God's Caring Words

The idea of an omnipotent God has been around forever. Our cultural belief of an absent father is the only way we can explain “our creator’s” lack of interference in our lives. But it seems hard for most people to live without the comforting idea that we have a creator that watches over us, guards us, and guide us. Even in Buddhism, the world is created by an almighty being, though it differs in the sense time is irrelevant as the world has been created many times over. There is a sense of fear generated in response to loneliness that we really aren’t that special. No higher being picked us out of all other creations to grant us consciousness and knowledge and it makes people feel just a little less special about themselves.

Many people have linked biblical stories to current events, raising the status of biblical stories to prophetic. This happens most often with the end of the world. The Bible by no means is a specific texts, it’s poetic rhetoric allows anyone to place their own interpretation on it. Using a random Bible verse generator, I stumbled upon Proverbs 12:1.

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,but he who hates reproof is stupid.

An interpretation can be defining discipline as bodily punishment, thus making pain is knowledge and you must embrace disapproval. This type of thinking is valued by the Opus Dei, a subgroup of Roman Catholics that believe self-mutilation is to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering, bringing them closer to the Son of God, ascending them to a higher being. But the verse can be interpreted in a completely different way. Place the subject in the position of a student and it is a new picture. In order to learn and gain knowledge, you must discipline yourself and keep an open mind to take advice or you will gain no knowledge and be stupid. It’s really not hard to shove personal interpretations onto an old text that has gone through a shredder’s equivalent of translations and rewritings. It's one thing to seek comfort in religion, it's another to push interpretations onto a dead text, don't read too much into it.

What is Written

After reading the chapter on pseudo-science in classroom, I became very curious about the textbooks distributed to students. I really, really want to read a 5th grader’s textbook and see what I can find. As much as this interests me, it also infuriates me. How can we teach our students, our children, our future, false truths? How can we ever agree to allow our students to be manipulated in that way? The act is a blatant way to rewrite not only history, but also science. The Big Bang theory is listed side by side with God creating Earth in 6 days with its different variations. This sends a message to students that both are valid, accepted, and true. Important favored historic figures are written to sing praises of the Bible, whether it happened or not. This clear act of revision of everything we have learned as a society is an abomination! Not only are these lies published, these texts even supports racism. It writes that difference races are derived from Noah and his sons. The son who was cursed, Ham, is the ancestor of Africans, pointing at the notion black people suffer because they are cursed. The son who was blessed, Japheth, is the ancestor of Caucasians, pointing to the notion white people are better because they are blessed. This type of thinking only reinforces racist ideals and continue to separate us from one another. These publishers are not only liars, but also hate-mongering racists.

Bible as a Prop

It seems obvious that our scholarly study of the Bible is different from the cultural understanding and political usage of the Bible. Politicians tend to employ biblical rhetoric in their speeches because it lends them strength in their argument. Given the cultural authority that has been granted to the Bible, the words that are reiterated have a heavier weight and purpose to them. Not only does biblical scripture lend credibility asserting a speech, it also serves a function of unity. In times of disaster or national grief, the Bible is drawn upon for its strength of unity and hope. As Evangelicals believe we live in a Christian nation, which is horribly wrong and ignorant in the religious diversity that exists, it would only make sense that we are comforted by the Bible. The single most effective usage of the Bible is to use it as a tool of unity. The Bible has great messages on how we are one humanity, supporting each other.

But through all these uses, the Bible is still very much used as a prop. Politicians might have actual religious beliefs that coincide with what they are delivering in their speech, but it is largely used in a dramatic sense. It seems to me that the Bible is more of a red herring to distract us from the root causes of our societal problems. Our focus to dissect what is being said distracts us from what is really taking place in our society.

