Why the Bible? (Monday January 9)

Why the Bible?

I said yesterday that I was reading the Bible and predicted that many would be joining me in coming years. That is not the kind of prediction you see in a New Age blog or astrology column.

Why the Bible? Just because it is something which needs to be faced, it seems to me, by those who are at a crisis point, and many believe our civilization is at such a point.

I do acknowledge, however, the objections of those who say the Bible is outmoded, is primitive, and so on, as for example the late Christopher Hitchens the atheist who loved to point out the ugliest and most contradictory and seemingly unethical or brutal passages in that compilation.

That is absolutely nothing new! The French intellectuals of the 18th century did it long ago, as did the rationalistic scientistic thinkers of the late years of the 19th century. These people did not eliminate the faith of Jews and Christians, nor shall Christopher Hitchens and his like.

Obviously one must use discretion in reading the Bible. For many years I decided to read nothing but the Psalms and the Gospels. That was a wise choice. For someone who does not know the Bible and does not care to delve into it, I wholeheartedly recommend just that. The Psalms and the Gospels. A Psalm in the morning, read at least twice, with perhaps a line or two memorized, the lines that speak to one directly on that day. And one of the 89 chapters of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. No matter how many scholars in the past and future debate the life of Jesus, or the validity of any account of it, these four books as they have come down are the canonical and only reliable source of what Jesus did and taught. It does not matter if there are apparent contradictions in them. Read any account of any recent prominent figure, for example John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and you will find discrepancies. That does not mean the JFK did not exist or that his character did not have a strong impact on American and world history. It means that different observers, scribes, and historians see things differently, as is well known in courts of law where, for example, innocent men have been condemned to prison or death by wrong identification.

Of course the Bible, even the Psalms and Gospels, need to be read with discretion, for example: In the Gospels, one needs to beware of taking a lot of things literally which are parables or parabolic. Millions of Christians believe in a literal eternal Hell where people who reject Jesus and his message are tormented forever. However, they do not believe that Jesus meant literally that if one's hand sinned, one ought to cut it off! Which is something he said. A lot of Christians would be walking around with one hand or no hands if that were true. I decided as a child to reject the idea of a literal Hell. Where Jesus appears to support such a belief, he is talking in the hyperbolic language the prophets always used. Hyperbole means you exaggerate. Some of the ethical offenses Jesus saw in the decadent Roman empire and the parallel decadence of many of the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees were so appalling to him that his language had to be strong to warn people against falling into them. Certainly, at the least, he meant that there is bound to be suffering for sin or for anti-ethical acts of oppression and cruelty. That goes along with the Hindu and Buddhist teachings of the laws of karma. But nobody with a fair mind believes that such suffering is eternal, once the lesson has been learned. I say, give Jesus a break and realize he was using strong language, strong parallels in a hyperbolic prophetic sense, to warn people against suffering for their sins which might seem eternal in some cases.

As for the Psalms, there are large numbers of passages in them which I do not accept into my heart, namely, those condemning one's enemies to torment, death, destruction, oblivion. This is more or less the earlier Semitic harshness which came into Christianity as the Hell doctrine. I gloss over those passages because I understand them to be desperate, exhausted, despairing pleas for escape from intolerably cruel situations into which the Jewish people were forced at various times in their history. It is normal for people to feel, when treated unfairly, that those who so treat them ought to be destroyed. It is supernormal to attempt to understand and forgive them, and I do not hold the authors of the Psalms to such a high saintly standard--although they did reach it at times. What is superb in the Psalms is the constant sense of the presence of the Lord, Yahweh, G*d as the savior, the One who can lift one out of one's misery, the merciful One who can work miracles in one's life. It is this which has made them the model for virtually all prayer in the Western world.

When I run across one of the harsh condemning passages in the Psalms, I usually stop and substitute a silent prayer of my own, not that enemies be destroyed but that they be converted, saved from their errors, guided into the right path. Of course, that might sometimes involve suffering as well as Grace, but not suffering as irrevocable endless punishment.

The strengthening, guiding effect of the practice I just recommended has been proved to me. I believe the same would be the case for any human being no matter what his or her beliefs or presuppositions. A basic (though not sole) prescription for all human ills: the Psalms and the Gospels.

Sir Real


Monday 9 January 2012

We can distinguish between the emotional tone of the day, which could be gloomy frequently, and the likelihood of getting things done, which is excellent. You can work through moods, fears, anxieties, doubts, and get a lot accomplished, which will of course tend to remove those anxieties and doubts. (They stem partly from this being part of the |difficult or emotionally stressful third| of this week, based on the moon-Saturn cycle, from Sunday evening through Tuesday.)

Financial matters get a go-ahead from more than one direction. Some of your hopes are cooking along toward a flavorful dish of fulfillment. There could be enjoyable entertainment at home, and links with people at a distance. There can be reliable business contacts and developments. Sunday evening's Full Moon continues to give us expanded consciousness, fullness of realization.

From a longer-term perspective, the opposition of Jupiter and Saturn commented on often is near its closest point, this week, until it dissipates gradually by April. Again, you might look over the past couple of years since April 2010. Where are you now that is different from then? How have your plans and intentions changed? You are at a point where you can get a firm grip on those changes and dispatch yourself in a solid direction, especially from now through February 26.

{Monday 9 January 2012}

Cosmic Piper