In the beginning....
Ok.... I am not all that far into Genesis and I can tell this is going to be a lot of typing. Some things I am going to see as big issues and some things are just written in such a way as to remind me of the stories of other ancient, primitive people. So... Let's do this.
First off... one of my very favorite controversies is between old earth and young earth theories stemming from the words in Genesis. Young earth believers hold that this story means that God created everything literally in 6 consecutive days. If that is the case then our world is merely thousands of years old. I really have a hard time with that. It would have to mean that everything we know about carbon dating is wrong. I, personally, hold to the old earth theory. I also don't find this to be one of my Bible difficulties. In an old earth theory those 6 creation days do not have to be consecutive and could be millions of years apart. A day doesn't have to mean 24 hours either. The first time I heard that theory and watched a video about it I was overjoyed. I simply love it when my eyes can be opened to something I did not see. That would mean that man could've been placed on this planet millions of years after it's creation. The story says that God created water creatures on the 5th day and then land creatures on the 6th. Humans were also created on the 6th day but the way the text was written it seems to suggest that land animals were created first and then humans. If each creation day was not 24 hours then this would explain how dinosaurs could roam the earth at a time when humans were not present. I like this old earth/non-consecutive creation days scenario better. It does bring up an issue that I have with the Bible in general though......
Why has the Bible, which is God's way of communicating with man, been written in such a confusing way? If a book was the word of God I would think it would be the most perfect book ever written. I definitely do not feel like the creation story is written perfectly and in a way that any person could pick it up, read it, and feel closer to God. I like some scholars explanation of the old earth theory of creation but why is it not more apparent? Why did we need spin doctors? The fact that much of the Bible leaves you saying, "Really?" just further makes me feel it is the word of man and not the word of God. I truly believe that the Christian God would want every person to know Him. I don't find that consistent with creating a book which is so very confusing....or....hmmmm...what is the word.....vague maybe. A perfect book meant to convey God's word to us would be timeless and it would not put up barriers to faith.
I find Genesis 3:14&15 completely faith killing. Essentially God was telling the serpent off here because it was the serpent who had tempted Eve. God doesn't say, "Lucifer, that was so uncool! I am just not very happy with you right now". He told the snake that the snake was cursed more than any livestock or any animal. God said that the snake would have to move on it's belly & eat dust for all of it's days. I wonder if the snake was like, "Yeah..... I kinda figured that one out when you didn't give me any legs. I tried rolling but that didn't work out so well. I got really dizzy and puked a lot.". hahahaha.... I kid....I kid!!! God also said that man would strike at the snake with his heel. This is not the curse I can envision for a fallen angel or a demon. This is a curse for a literal snake. So... This leads me to believe that the creature who tempted Eve in this story was actually a snake not Satan. That really crosses this story over into the realm of a fable that father's tell to their children when their kid's say, "Yo Pops.... I have been thinking.... How did this big old world get created anyhow?" I also feel like if the animals in the Garden of Eden could talk, wouldn't one of the other animals come over and intervene....like maybe the owl would say, "Lady.... I know it is kind or torture for God to throw these 2 trees right in your face and say, 'don't eat any of that stuff'. It is kind of like putting a plate of cookies on the table and telling a 5 year old not to eat those cookies because they are magic cookies. Even if you gave the 5 year old plenty of cookies elsewhere the kid is gonna want the magic cookies. I am not saying it was a cool move. I am just saying the big guy said no eaty the yummies on this tree. He made this stuff. I personally would listen." or maybe the talking dog would say, "Rot row Reve!" I just really see this as one of those stories that if you just read it as it is makes you feel as if this is one of those stories similar to what you would hear in any other mythology. Lots of people say this was Satan and that the text doesn't say it was Satan because the writer didn't know of Satan..... well, it isn't perfect then, is it? It is flawed by the ignorance of the writer and thus not the "Perfect" word of God.
