Argue with someone about The Bible: FAIL

Yesterday I was at the gym. While at the gym I typically try to squeeze in some reading. On this occasion I decided to catch up on some Northrope Frye while I enjoyed the warmth of the sauna, you could say I was Fryeing in the sauna (I love bad puns). While I read a couple gentlemen entered the sauna and took up respective seats on the tiered benches. Then at random one guy asks me what I am reading. I reply, "Northrope Frye's Words with Power." He then asks me if it is a religious book and I ended up explaining that I was in a class that focused on reading The Bible. This prompted him to ask how far in The Bible I have read. I tell him, "Leviticus 10." He then scoffs and says, "You are in the thick of it my friend, nothing as thick as the pentatuc." When he says this I realize this is the guy. I am going to argue the meaning and writing of The Bible in a sauna with this guy. When I asked him about his biblical experience he went on to give me a rundown of his history growing up in kentucky with baptists, and how he had gone to bible school etcetera. Honestly at this point I was thinking,"Fuck. Picked the wrong guy to argue The Bible with." This guy knew his shit. For instance when I would reference a story he could tell me the book and the chapter. That is how good he was. I felt like I had picked a fight with the skinnest nerdiest white kid I could find only to find out he was a quadruple black belt in, "FucYu up." To my shagrin he was knowledgable but did not force his opinions on me. For instance we talked about Exodus and Leviticus and how the rules in there were practical for the survival of the people in there quest in the desert. I agreed on some aspects of his arguement and argued my points of thematic value of story and the integration of societal laws as a method of government and control. All the while the third guy sat there in silence shaking his head periodically, and nodding even less. Come to find out that the guy I had been talking to left the church in college to become and atheist and is now going back to a presbetirian chuch as an adult living here in Bozeman. So fourty five minutes later we end up having exit the suana for risk of heat stroke. He recommened a book called The Message a contemporary translation of The Bible. So all in all I was pleased with the outcome; no punches were thrown, no yelling ensued, actually the whole thing ended with a hand shake.

Psalm 51 and Allegri's Miserere

After hearing the piece in class last week I went out (iTunes) and bought a version of Allegri's Miserere. The version that I purchased was that performed by The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (recorded in 1997). This version is much clearer than the more famous 1964 recording but lacked that really hair raising high C that we hear in the 1964 performance. The Cambridge choir does have the High C as part of the music however it just doesn't go to that breaking point that is so moving in the older recording. None the less the piece I purchased is still quite moving. That friday I sat down to do some homework which included reading Psalm 51, and as I read this I was listening to Allegri's Miserere. I read the Psalm and sat there with the Miserere Mei, Deus (Psalm 51) on repeat. I must have sat there for twenty minutes listening to the song. I was moved, I was in awe, I was speechless. Later that same day in the afternoon I went to my usual afternoon meeting (AA). Mind you up this point my day had been what I call typical not bad but not terribly exciting either. So the meeting continues as usual, people are speaking and saying useful things but nothing particularly revolutionary. Then as a person is sharing I start to tear up, then before you know it I start to cry. I start to cry in public out of nowhere. I am thinking what the he'll is happening to me? I ended up staying the course and sitting through the rest of the meeting instead of ducking out tail between my legs. People asked me what was up and I literally replied, "In all honesty I am fine". I ended up going for a walk to reflect. And what I came to realize is that I had come to terms at that moment with how fucked up my life had become and that I was the result, and that only a greater power than myself could restore me to sanity. I literally had a spiritual experience. What I think led to such moment of self realization was Allegri's Miserere. I honestly feel that the music had somehow found a chink in my emotional and rational armor making me vulnerable or susceptible to feelings and perceptions that I had defended against for so long and so furiously. Now this may sound extreme, farfetched, nuts, and impossible but it is what happened. This is the power of the word. Maybe Frye is right.