Fan fiction

Modern renditions and tellings of scriptural stories are not uncommon in modern cultures through multiple forms of media. A quick Google search of “movies about the Bible”will reveal a long list of movies dating back to mid 90’s. The obsession we have towards understand biblical scripture is evident in the works produced. Each person directing a new film or writing a spin of fictional story adds their own interpretation and spin on biblical stories, pushing our boundaries of what we think we understand. The manga series Let’s Bible by Youn In-Wan depicts Jesus as a busty blonde while Lucifer is a slightly androgynous brunette, helplessly without any agency, tries to escape Lucifer and her descendants. I can’t imagine this manga series to have too much support or fans who are conservative Christians. Some might say that the manga series bastardizes the image of Jesus, but really the series is just another person’s interpretation of biblical scripture. Who is to say that Jesus was not really a cross-dressing women in antiquity?

For this week’s reading we watched Noah (2014) and read The Stowaway by Julian Barnes, both a take on the story of Noah and the Ark. The story of Noah has always intrigued me. Why has God chosen this specific person to be the shepherd of the new world? Why is his family granted amnesty? In The Stowaway, Barnes explains the selection process of Noah to be that though Noah was not the best person, he was the best of the worst. Sticking to the original story, humanity has gone downhill and God wanted to cleanse the Earth of evil and sin. But rather than viewing the Ark as holy salvation, the woodworm sees it as a prison. The woodworm griefs over how Noah is an abusive alcoholic with a dictatorial command over the animals and his family, largely contrasting the traditional depiction of Noah being a holy pious man who was handpicked by God because he was just so good. The biggest takeaway from The Stowaway for me is the argument that it is ok to be flawed. Noah was a horrible, abusive, egotistical person who slaughtered animals for the smallest things, he also did follow God’s instruction of saving (most) of the animals in the end. The woodworm argues that there seems to be a dichotomy of the image of Noah in scripture, the Noah before the flood was a drunkard, but the Noah after the flood was a good pious man who did no wrong. My interpretation of the woodworm’s argument is that it is ok to be flawed and still loved by God. The hilarious, satirical take on the story of Noah attempted to explain many things (like the Bible does) such as the evolutionary gap between species was amazing since it not only casts a bad light on Noah, but also debunks the creationist theory and favors evolution.

The film Noah (2014) also does something similar, but not to such a great effect. Noah begins with the recounting of the fall of humanity and immediately cuts to a scene of Noah and his sons, skipping all in between biblical stories and events that take place. It also leaves plot holes such as why the shiny material they easily dig up from the ground is so precious and scarce. Being a Hollywood film, of course there is gross heterosexual romance that makes it way into the narrative. I honestly can’t believe that Emma Watson agreed to do this film after reading the script. It’s not a bad story, just poorly executed.

Eden's Tinder

In Enticed by Eden, I was given a side of Adam and Eve that I never even considered. I have never entertained the thought where the creation of Adam and Eve was romantic in any sense. The book quoted some conservative evangelicals and their belief in romance in Eden. I thought it was peculiar when “love at first sight” was mentioned. We know that Eve more Adam several sons, but it does not mention whether they love each other or not. I never thought there was a concern of love and romance in Eden given all the chaos and drama that happens in there. It is absurd that Eve is just made to be submissive because of the order they were “born” in. There was a joke on the internet that went, “God created man first, because every artist needs a sketch for the final product.” This quick joke that I stumbled upon gave me a good chuckle and for the first time made me question the importance of the order of their “birth”. If we really think about the evangelical lens to the creation of women, instead of dogs, women are men’s best friend.

Reading this book has introduced me to a weird world of Christian sex. If I had read only this book in my entire life, I would blame the Bible for all the injustices against women. Of course, I know that the Bible and religion is not the only patriarchal structure that continues to oppress women, but Schearing and Ziegler brings up the way modern women are suppose to be complete submissive to men which fuels sexual fetisization. Most of my life hatred is fueled by the patriarchy. I cannot believe that there are women in the modern world that believes they are suppose to be below men just because a collection of scriptures said so. This is unacceptable. Women are not to only be the damsel in distress, but also heroines of their own lives. As portrayed beautifully, the Disney movie Enchanted flips the role of damsel and knight. Feminism is geared towards equality in all genders, meaning the validation of men’s emotions along with their vulnerability and women’s equality in a multitude of issues.

