible accounts, has changed his to-do list so drastically. No more walks
in the garden. No more sleuth-like pursuits of brother-killing criminals
like Cain. No parting of seas. No direct instruction of where and why to
move like Jacob and Moses received. And how long has it been since anyone
has been turned into a pillar of salt for disobedience?
Has God changed his ways? Or is this more compelling evidence that the Bible
stories about God's interaction with mankind are not literal truth?
Bible stories just don't depict the God we know. From my experience, God
leaves it to our own judgment and will as to whether we believe or not. He
never literally appears in my garden or bush-burning or otherwise. If I
choose to sense his presence around me or within me, that's my own
experience and my personal perception. It has nothing to do with the Bible.
It's between God and me. I can't sell you on it and I can't deny your
experience that denies or affirms God's existence.
But quite sadly, history continues to tell us that as long as people believe
that their religion or "holy book" is the literal truth we will never make
progress toward a peaceful world. The "holy" books of each and every world
religion were never meant to be read as literal prose. They are poetic.
Strip away the tales and myths and you'll discover that they all offer the
same guidance for living: love one another.
Taken poetically, Christianity has a place for everyone as do all the other
religions. Example: The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was not God's
only son. "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being
(as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli etc. etc.
which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God."
But the New Testament gives much more detail about Jesus being the only Son
of God, conceived through the Holy Spirit by the Virgin Mary. Now only
Christians are on board for this part of the story. And Fundamentalists are
convinced that if you don't accept Jesus, you simply go to hell when you
die.
Wouldn't it be healthier to teach our children that Christ came to earth to
teach us how to live? Everyone who believes in God can accept, at least
poetically, that Jesus is the Son of God just as Adam is the Son of God. And
if Adam is the Son of God then we all are. And everyone who is living a
Christ-like life could get the seal of approval even if they don't actually
believe in Christ. This notion that you can drown your kids in the family
bath tub, go to prison, accept Jesus and then be on your merry way to an
eternity in heaven is ridiculously out of whack. People that believe this
stuff also believe that a Jew who feeds the poor, cares for the sick, and
loves his neighbor is going to hell because he hasn't "accepted Jesus."
This is what Bible literalists are teaching their children-Bible prose over
Bible poetry. It's a mechanical mental exercise in religious training that
embraces the letter of the law at the expense of the spirit of love and
compassion at the root of Jesus' teachings. Because no matter what anyone
believes, every sane person agrees that there's something mystical about
love; that in a perfect world we would do unto others as we would want them
to do unto us; and that respect for our fellow man would be the ideal.
Jesus preached this. Buddha taught this. And yes even Mohamed shared these
principles. This is the poetry of their message. Spare me the details of the
stories that present a spiteful, jealous God who separates and divides. And
if anything you read in your Holy Book leads you to judge, condemn or harm
your fellow man in any way, rip it out and burn it. Take your Zyprexa and
you can be sure that it's not God that's been speaking to you.
_______
Nick Paccione
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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson