I believe that we are all chosen to bring joy into the lives of others; by sharing our story and living out our philosophy, our dreams, our faith. We have been given certain skills and strengths but also there are limitations that we have to deal with. I am a complex human being with my own thoughts and desires.
I love a good story where you get caught up in the life of others and you can imagine you are a part of that story. Mom took me to the library at a very early age and I can still remember the joy of bringing books home.
I always wanted my children to know my parents because I never knew my grandparents. I heard stories about them but they did not seem real to me. As we get older we sometimes look at life differently and wonder about our past; when we are young we are too busy with the complexity of everyday life.
"You have the world at your fingertips
no one can make it better than you"
Prelude to Nothin' To Hide by Spirit-1969
Before there was the written word there were stories and story tellers. It was important that families and tribes pasted on their beliefs and their experiences. Long ago there was a tribe of wandering Jews and the story teller had an inspiration to tell everyone they were the chosen people. They were different and they wanted their experiences of God to bring them security and happiness. When bad things happened they felt that God was unhappy with them.
The story was then enlarged to allow their God to become bigger and better and smarter and they began to develop a distinctive religious vision. It was important that their past contain sacred wisdom that they would carry on into the present.
"From the very beginning the Israelites thought historically in terms of cause and effect." K. Armstrong.
The words of the story became the written word that contained promises of a promised land and hero's to show the way. Scholars have discovered that what we now call our Bible came from different sources as the tribe grew and there was the northern and southern called Israel and Judah. Their stories were joined together to create the Hebrew Bible.
Storytellers as we all know like to exaggerate to make the story bigger than life.
Archaeologists are now able to verify or disclaim some of these stories. There is no evidence to prove that the Israelites destroyed all the Canaanite cities and villages, killing all the inhabitants. Our Bible thus contains legends and myths that ended up with inconsistencies. It has taken me many years to come to see this.
I am quite willing to be free of the need to believe in a God had demands obedience to the point where killing was used to conquer and prove their superiority.
7 comments:
Yes, I think bad people through out the ages have taken advantage of our instintive believe in something greater then our selves to want to gain power and control. What better way then a big angry god in the sky waiting and watching for us to make some mistake so wham, he can make us pay! Sandra
WELL DEAR I AM VERY IMPRESSED (as always) with your writing. You have taken a very complex, difficult, and personal subject and made it clear and understandable. I guess all those hundreds of books you have read are paying off. I will have to read more!
Your loving husband
larry
Yes, indeed, story tellers can embellish their stories, that's for sure. We don't need to go far to find proof of that tendency!
Love,
Rick
And, of course, the point of the Bible is not that it is literally true (which, most likely, it is not). I doesn't even matter if someone named Jesus actually ever lived or not (although he probably did).
What does matter is the insight into life and God and all that which can be drawn from the narrative around what Jesus said and did. Jesus rejected religious hierarchy and dogma and suggested that all persons, the great and the poor the same, can approach God in open-hearted supplication.
And that is "true" whatever the accuracy of any book in the bible. So I am Christian in believing what I think Jesus said and taught, but I am not Christian in the perverse he-died-in-agony-and-rose-from-the-dead-to-save-our-sins religious doctrine which has no basis in what Jesus actually said, makes no sense, and, finally, is pagan in its orientation around human sacrafice.
This doctrine of salavation via the crucifixion is actually the of the Pharisees and the priests (as a class of people, if not specific individuals). They managed to distort the life of Jesus to their own ends, to turn it into the very type of rigid dogma that Jesus rejected! Then they have ruled in his name these last 2,000 years. A complete betrayal of everything that Jesus stood for!
Love,
Rick
And, of course, the point of the Bible is not that it is literally true (which, most likely, it is not). I doesn't even matter if someone named Jesus actually ever lived or not (although he probably did).
What does matter is the insight into life and God and all that which can be drawn from the narrative around what Jesus said and did. Jesus rejected religious hierarchy and dogma and suggested that all persons, the great and the poor the same, can approach God in open-hearted supplication.
And that is "true" whatever the accuracy of any book in the bible. So I am Christian in believing what I think Jesus said and taught, but I am not Christian in the perverse he-died-in-agony-and-rose-from-the-dead-to-save-our-sins religious doctrine which has no basis in what Jesus actually said, makes no sense, and, finally, is pagan in its orientation around human sacrafice.
This doctrine of salavation via the crucifixion is actually the REVENGE of the Pharisees and the priests (as a class of people, if not specific individuals). They managed to distort the life of Jesus to their own ends, to turn it into the very type of rigid dogma that Jesus rejected! Then they have ruled in his name these last 2,000 years. A complete betrayal of everything that Jesus stood for!
Love,
Rick
I so enjoy your comments.
love mom
Beth, I can see where Rick has inherited your thinking and literary skills. What you both have written is where I am travelling to in my studies and I enjoyed reading about your point of view. As someone who has always gone to the Anglican church since a small child, I am wrestling with some of the doctrines, and not sure where I will end up...but the journey is fascinating. Thanks in particular to Rick for putting in to words what I cannot express easily!
Music and art are so much easier for me.
Love to you Beth and take care,
Nancy
Post a Comment