Sunday, September 11, 2011
Genesis 4-10
On the heels of Genesis 1-3, it felt like one of those movies you watch where every other scene you say to yourself (or maybe outloud) "yea right." When I find myself saying that during a movie, I remind myself I have to get past that point and just realize that the movie is not realistic and that if it was, it wouldn't be that same movie. The same is true with the bible, so far in my experience. Genesis 1-3 was nothing but a compilation of 'yea rights' and it took serious effort to continue reading a book that is written like a tall tale yet millions of people live their lives by. Genesis 4-10 was more of the same. Yea right. Let me start with the ages of the characters. Noah was 900 years old, really? hmm. God was so mad at Cain and Abel that he cast them aside and sent Noah out to build an ark and put two of everything in it and start mankind over again? Let me get this straight. Here we are in the year 2011. Scientists have not discovered all the species in the world yet (last time I checked we were at about 70%, is that right?) yet somehow Noah got two of EVERYTHING onto his boat? What did they eat? how did they go to the bathroom? How did he load undiscovered species onto his boat? What happened to the food chain while they were on the boat? Didn't the snakes eat the rabbits? Didn't the wolves eat the deer? Do people really believe this stuff or is there some kind of story they tell themselves to make it makes sense? There is no way that this really happened. It's not possible especially of a 900 year old man. If you can make it make sense to me, I invite you to... please...somebody....
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Hi Susanne-
ReplyDeleteIt's Natalie.
I love that you posted this. What a question for all of us, especially in today's world.
My first thought is, "How limited my world would be if I had to be able to explain everything before I could even believe it." My question, then, is, "Why should God explain himself to humankind?" What adult explains himself to a child? We are made in God's image, but we are not mini-gods, although many of us like to think we are. We are not meant to understand everything; we are meant to have faith. That may seem like a cop-out, but faith is a beautiful thing. We know that even from how wonderful it is to be able to trust a loved one beyond all measure, to know that there is a person on earth who will be there for us even when others might find it ridiculous. Without faith, there is no need for religious belief, no yearning for a God who is better than what we have on this earth, no justification or need for love or compassion. There is only survival. Some people are OK with that. I am not.
In today's world of super-science and forensics to the level of DNA, these Biblical stories can seem like fables, meant to teach lessons, however I believe in them, period. I didn't say I could explain them or even understand in my head how they could happen. There is no shame in that for me, because I have seen what God does, and quite often it cannot be explained. Just look around at the wonder and miracle of life, the wonder and power of nature, the complexity of the human mind. How can this not be a creation, meticulously put together by...what? For me, it would take more "athiestic faith" to really believe that some random explosion of random elements and gasses blew up into the entire basis of this whole entire world we live in today. I can't even imagine random pieces coming together to form a ticking watch, much less the universe with all its wonder and precision.
If you can believe that God created the heavens and the earth, how then could he not create a man who lived 900 years or an ark that fit every creature in some form or shape. Look at what even man has created. In just the past half-century, information that took up the space of several office buildings can fit into a chip the size of a fingernail. Who could have pictured this technology 50 or 100 years ago; that would have been a dream. Five thousand years ago, this amount of data would have been incomprehensible. I know our science and our religion do not line up in our eyes in many ways, and that is one thing I'd like to reconcile when I meet my maker. I have grown up studying science and medicine for my whole life. Zoology was one of my favorite classes. The intricacies of all the species are amazing. I believe in zoology AND I believe in God. I'm not even certain how I do it, but that's the great thing about faith. I have seen the limitations of science and medicine and I have seen miracles. I wouldn't want it any other way.
The Bible says that there is a veil over the eyes of unbelievers, something that does not allow them to see what is so blatantly obvious and compelling to those who have experienced God in some way. I just saw a quote the other day attributed to George Carlin (I know, I know...) "Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." I wonder if he really understood how much truth was in those words! God also says that those who seek Him WILL find Him. If you are seeking answers that are not from your human counterparts, a little prayer can go a long way.
In addition to exploring The Bible, I'd recommend the following book, Letters from a Skeptic. I really enjoyed reading it and I'd love to hear the take from someone exploring religion. Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Skeptic-Wrestles-Questions-Christianity/dp/1434799808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315795140&sr=8-1
suzanne, this is dave hartzell.
ReplyDeleteman if i had more time i could go on forever. in reference to natalie's post, i've read the bible, twice. i've read countless books both for and against religion. i've spent my time in campus christian groups, as a youth advisor at church, and am currently playing in a christian band. i don't know what more i can do to seek god. i even wrote a song with the chorus saying, "lord speak to me." and still nothing. a person said to me once, "try this. when you go home at night, pray to god saying, 'god, reveal yourself to me'." i don't know how many times i've done that.
i get frustrated when people say, "those who seek god will find god." instead, to me it seems that those who are looking for something will find it even if it's not there. kind of like people who look for conspiracies can find what they think are conspiracies everywhere.....even if they're not.
natalie it sounds to me like you are a bible literalist. i've heard it all, especially your ticking watch comment (which always brings the follow up of "the watch is complex and therefore it was man made. god is ccomplex, who made god." my problem is either the bible is all factual as it is written with literally no error in which case people who claim to be christians are missing major things such as animal sacrifice and not going into a church for 3 months after giving birth to a girl because the mother is unclean (look it up, it's in there), or the bible is metaphorical and is filled with stories of good ideas on how to live in which case how are we supposed to separate fact from metaphor? maybe jesus is the metaphor.
my problem is not that i am not leaving room to believe that god exists. my problem is that i'm not going to base my life on a book that has too many uncertainties and major holes to fill. fun thoughts to leave you with, if god knows an unbeliever's whole life before the person is born, doesn't that mean that god made the person to with the purpose of being an unbeliever and burning in hell? doesn't that not make him all good?
OK, somehow I just saw these comments. Sorry to take more than a year to get back to you! Do you still want to talk about this?
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