Ok....then on to Noah's story. Any time God destroys a place because the people are wicked it makes me wonder about how many innocents are being killed as well. Picture yourself as a person alive with a family during the deluge..... Can you imagine watching your children drown? Maybe you as a person are a scumbag deserving of your fate but is everyone on the planet at this time? How many 2 year old children drowned? Could these 2 year old children have been horrible sinners? I can see an argument saying that society had deteriorated to the point that those 2 year olds, raised in that society, would have grown up to be the same kind of filth as their parents. But I have to look around and say to myself, "Could they have been worse than we are right now?" I just do not see how.... why do we not get wiped out? I know God said he would never destroy the world by flood again. There are other ways....war, plague, etc. We have to be the most perverse, self absorbed, corrupt society in the history of this world. I am not saying we deserve to die. I don't believe that at all but can you envision a society with more perversion than ours? If you can, I have a few web sites I can recommend to you. hahaha There are lots of people in our society who are very good people as well. Do you think that was not the case then as well?
Well.... this is for starters. I still have a long way to go in Genesis and I will have concerns far, far greater than these. I just knew that I was going to have a good bit to write and I didn't want each installment to be like a book. In order to have people read this I probably want it to be something you can get through in a few minutes.
I will keep reading. If you have anything to say, I completely welcome your words. If you think I am too blasphemous in my writing here then I would want to hear that too. I am trying to keep it a little entertaining but certainly don't want to cross over to offensive.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Why am I agnostic?
The question of whether there is a God, who is he, and what does he want is probably the single most important question facing us. For most it probably isn't a question..... I feel like very few people question whether what most people around them believe is true. So, how did I come to question traditional Christian beliefs? I was brought up believing that Christianity was true. We were not always regular church attendees but my aunt who was a Catholic took me to mass many times and my mother always told me that God was real. I started attending a Quaker church with my parents when I was in fourth grade (I think) and we went until I was in the sixth grade. That is not exactly a huge stretch of time but I learned the Bible stories in Sunday morning service and Sunday School. This was far more to my liking than the Catholic mass I had attended with my aunt. So... I had a general belief in Christianity but it wasn't ingrained in me as it is in those whose whole existence has been one centered around Christian belief.
Then, when I was 21, my aunt died. This is the lady I mentioned above who took me to Catholic mass. To say she was my aunt is to understate the relationship. My aunt could not have children of her own so she started taking care of me when I was 6 weeks old....as soon as my mother went back to work from maternity leave. This wasn't a job for my aunt this was a way for her to have a child. My parents paid her insanely little and I do believe with the food, toys, birthday and Christmas gifts she and my uncle gave me that they probably lost money on this deal. But like I said, this wasn't about money for her. She was like a second mother to me. I went to her house 5 days a week from the time I was 6 weeks old until I was 14 (my parents didn't trust me not to burn the house down....with good reason). When my aunt died I was shocked, stunned, and grief stricken. My aunt was not that old.... she went to sleep and an aneurysm killed her. She had not been sick..... I didn't see it coming. I was 21 but no one truly close to me had ever died. I was born when my parents were only teenagers so my family was pretty young. After I dealt with the grief, I had to deal with a loss of innocence. Death is real.... it truly happens. I mean....intellectually I knew that it was but what 21 year old thinks about their mortality? I know one who did-me. I became very disturbed that one day I would be the one in that box....It wouldn't be for a long time but I could not escape it. It would happen. I decided that the only way for death to not scare me was through an unquestioning faith that there is something beyond death. I decided to read the Bible for the first time ever. As I mentioned above, I had heard the stories but they weren't so ingrained in me that I read the texts unquestioningly. I began....at the beginning....where else? Genesis. I began to read and I found some things here and there that didn't seem like truth to me.... they just seemed like the stories of primitive people. The more I read the more convinced I was that these were just the stories of people wanting to believe that their hardships had meaning and that their victories were because God liked them better than everyone else. I didn't make it all the way through and instead of instilling faith in me, reading the Bible had caused me to become agnostic..... I do not know who God is or what he wants. I do believe (most of the time) that there is a God. We believe the universe had a beginning... nothing that is natural can be created from nothing by no one. The universe had a beginning...it must've had a creator. If there was a ball of gas that expanded in the Big Bang then what created the ball of gas? If you figure out what created the ball of gas then what created the thing that created the ball of gas? And......that could go on for a bit but eventually you come to an uncaused first cause which is impossible and unavoidable at the same time.....it would have to be supernatural.... God. There you have it.... I am agnostic and not particularly happy about it. It has been years since I went back to this question and it is time to do so. I will be using Lee Stoebel's videos and web site for info and am reading "The Apologetics Study Bible". I am going to read and blog on my thoughts as I do. I am hoping that I will get some comments from bright people telling me how I have it wrong when I see things as problematic. I hope not to offend anyone...this is for me and....well..... here is what has me motivated now. My oldest son is almost 17 and he thinks a lot like me. I am afraid from the conversations we have had that he is coming to the same place that I am....which is agnostic. If Christianity is true than the worst thing I can do is to influence him away from it. Thanks for reading.... I hope it wasn't too boring. I will do some reading in the next few days and then blog some more.