Leviticus 1-7: Sacrifice 101

In all seriousness I don't understand why sacrifice became as important as it did. I understand the premise of sacrifice as the performance of "sacred rights", but why? I know why according to The Bible: because God told Moses (like when children question there parents "Why?" "Becuase I said so."). That still does not satisfy my questions as to why? My question also brings into light how ritual sacrifice seems like a pretty pagan thing to do, and not only that but it would seem that most beleifs and religions across the board beleived in a kind of sacrifice in one form or another. The Aztecs used sacrifice, the Jews, the Scandanavian religions, and the Greeks. Some theorize that the sacrifice comes from hunting traditions as appeasment for the hunter having to have taken another living creatures life. I guess at the end of the day what is interesting is how sacrifice was so important in the Bible and today I think you would be hard pressed to find ritual sacrifice. I am pretty sure in might even be animal cruelty. Really if I think of modern day sacrifice I think of Satanic Worshipers, not bearded jews. Upon searching the internet for clues I stumbled upon a video from the BBC entitiled "Witch Doctors Reveal the Extent of Child Sacrifice." http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8441813.stm It is about modern human sacrifice, and what is interesting is how many similiarites sacrifice in the Bible have to those taking place in Uganda today. Look for the use of Children (kid/lamb) and Unblemished specimens.

Profesor Sexson blew my mind.

The wonderful thing about learning is that you slowly but surely find out how utterly ignorant you are. I came to realize that after Linda Sexson's lecture that I am an intellectual misogynist. I, through years and years of schooling have fallen into the patriarchy's pedagogical trap.

For instance this whole time reading The Bible I have almost entirely focused on the male characters, pushing the female ones to the side, dismissing them as shallow characters in the periphery of the great stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and many more. I have come to the conclusion that The Bible really tells two stories at one time. The most obvious is the story of the men of The Bible, and the other is the story of women. The second being the one that you really have to read into, do to The Bible's focus on the righteousness of men and God.

The Bible in no uncertain terms has probably done more to denigrate, subjugate, objectify, and abuse women that any other text in the world. I cannot mention the whole Bible because I have not read it all, but so far it would seem to prove my point. I say this because roughly 168,000 Bibles are sold, and distributed every day. That means this book is quite literally every where. Now if those who have Bibles are being fed this notion of woman as being the cause for all sin (Eve), Harlots (Ghomer), Whores (The whore of Babylon), Incestuous schemers (Lots Daughters). That is just a few that I can remember, but the point being that women don't exactly get fair representation. What is important though is the implications this has on male views of women in our society, and how The Bible has helped perpetrate those misogynistic views.

God I took like four pages of notes I find that I must take a women studies class because this is like learning all over again. I thank Linda Sexson for coming in and sharing her incite with us. One thing that I really took away was Linda's Law #45: All gods are metaphors. Like Paul said in the new testament, "through a glass darkly." We will only have partial understanding.

How to cite (not smite) The Bible.

Recently I was working on a paper for another class and I wanted to reference The Bible. That is when I thought, "how do you reference The Bible?" In all seriousness I have never once used The Bible as a reference in any paper. However upon reading some of The Bible I now know that I have inadvertently quoted The Bible many times over the course of my academic career however this was the only time I have payed any intelectual royalties to it. So first I hunted down my McGraw-Hill Handbook (another type of bible). However that proved to be fruitless because they did not include any specific citations for The Bible or at least citations fitting to The Bible. Then it was off to the internet (another infinite bible) to look for the answers. Low and behold there it was the answer, on the internet. The Bible gets its own special kind of citations. If you are curious go to http://hbl.gcc.edu/citingBIBLE.htm for MLA, APA, Turabian, and Chicago style formats. The Bible realy is a uique thing in many way it truly is a stand alone text in terms of fame and infamy. Also if you notice the word bible I have capitalized in reference to The Bible, however I also use The Bible for its extended meaning. In the dictionary the term bible has taken on the extended meaning of: any book, reference work, periodical, etc., accepted as authoritative, informative, or reliable. Very interesting I find that The Bible has almost become a in and of itself a cliche.

Progress not perfection.

Kudos and Congratulations to those in our class who have enlightened me as to what blogging can do. I found upon sifting through our class blogs that I am not taking the the blogging medium seriously. Until recently I had presumed that the blogging sphere was a cyber realm filled with those cyber geeks who would who hide behind cyber anonymity  ranting and criticizing- people and various topics. How ignorant I was. Some of the members of our class have created some superbly interesting blogs. Some have taken a journalistic approach like Jennifer's blog and others have made theirs a gathering place for ideas and information which they have researched like that of Russell Rickers blog; which includes some interesting definitions and clarifications of words from Exodus, "Thank You Russel." I am coming to the realization that all of your blogs are resources and assets to my journey through the intellectual landscape of The Bible.

