8690. THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW, #190

#190 BIBLE STUFF

In thinking about things, I was

always floundering or at-sea  -

how much of anything of this

was real or even meaningful?

I just couldn't often grasp things

and all of the church thinking I

was being exposed to was of

old and crazy stuff. I found it

very difficult to integrate any

of that into the contemporary

forms of thought and action :

old wars, crucifixion, angry,

confusing things, endless lists

of names and begets and begats,

which thankfully at least the

Catholic Doctrinal push never

much concentrated on; though

I myself liked it enough to sit

around seminary library hours

to wile away time reading old

bible chapters and commentaries

and such as my way of passing

time. No questions, just a true

puzzlement. Basically I had

no questions because I swiftly

realized it bore little import  to

the 'me' of that moment. 

-

The world. As presented to us.

Pretty senseless, yet that was 

the context we were supposed 

to view everything in. Genesis?

It seemed without purpose. Why

was it even there? Completely

gratuitous. The other bible books,

after it, as boring as they got

too, at least had supposed ancient

and Semitic laws and commands

and stuff in them, even supposedly

proclaimed by God from some

mountain that resembled a 

factory. Or a spaceport. To 

'guide' people along, it was 

said. I questioned that too  -  

'guide' seemed way too soft a

word to put on matters that

were more like fiery commands,

do or die stuff. Little choice.

Instead it's a scatter-bucket of

old tales  -  the Garden, Adam

and Eve, the Nephilim, the

Serpent, temptation, Eden, 

fall. Jacob and his 12 bizarre

sons: ('Cryptic Halakhic' it

was called in 'Jubilees', written

in the second century  -  meaning

that "although it has no overt

laws, per se, its stories contain

'legal' teachings in hidden form."

Alluding here and there to

Divine Commandments and

practises instituted with Israel's

ancestors long before the great

revelation of biblical lore on

Mt. Sinai. Embodiments in 

'persons' of the laws that were 

to be given later at Mt. Sinai

and to the crowds below. Well,

I guess  -  but why? And who

needed all that? Why could 
not someone just say what 
they had to say and be done?
Why all this mystery and 
obfuscation? Couldn't God's

'Mankind' have somehow righted

itself and moved on, produced

cultures and civilizations; as

actually DID happen all other

places  - eventually  -  all over

the globe. This might seem like

nothing at all - however  -  many

years later, in Elmira, NY, the 

way I was receiving information,

I awoke with a start one night,

in the dead middle of the night,

with these words resounding in

my head; words which  referenced 

this very thought : "The Bible is

a book written for those still

in the hole." !! Amazing. It

really did, at that moment,

clarify a lot for me. These

small, indigenous people, a

mere tribe, with no knowledge 

at all of the rest of the globe,

had somehow taken it upon

themselves that they represented

everything for everybody. 

How absurd.

-

Jacob? From Day One a creep.

He cheats his brother, Esau, 

out of his rightful inheritance 

as the firstborn and then tricks

his poor, blind father into giving

him a paternal blessing intended

for Esau. Then he goes to his

uncle's house, (Laban), and by

questionable means ends up

with his flocks (prime source 

of wealth then). He sneaks

away for his homeland, Canaan.

All this while Laban's daughter,

Rachel, steals her father's sacred

images, then hides them in her 

saddlebags, and lies to him so 

as to prevent discovery.  Later,

we read of Jacob's children  -

one sleeping with his father's

concubine, and another having

sex with his own son's wife. 

When the only daughter ends 

up being raped, her brothers

respond by invading the

rapist's town and killing

every man in it, then also

plundering all the town's

flocks and possessions,

including wives and children.

Then they seize their own 

younger brother, strip off

his clothing, throw him into

a pit with the intention of

killing him, relent, and sell

him instead to a passing caravan.

Oh, really? Interesting group.

Real ground-breakers and

fore-tellers of all those so

wholesome commandments 

and dictates to come. 

-

I actually found very little

relevance, in any of this, to

myself, and that began the 

first divide I saw with what 

I would have been supposed 

to be representing. The 

fulfillment and satisfaction 

of all that 'word made flesh'

stuff and the beginning of

John's gospel much later.

This was an arc of continuity, 

perfected and completed

without fail, which ends up 

with the crumpled ruins of

objection dead on a cross,

in full view of humanity,

taken down and released 

once more to his family 

and group, who bury him 

and grieve for His death,

from which he arises after

some time, and then leaves 

again. Palpitating stuff.

-

I found myself questioning

what was going on  - it was

1963. I had difficulty finding

a relevant relationship for

1963, or 63BC, for that 

matter, with this material.

Its assumptions, and even

the way it was presented,

made little sense.  I was

living, and had been living,

a completely alien world  -

Flinstones and Jetsons and

Twilight Zones and Lone

Rangers and the rest. 
Physicists saying really weird 
things, time/warp continuums 
and the rest, which all made a
jumble out of any , ANY 
sequential  or logical format 
to this life. Chaise lounges

and ranch homes with

patios. Fast cars. Aluminum

siding, libraries, amusement

parks, camp-outings and

pop music. Nothing made 

sense and it seemed as 

though people's minds

had little room for any 

of this, any. The old OR 

the new : Talk about 'being
in the hole. I guess what I'm 

saying is that I'd come to 

a point where, in spite of 

thinking I did, I was at a 

point where I knew 

NOTHING about what

was going on, what 

I was facing, or where 

any of it had come from. 

No 'what', and certainly 

no 'why?'

-

Somehow this ancient age

was facing off, one-to one,

the ancient age long ago had

before us passed : tribalism,

a barren fierceness, violence.

Much of it, confusing as it

all was, was still and at the 

same time current and very

old together. What was I

to make of that? Within this

continuity we were meant

to find challenge, succor,

peace, and mission. I was

unable to do so. My interests

had been turned and had

gone elsewhere; sensitivities

flayed and barren and raw.

All that politeness and protocol

and right-ritual of all these

churches, none of it added 

up. I sensed I was far too

personal for any of that. I

wanted contact and touch,

wit everything and everyone. 

Slave to king, Hitler to Gandhi.

No matter. There I was.