TDH #74
My experience shows
that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil
will harvest the same.
Job 4:8
(Translation from NLT)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Old Testament certainly wasn’t what I was expecting when I opened it. Yes, it contains violence and manipulation, but the world contains violence and manipulation. Should these historically/mythologically based stories have omitted these things just to uphold an image of being “holy”?
Should The Three Little Pigs crop out the wolf?
Should The Lion King cut out Scar?
Should Lord of the Rings remove the orcs and dark lord?
Can we not learn from examples of evil as much as we can from examples of good?
I don’t know if you can take as much away from a collection of rainbows and butterflies as you can from tales of questionable moral decisions and ethical choices. I think these stories are supposed to trigger emotions and make you scratch your head. Happy little tales without drama certainly aren’t as memorable and lasting, that’s for sure.
In reading them for ourselves, each one of us can go round and round in circles wondering if an omniscient God knew whether Adam and Eve would eat from the tree only because He told them not to, or if He knew whether they wouldn’t eat from it if He didn’t say anything at all, and so if He really wanted them to eat from it then of course He would tickle the curious human nature He implanted in them the first place. Was being kicked out of paradise a result of manipulation or deceit then? Who is to say?
The number of potential meanings to these stories almost renders them meaningless, like some kind of Rorschach test for each interpreter to stamp their own interpretation on. So is there really a point to any of them at all? Perhaps that’s why they’re still being mulled over today, like some kind of ethical brain teasers. It’s a complex collection of art to examine, that’s for sure.
Even if these stories go against reason, though, they still leave you with a lot to think about in the end. And thinking is never a bad thing to do ;)
that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil
will harvest the same.
Job 4:8
(Translation from NLT)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Old Testament certainly wasn’t what I was expecting when I opened it. Yes, it contains violence and manipulation, but the world contains violence and manipulation. Should these historically/mythologically based stories have omitted these things just to uphold an image of being “holy”?
Should The Three Little Pigs crop out the wolf?
Should The Lion King cut out Scar?
Should Lord of the Rings remove the orcs and dark lord?
Can we not learn from examples of evil as much as we can from examples of good?
I don’t know if you can take as much away from a collection of rainbows and butterflies as you can from tales of questionable moral decisions and ethical choices. I think these stories are supposed to trigger emotions and make you scratch your head. Happy little tales without drama certainly aren’t as memorable and lasting, that’s for sure.
In reading them for ourselves, each one of us can go round and round in circles wondering if an omniscient God knew whether Adam and Eve would eat from the tree only because He told them not to, or if He knew whether they wouldn’t eat from it if He didn’t say anything at all, and so if He really wanted them to eat from it then of course He would tickle the curious human nature He implanted in them the first place. Was being kicked out of paradise a result of manipulation or deceit then? Who is to say?
The number of potential meanings to these stories almost renders them meaningless, like some kind of Rorschach test for each interpreter to stamp their own interpretation on. So is there really a point to any of them at all? Perhaps that’s why they’re still being mulled over today, like some kind of ethical brain teasers. It’s a complex collection of art to examine, that’s for sure.
Even if these stories go against reason, though, they still leave you with a lot to think about in the end. And thinking is never a bad thing to do ;)
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TheDevoutHumorist
Ancient wisdom with a modern application (and an often humorist twist)
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