Mystery. Creation. Sex. Lies. Deceit. Murder. Destruction... one hell of a way to start off a story if you ask me. No wonder the Bible is the best selling book of all time. Not only does it have all the elements that make up a captivating drama... It's allegedly the first drama. A bold statement which, no matter what you believe, must count for something.
Being brought up in a Christian home I am well versed in the Bible, specifically Genesis and Revelation. Why these two books you ask? Because when I was eight years old a preacher told me that as a "true christian" I should read the Bible all the way through. To me however, that seemed like a lot of reading. Reading I didn't have time for... So I just read the beginning and the end to save time. Needless to say, after reading the first and last, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, and then imagining the middle I couldn't help but wonder why adults got all worked up over a story that starts with naked people snitching on a talking snake and ends with dragons, horsemen, and seven seals (being eight I thought the Bible meant "seal" as in the cute aquatic animal).
No matter how misguided however, this perspective on the Bible did give me a unique look at Genesis. By not taking the story for granted and reading it as if it were literal, I saw just how vague and slightly ridiculous most of the content in Genesis really is. This made the story of creation seem especially disjointed to me because, if you really think about it, the "God" in the creation story seems very different from the other "God" in the Old and New Testaments. God in the creation story seems very temperamental, egotistical, almost human like, displaying jealousy, rage, and perhaps even fear for what he had made. Like Dr. Frankenstein or the Scientist in Jurassic Park, God appears to fit the classic creator whose creation has gone wrong, rather than an almighty, all knowing, all powerful God. This did make me question the nature of the creator "God" and upon finishing the creation story I could have paraphrased it with "In the beginning God made a mistake.", and after finishing the rest of the Bible "God attempts to fix the mistake he made."
But no matter your opinion or interpretation, Genesis, creation myth or factual account, is a story ingrained into american culture... and for good reason. Even at face value it is a great story that rightfully serves as the definitive creation story archetype. And (as I pointed out at the beginning of this post) it does make for one hell of a story. No pun intended.
I definitely agree that, when taken "literally," the God in the creation story, and the rest of Genesis it seems, appears almost un-God-like. My discussion group from Monday had a whole talk about God's very human, temperamental nature and how it was incongruous with his "old and wise" physical depiction. I like how you compared him to other "creators" in literature because that certainly describes the Genesis God pretty accurately.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with what you said about Genesis being "unrealistic." As I said in class, there seems to be a big margin for error, especially when humans are the authors with "divine inspiration." Who is to say that some bitter, evil, yet educated monk writing Genesis in its most modern form decided to leave out details, accounts, and the like. Maybe he wanted God to seem scary because to him he was. I don't think it's very fair for a handful of people to have a say in what our own interpretation of God and His creation should or shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Old Testament simply cannot be taken literally. There are too many incongruencies for it to be historical fact. As I said in another comment, the stories are most likely symbolic, written by people as explanations for the behaviors of man and nature. The story was written by man, and, as is the case with many literary characters, man put himself into God. I do not think that the Old Testament should be completely discounted, however. I think that some people are quick to say if it's not literal, it is pointless.
ReplyDeleteLike Allison said, man will have changed the story over the years, whether in translation or intentionally. As the Bible teaches, man is not perfect, and I think man corrupts many things. Take the teachings of Jesus for instance, He says not to judge others, but Catholics are often the first ones seen judging. "Thou shalt not kill," but the Church waged a Holy War. Even something like the idea of Communism sounds good at face value, but look at what that has been made into historically.
I enjoyed reading your blog and thought it was very entertaining and well-written.
This blog made me think about where the original drama came from that we all know and love these days. You made a good point in showing that the drama came from Genesis. Your interpretation of seals was hilarious and glad you shared that. Also, the God's of the Old and New testament are supposedly different from what I've learned in Religion class. They have different personality traits and like you said the old testament one was more temperamental like a human would be. Loved reading this cause it made me laugh. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI had never thought about how technically, the Bible would be the first drama, brimming with all the content a good drama contains. Your blog was fun to read because you kept a light hearted tone throughout it without compromising the content of your blog. The analogy between God and Dr. Frankenstein was also great because it gave me an immediate reaction and I was able to connect with what you were saying very easily.
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