The Periphery of the Mind

Before I begin. This is not an attack on Christian faith or the Bible, but rather how people approach both. I believe that Christ and God are one, Christ died for the sake of mankind, and Christ came back from the dead. It's not logical, but it "feels right", and I suppose that's as good a definition of faith as any.

Also, this is -not- based on any arguement with Maryanne or the in-laws. We have had those discussions, and a couple of arguements. But I know better than to argue with her how her faith is wrong, and she knows better than to argue with me about how my faith is wrong.

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Okay, Ken recently posted over on his nifty blog about attending a lecture by an Egyptologist. To quote:

Someone (clearly with an agenda of some sort) tried to get this historian to commit to nailing down something about Moses and the Exodus. Dr. Brier didn't take the bait (if for no other reason than the speaker didn't actually ask a question)...and even implied the Exodus may not have occurred. The thing is (and I know I'll be corrected)...the Bible (and other religious texts) cannot be relied upon for dates or historical accounts.

Which lead me to post in response:

Well, if Jesus liked to teach using metaphors and parables, and Jesus is God, and God authored the bible, than we should always be careful how literally we take anything in the bible. It may just be one big metaphor from start to end.

See, it bugs me that people take it all so literally. Biology, geology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and anthropology books are all based on lies because they contradict the Bible. Not every book that contradicts the Bible is erroneous however. After all, each of the Gospels contradicts the other three, but since the Bible is the perfect word of God these aren't errors at all. The words aren't what's important, it's the message. And this -is- true. But even then, the perfect -message- of God has a big problem....

See, mankind can't get anything right. Give mankind the word of God, written in stone by God Himself and we'll still screw it up. Anybody remember the Fourth Commandment?
Is it:

• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
• Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
• The firstborn males, both human and animal, belong to God.
• Work six days and rest the seventh. Stop working even during plowing and harvesting.

The correct answer is... The first one! If you're Jewish or Protestant. The second if you're a Catholic. And the third and fourth options are if you're going by the Commandments God wrote for Moses the second time after Moses smashed the first set of tablets (Exodus 34). The third option is the fourth listed commandment from God, and the fourth is where he says to take a break. No mention of the Sabbath as a holy day is made in Exodus 34 that I saw.

Since these rules were given to the Jews first, and I live in the Protestant Bible Belt, let's go with that first interpretation. Catholics also acknowledge those words, just not the numbering. We're going to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. But which day is the Sabbath? Sunday right? Or is it Saturday?

See, the Jews say Saturday. The Christians say Sunday. At least most of the Christians do. Some denominations recognize that Jesus, as a Jew, probably recognized the Sabbath on Saturday. He never says to break God's Commandments, nor does He ever say that the day's been changed. So I guess they figure it's Saturday that's the Sabbath day. Then the Catholic Church was doing some unification tidying and said that -Sunday- was the Sabbath day back in the 4th century. I guess the better to distinguish Christians from just being a Jewish denomination.

At this point you've probably gotten bored, or distracted, like me, and are thinking "but what does it matter. God's still being recognized with a day set aside for Him." And honestly, I don't know. It probably doesn't matter at all, and God's just thrilled peaches that we care enough to set aside a couple of hours on Sunday morning for Him. But that's not the point.

The point is, is that there are those who tell us to take the Bible literally, and instead we end up taking what someone else tells us about it as the literal truth. They tell us it is perfect and without flaw, but can't agree on what it means. And then they presume to tell us that when we try to explore and develop our personal relationship with God, it's wrong because it doesn't match -their- personal growth and faith.

Anyway, I think I'm done venting and ranting now.