Destructive power of the canon

In our readings this week, the canon was explored in a similar yet different light. Stein wrote about how the desire to control the canon not only limits to the area of authors, translators, political figures, but also publication firms. In order to boost sales, there is a growing number of niche bibles targeted towards different denominations and demographic communities. Each subtle change in the prose and wording, can lead to a drastic change in interpretation. The question I would like to address is if it is ethical for publications to have the power to alter the meaning of the bible for selfish reasons?

The Jefferson bible piqued my interest in its simplicity. Jefferson stripped away much of the prose and language of the tradition scriptures and really only highlighted the main plot of the biblical stories. While I wished many of my readings would look like that, I also recognize that biblical verses were meant to be lyrical given the low literacy rate. In his act of simplifying the Bible, he also took away important traditions which the Bible was based upon.

I am conflicted in the way some feminist argue for the Bible to change. I do understand the cultural significance of the Bible to many communities, but I also see the need for more women recognition in the scriptures. Stanton takes on an interesting point in her call for revision of the scriptures to be more inclusive. As a religion that is meant to unite, the Bible definitely draws a deep divide between the sexes.  

Burning passion for the Bible

A quick Google search with the term “Bible” will list a good amount of links with various translation versions of the good book. It seems quite absurd that translation of the Bible use to be a banned practice. There is probably very few people who have not come into contact with the Bible’s influence. Even if they have not read it, they have heard of it or read something which references its stories or verses.

The Bible historically has only been access by those who are powerful and wealth. Scribes kept their scrolls hidden in their libraries and only those who were wealthy enough to afford language lessons were able to read it in Latin or German. The exclusivity of the Bible is a very intriguing phenomenon to me. I can’t understand why those in power and wealth would not want to share the knowledge and contents of the Bible. Did believers in medieval times not want to share their faith? Perhaps I am looking at this with a very modern view when the Bible is already available to everyone.

The Bible has gone through consistent change since its creation. Stories went from a oracular tradition to being written down by scribes. Scribes each add their own touch to every story they come into contact with. Then through each translation, the meaning of the words come to an altered sense of meaning. I wonder if any biblical stories came to mean something different than when they were created. In modern times, biblical interpretations takes on a new spin through picture books, movies, manga/anime, and biblezines. I wonder what ancient scribes would think of these new spin offs. Would they believe that we are on the right path? Would they think we should share Christianity with the world when they have cut off people from it?

While reading The Medieval Canon by Francs van Liere I noticed that there was a lot of  “ non-canonical” stories which were mentioned.  It confuses me that the stories were not included in the traditional Bible since they fill in so many gaps in between the biblical stories. I wonder why these scrolls of stories were not included in the traditional canon. Did the “non canonical” stories become obsolete when they were once so popular? Knowing the existence of these stories make me question why we do not include them in popular versions of the Bible? I’m sure many would be willing to read about the life of Adam and Eve after they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Whether the omissions are due to suppression from the church or they were simply not discovered in time for it to be printed with the rest of the scrolls, there is no reason why we cannot expand it now. Even if it manifests as “add on” editions or new updated versions, a collection of “non canonical” scrolls should be published alongside the Bible. To have that collection of stories could greatly alter our views towards the Bible.

I’ve never believed that the Bible was written by the Lord and that they were his holy words. If there is greater acknowledgement within the Bible that biblical stories were written by men, by scribes in temples, it can turn Christianity into a new direction.

Child of God and a Woman

When reading the Bible, we are often faced with many questions of our own. How was this miracle granted? Why did God create the world? What was Jesus childhood like? The apocrypha fills in the gap of when Jesus was born an infant and when he became an adult. As we read in the the Infancy Gospel of Thomas child Jesus is shown to be temperamental and strikes down those who dishonor and displease him. Child Jesus is depicted as not only someone with divine powers and control over their emotions, but just as a child instead. Like many children, child Jesus gets mad when his toys (streams of water leading to his seven pools) are destroyed. Being a child, he does not fully understand the full consequence upon himself and his family when he struck down that child. The setting up of the antagonistic values of the Jewish people is apparent in this reading. It is always child Jesus is enjoying his time, someone ruins his fun or day, they are struck down or cursed, and the neighborhood Jewish community and Jesus has to right his wrongs. I thought that the Infancy Gospel of Thomas was very interesting since it depicts Jesus as a normal child instead of a holy man.

