The Good Book
Yes, the Bible is a very good book; and in many respects, a great book. Some people take every sentence very literally, and that’s their choice. I don’t. And that’s my choice.
I hesitate to get into a religious dissertation here, so I will tread very lightly. Because I respect everyone’s religious beliefs or lack thereof, it is important to understand that I am not making any judgments or casting aspersions. To each his (or her) own. I just have some thoughts to share, and after all, this is my blog, right?
Do I really think that Moses lived to be 120 years old? Probably not. Do I believe that Noah found every species of tiny insect to drag onto his Ark, and two of them no less? No, I don’t. Do I think a talking serpent lured Eve to eat the proverbial bad apple? Not really. That doesn’t mean these things didn’t happen. It simply means that I don’t think they did. But who am I to say, and anyway, what the hell do I know?
Here’s what I think. I believe the Bible tells stories to illustrate some very important concepts, not the least of which is to be a good person. Remember, this was all written like a million years ago, before anyone had the ability to learn everything from the internet, like us. That was a time when most people were stupid and needed others to tell them what to do. This was way before bathrooms, rocket ships, smartphones and Pop-Tarts. Apparently, they spent a lot of time begetting, slaying and thou arting back then. Who had time to learn not to screw their neighbor’s wife or covet their next door neighbor’s shiny new Flintstones Mobile?
Ultimately, the smart ones wrote everything down so that everybody else would know how to conduct their lives. Otherwise, they would have been begetting and such all day long. That might have been OK, but probably would have led to overpopulation (or overcopulation). As we can now see, it was best to evolve past that. Well, maybe.
So do we need the Bible today? Of course we do. When it comes to understanding esoteric concepts like respect, love, honor and courage (to name a few), we learn best by hearing and studying anecdotal stories. And the Bible is chock full of those. Nothing like a good story about David kicking Goliath’s ass to get you inspired. And that Samson business will sure teach you not to get a haircut. Ever.
When you have the time—or even if you don’t—go ahead and read some of the Bible. You might actually learn something. Oh, and for those of you who already know everything, you might bump into that good book while you’re surfing the net.
My pants keep falling down. Now where the heck did I leave my Bible Belt? (You can’t say hell when you’re talking about the Bible, so you have to say heck.)
Tagged as: Bible • Kindness • Religion