Has there ever been a bigger crock of shit than the idea of original sin? That because the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) ate of the Tree of Knowledge (Good and Evil), they were not only banished from Paradise, but humanity as a whole was forever enslaved by a sinful nature? Give me a break! Lets go to the text and find out what really happened.
Genesis 2 verse 16 and 17; And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.
So they did and God exiled them from the garden. But reading Genesis 3:22 and 23 tells the true motivation God had for banishing them: "Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever--therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken."
There is a troubling inconsistency here. God said man could eat of every tree except the tree of good and evil. Why should eating from the 'tree of life' be problematic? Why didn't God want us to "live forever?" Wasn't the idea that we were going to live forever already tacitly implied, so long as we didn't eat from the tree of good and evil? God seems worried that we might actually become 'like one of Us.' Isn't that the WHOLE purpose of life? Be sinless, become godlike, and thereby obtain the Kingdom of God forever and ever? As to, 'the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die,' is just another example where you can't take the Bible literally. (so don't)
The lunacy continues with the flood story (Genesis chapter 6 and 7) where God wipes out humanity with the exception of Noah and his family. What, exactly, was the point? If man now carries "original sin," what good did it do to eradicate them? And why such a standard of perfection if one third of the angels in heaven (higher than man [Hebrews 2:7] and BASKING in the glory of God) rebelled against Him? (Revelations 12:4-9) Didn't the angels have an unbelievable advantage, yet they fell as well?
Here's the caveat--the escape hatch for God. Free will. He gave man and the angels "free will." So we made our bed and have to sleep in it. Nonsense! Adam and Eve had NO CONCEPT of good and evil in the first place. (inside joke, first place: Eden) They didn't know UNTIL they ate of the tree of knowledge of GOOD and EVIL that they were doing something evil. If you tell a child that it is wrong to eat a cookie before dinner, but the child doesn't KNOW right from wrong, how do you condemn him for eating the cookie? It's absurd. The text collapses in on it's own fallacy. It really came down to God enforcing a--don't do it because I said so--ultimatum, which totally invalidates the idea of "free will."
Bottom line? You aren't inherently bad--quite the contrary. God loves you. You get to experience Him through interaction with Life. However that manifests itself, God will continue to love you. Above all, make that your fall back position.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Complexity
Well, thanks so very much Pat. If, as you suggest, the Old Testament is untrustworthy, that nullifies the New Testament as well. What is there left to believe in?
The simplest answer I have is, you. The belief that God will interact with you on a personal level. That your current understanding of God is so restrictive it renders the concept meaningless--other than the level of fear utilized (punishment for all eternity; hell) to keep you from running amok.
The harder answer is, understanding complexity. I am going to try and provide an example. Lets look at the possibility of arranging three numbers, 1-2-3. (to make it easier, I am going to use the letters in my name; P-A-T) There are six possible combinations. (123 pat--231 atp--312 tpa--321 tap--213 apt--132 pta) But if I were to use seven numbers, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 (my full name, P-A-T-R-I-C-K) how many combinations would there be? You probably don't know and most likely don't have any idea how to figure it out. But if I provided you a formula, you could arrive at the answer quickly. (Solution: 1 x 2 x 3 = 6; 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 = 5040) There are 5040 different combinations to arranging 7 numbers or (in this case) letters. Going from the combinations of the word PAT to PATRICK, is like going from the Bible to a true understanding of God. There is an exponential aspect to comprehending the Deity.
That said, I have provided a formula to simplify the complexities involved. (Gift--Gratitude--God) But the formula isn't the answer, it is only the means of arriving at the answer. The subtleties, nuances, and variations, are yours and yours alone. Your journey entails a series of revelations to different aspects of the Deity. Your interpretation of those aspects determines your well-being. Your well-being is contingent on you understanding the nature of your existence (why am I here). The reason you are here is to experience God. That you don't like, appreciate, or embrace those aspects of God you are currently experiencing, is an entirely different question than the realization that you are. As to the reasons why you are experiencing what you are, is specific to you--and can't be answered in a post intended for a general audience. However, if you feel as though you need specifics, you can e-mail me at wpgrogan@aol.com.
The simplest answer I have is, you. The belief that God will interact with you on a personal level. That your current understanding of God is so restrictive it renders the concept meaningless--other than the level of fear utilized (punishment for all eternity; hell) to keep you from running amok.
The harder answer is, understanding complexity. I am going to try and provide an example. Lets look at the possibility of arranging three numbers, 1-2-3. (to make it easier, I am going to use the letters in my name; P-A-T) There are six possible combinations. (123 pat--231 atp--312 tpa--321 tap--213 apt--132 pta) But if I were to use seven numbers, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 (my full name, P-A-T-R-I-C-K) how many combinations would there be? You probably don't know and most likely don't have any idea how to figure it out. But if I provided you a formula, you could arrive at the answer quickly. (Solution: 1 x 2 x 3 = 6; 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 = 5040) There are 5040 different combinations to arranging 7 numbers or (in this case) letters. Going from the combinations of the word PAT to PATRICK, is like going from the Bible to a true understanding of God. There is an exponential aspect to comprehending the Deity.