Each time Jesus causes a ruckus, his foster father, Joseph becomes embarrassed and threatened by their neighbors. He seems to play a very weak role in his inability to shield his family from such threats. Mary on the other hand shows awe each time child Jesus displays his powers. I wonder what that says about family structure in the ancient times.

Dust off your cannons

To speak of a cannon is to refer to traditional assembly of texts. Dungan writes that it would be foolish of us to expect cannons to be neat packages when it’s often messy with ambiguity. The “cannons” we see today are often remnant of texts and scriptures that previous communities found important and thus came to be preserved. We typically think of cannons as final and closed while Dungan tells us that they are in fact fluid (2). As we have discussed in class, we think the Bible is finite and closed and say similar things in different translations, but there are new renditions of biblical stories that are created in the modern times. Perhaps modern writers and ancient scribes share certain qualities. Modern writers place their own additional information in stories to answer questions they have, maybe like ancient scribes altered biblical stories to not only extend their mind and creativity, but to also answer cultural questions communities at the time have. 

I wonder what these societies that have shaped our “canonical” bible would think of it. Would they feel that additional stories should have been preserved to better serve modern times? Would they think we are completely wrong in our interpretations? Would they tell us that we are right and everything essential is all bound into the holy book that we have? Or would they tell us nothing matters? Cannons are fluid and all that bounds them is the readers so perhaps we should change our point of view.

Mysterious Pregnancies

The stories we have read were all similar in the sense the pregnancy all came about through a divine birth. The same story is told repeatedly in the Bible. A woman who is either unable to get pregnant or a virgin suddenly gets a swollen belly. Now as some people truly believe that these births were significant and true, I want to question what the patriarchy of the time really thought. It seems impossible to be that a women would not immediately be casted out or stoned to death when she is found pregnant without a husband (in the case of Mary) at the time of antiquity. Ever since I was a child, I have always thought that there was no possible way Mary was pregnant with the Son of God. Given her age, I thought it was more likely that her teenage lover got her pregnant and she had some explaining to do towards Joseph.

What is even more surprising is that these stories all snuck into the canon and become granted with great authority. I can only imagine how small the number of pages that exist glorifying women and who they bring into the world or give them any importance at all. The genealogies are usually only highlights the father, the mother is a lot more inconsequential.

These stories all strike me as odd, because the patriarchy will choose to believe in immaculate conception as long as it’s from a god they believe in. The possibility of a cheating wife is all fine as long as they child will come out a son of god. It just makes no sense.

What brings a country together

Satlow wrote about how the Bible is a story-like historic account of Israel in the ninth century in the first chapter of his book How the Bible Became Holy. Satlow describes the story of Jacob and his twelve sons who were to rule Israel (pg.20). This story was a metaphor to describe the origins of the twelve tribes, giving people cultural background, a reference to their roots. The story of Jacobs and his sons still served to help unite a nation under the myth of a common past. Even though old stories that are told over time again and again loses some of its original details, stand through time to teach us a lesson. When I read how a mythological story of the past served to unite a nation, I began to think of the one I reside in. I thought it was funny how this nation’s foundation is coincidentally also due to the Bible. Pilgrims fled England in hopes for religious freedom in America. Though we are not united under a mythological story, we are however still bound by God and His words. What began this independent country was the Declaration of Independence. What gives pilgrim the right to establish their own land isn’t an agreement that was agreed on with England beforehand, but rather it was a “self-evident” God given right. The way Jews and English pilgrims came to settle upon their land has its similarities, both had an exodus across a barren stretch of the Earth and both believed that journey was to have a space to better worship God.