In addition to this I am realizing that I am a slacker of the worst kind. I have hid behind the a veil of ignorance and righteousness. Ending with my own ineptitude in the realm of cyber social networking, and cyber communication. I would like to issue an amends by making a formal apology for my ignorance and my slanderous thoughts against facebook, blogging, twitter, so on and so forth.

The Bible, Words with Power, The Slave, The Good Book, Folklore in the Old Testament. I am behind considerably with these five texts looming ominously above, waiting for due dates to exact their wrath upon my head, for I have worshiped false idols: the Internet, television, work. That said it is time to focus on the task at hand.

Currently I have only read up to the book of Leviticus and I am more and more convinced of my beliefs about The Bible. It for me as an individual it as a text and nothing more. I would sooner worship Plato's Gorgias as my religious doctrine (no offense to those who believe in The Bible, like I say to each his own). When I say the bible is a text and nothing more that does not be any means denote that The Bible is meaningless. The Bible has great meaning it has almost single handedly shaped our literary traditions, and the foundations of our country. Most of western societies canonical works bare some reference to The Bible whether or not intentionally or accidentally. So regardless of religious ideals The Bible for me from the perspective of an English and Literature major is a a piece of literary dogma. In terms outside of "truth" The Bible has the ability to influence: people, places, events, things, and even thinking which are all reflected in literature. It is for this reason I continue reading in spite of the daunting task before me. The Bible will be read by the end of this semester or the next.

Till Then.

40 Years and 54 pages in the desert with Moses (Exodus)

Just for fun. Moses parting the red sea. Courtesy of Godview Earth (LOL). Actually found this on http://alfg.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/bible-scenes-via-satellite-as-seen-from-google-earth/moses-parting-the-red-sea/



Enough Shenanigans. I would like to start with a piece I only have now come to appreciate while reading The Bible.

        The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
        It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
        Crushed. Why do men then now not reck
           his rod?
       Generations have trod, have trod;
           And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared, with
                  toil;
           And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell:
                 the soil
        Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

       And for all this nature is never spent;
                 There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
       And though the last lights off the black West went
                  Oh, morning at the brown brink eastward,
                        springs-
       Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
                   World broods with warm breast and with ah!
                         bright wings.
        -1918 (written 1877) Gerard Manley Hopkins

I read this about a year ago and upon reading Exodus (specifically about moses and his convo with god) all I could think of, "Why do men then now not reck his rod."The image of the rod turning to a snake and back again is powerful. I just love how moses says they won't believe me, and God tells him to through down his rod and it turns to a snake, and then back again. You do get this feeling that if Pharaoh doesn't believe him then that should do the trick (which it doesn't). Only the plagues will suffice. Very interesting content in terms of Literature. It is a story of the noble quest.

Two things that I wanted to discuss quickly then I am done. First, typically when I read aloud I read slower than I do when I read to myself. This however is not the case in terms of the bible. The when I read the bible to myself I find myself getting lost, skimming, and lacking comprehension. Now when I read the bible out aloud I find that my pace is quicker, I comprehend more, and it is general kind of fun because who doesn't like speaking Biblicley. Secondly recently my girlfriend was listening (from the kitchen) intrigued. Periodically she will remark, "That is in the Bible?" Neither of us has ever been religious, or the church going type so this is the most Bible exposure we have ever had. When I was reading about moses in Exodus she also said something that cracked me up, "It is like that Disney movie Prince of Egypt." Funny because now I have to watch it in terms of comparison. I am beginning to see that the Bible is the epitome of intertextuality. It is everywhere. Hell I am pretty sure that some of the words used as names/titles for places have become descriptive words in our modern language (e.g. Sodom which is now used as sodomy/sodomize/etc...). If anyone can relate to what I am saying please let me know what examples you find.

"And god said to Abraham, Kill me a son."
               Johnny Cash