That said, I have provided a formula to simplify the complexities involved. (Gift--Gratitude--God) But the formula isn't the answer, it is only the means of arriving at the answer. The subtleties, nuances, and variations, are yours and yours alone. Your journey entails a series of revelations to different aspects of the Deity. Your interpretation of those aspects determines your well-being. Your well-being is contingent on you understanding the nature of your existence (why am I here). The reason you are here is to experience God. That you don't like, appreciate, or embrace those aspects of God you are currently experiencing, is an entirely different question than the realization that you are. As to the reasons why you are experiencing what you are, is specific to you--and can't be answered in a post intended for a general audience. However, if you feel as though you need specifics, you can e-mail me at wpgrogan@aol.com.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Elucidate
If ever there was a key to unraveling Old Testament scripture, it is the Cyrus Cylinder. Comparing passages in 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Isaiah, and Daniel, to what the cylinder actually states, we can see how the Jews took reality and recast it to glorify their tribal god. One example of what the cylinder says versus the Biblical rendition: Cylinder: "Marduk, the great lord, bestowed on me as my destiny the great magnanimity of one who loves Babylon, and I every day sought him out in awe." Isaiah 45:1 "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed (messiah), to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him..."
The formula in the Old Testament (indeed, everywhere in Mesopotamia) was victory is caused by the power of the deity, whereas defeat came by way of defective, unfaithful humans. Reading (1st or 2nd) Kings or Chronicles, the formula becomes downright tedious. It is like the boss who takes personal credit for any successful project, but vehemently denounces his staff when things are delayed or messed up. Anyone like working for that type of boss? Then why would you have him as your God?
The formula in the Old Testament (indeed, everywhere in Mesopotamia) was victory is caused by the power of the deity, whereas defeat came by way of defective, unfaithful humans. Reading (1st or 2nd) Kings or Chronicles, the formula becomes downright tedious. It is like the boss who takes personal credit for any successful project, but vehemently denounces his staff when things are delayed or messed up. Anyone like working for that type of boss? Then why would you have him as your God?
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Together
Though I falter often, I believe in this link with all my heart...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp1dfoTV_z4
(perhaps a day will come when MM will see this and remember)
(perhaps a day will come when MM will see this and remember)
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Oversight
"So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?"
~Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin)
~Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin)
Friday, January 1, 2016
Patience My Ass
Job is the paragon of patience in the Bible. (see; James 5:11 KJV) What a joke! Job whines, bitches, and bellyaches with the best of them. He curses the day he was born in chapter 3 (starting with verse 3) and carries on through chapter 30 verses 20-21 (I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. Thou art cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me). Understand, I have no problem with Job's reaction to losing all he's got (including his health). What I have a problem with is the superficial depiction (ie, "the patience of Job") that persists to this day about Job's true response. Unrealistic, suggested superhuman endurance in the face of abject adversity lends itself to self-condemnation and, possibly, self-loathing. Do not do this to yourself.
As I have said in other posts, honor your initial reaction to the events in your life. If you need to rage, rage! If you need to curl up in a little ball and cry like a baby, do so. If you wish to denounce God, by all means have at it ('Thou art cruel to me'). What I ask you not to do, is decide that this is all there is. That the story ends with you overwhelmed, victimized, beaten. That is not your destiny. Nor is it what the story of Job illustrates. Even after his endless kvetching, Job is restored, and more. (42:12) That is the moral of the story, not Job's patience. After tragedy or catastrophe, let it be your story as well.
As I have said in other posts, honor your initial reaction to the events in your life. If you need to rage, rage! If you need to curl up in a little ball and cry like a baby, do so. If you wish to denounce God, by all means have at it ('Thou art cruel to me'). What I ask you not to do, is decide that this is all there is. That the story ends with you overwhelmed, victimized, beaten. That is not your destiny. Nor is it what the story of Job illustrates. Even after his endless kvetching, Job is restored, and more. (42:12) That is the moral of the story, not Job's patience. After tragedy or catastrophe, let it be your story as well.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Affliction
It's hard to hang with God. It seems far easier to be swept up and away in a storm of disbelief, doubt, denial. The inexplicable swallowed up in the solution that it is an indifferent universe--infinitely cold and distant, a tilt-a-whirl spinning mindlessly, enacting the danse macabre to the same tired, trite tune.
It's hard to hang with God. When you observe the same senseless acts of cruelty, racism, and hatred, played out over and over, endlessly, like a rerun on a channel you are incapable of changing despite all efforts to do so; would seem a good time to call it quits.
It's hard to hang with God. A lifetime of unfulfilled prayers, petitions denied, supplications ignored, lends itself to a skeptical mind and a cynical heart. These are simple by-products; the exercise of cause and effect, night following day, despair trumping deity.
It's hard to hang with God. There seems much to support severing the relationship, evidence to end the event. And I would if I could but I can't...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osVaF4t-zFc
It's hard to hang with God. When you observe the same senseless acts of cruelty, racism, and hatred, played out over and over, endlessly, like a rerun on a channel you are incapable of changing despite all efforts to do so; would seem a good time to call it quits.
It's hard to hang with God. A lifetime of unfulfilled prayers, petitions denied, supplications ignored, lends itself to a skeptical mind and a cynical heart. These are simple by-products; the exercise of cause and effect, night following day, despair trumping deity.
It's hard to hang with God. There seems much to support severing the relationship, evidence to end the event. And I would if I could but I can't...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osVaF4t-zFc
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