The question of whether there is a God, who is he, and what does he want is probably the single most important question facing us. For most it probably isn't a question..... I feel like very few people question whether what most people around them believe is true. So, how did I come to question traditional Christian beliefs? I was brought up believing that Christianity was true. We were not always regular church attendees but my aunt who was a Catholic took me to mass many times and my mother always told me that God was real. I started attending a Quaker church with my parents when I was in fourth grade (I think) and we went until I was in the sixth grade. That is not exactly a huge stretch of time but I learned the Bible stories in Sunday morning service and Sunday School. This was far more to my liking than the Catholic mass I had attended with my aunt. So... I had a general belief in Christianity but it wasn't ingrained in me as it is in those whose whole existence has been one centered around Christian belief.
Then, when I was 21, my aunt died. This is the lady I mentioned above who took me to Catholic mass. To say she was my aunt is to understate the relationship. My aunt could not have children of her own so she started taking care of me when I was 6 weeks old....as soon as my mother went back to work from maternity leave. This wasn't a job for my aunt this was a way for her to have a child. My parents paid her insanely little and I do believe with the food, toys, birthday and Christmas gifts she and my uncle gave me that they probably lost money on this deal. But like I said, this wasn't about money for her. She was like a second mother to me. I went to her house 5 days a week from the time I was 6 weeks old until I was 14 (my parents didn't trust me not to burn the house down....with good reason). When my aunt died I was shocked, stunned, and grief stricken. My aunt was not that old.... she went to sleep and an aneurysm killed her. She had not been sick..... I didn't see it coming. I was 21 but no one truly close to me had ever died. I was born when my parents were only teenagers so my family was pretty young. After I dealt with the grief, I had to deal with a loss of innocence. Death is real.... it truly happens. I mean....intellectually I knew that it was but what 21 year old thinks about their mortality? I know one who did-me. I became very disturbed that one day I would be the one in that box....It wouldn't be for a long time but I could not escape it. It would happen. I decided that the only way for death to not scare me was through an unquestioning faith that there is something beyond death. I decided to read the Bible for the first time ever. As I mentioned above, I had heard the stories but they weren't so ingrained in me that I read the texts unquestioningly. I began....at the beginning....where else? Genesis. I began to read and I found some things here and there that didn't seem like truth to me.... they just seemed like the stories of primitive people. The more I read the more convinced I was that these were just the stories of people wanting to believe that their hardships had meaning and that their victories were because God liked them better than everyone else. I didn't make it all the way through and instead of instilling faith in me, reading the Bible had caused me to become agnostic..... I do not know who God is or what he wants. I do believe (most of the time) that there is a God. We believe the universe had a beginning... nothing that is natural can be created from nothing by no one. The universe had a beginning...it must've had a creator. If there was a ball of gas that expanded in the Big Bang then what created the ball of gas? If you figure out what created the ball of gas then what created the thing that created the ball of gas? And......that could go on for a bit but eventually you come to an uncaused first cause which is impossible and unavoidable at the same time.....it would have to be supernatural.... God. There you have it.... I am agnostic and not particularly happy about it. It has been years since I went back to this question and it is time to do so. I will be using Lee Stoebel's videos and web site for info and am reading "The Apologetics Study Bible". I am going to read and blog on my thoughts as I do. I am hoping that I will get some comments from bright people telling me how I have it wrong when I see things as problematic. I hope not to offend anyone...this is for me and....well..... here is what has me motivated now. My oldest son is almost 17 and he thinks a lot like me. I am afraid from the conversations we have had that he is coming to the same place that I am....which is agnostic. If Christianity is true than the worst thing I can do is to influence him away from it. Thanks for reading.... I hope it wasn't too boring. I will do some reading in the next few days and then blog some more.
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