Disclosure: Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper, the author of this blog, is a self declared agnostic, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of that word; "One who holds the view that ultimate reality, as God, is unknown and probably unknowable".
It's often said that fiction contains elements of truth, and that art imitates life.
If the Bible could be accepted that way it might have far more impact, appeal and many more readers.
As a work of fiction it likely would win numerous awards, surely a Nobel prize among them. The prize would have to be awarded posthumously to The Unknowns.
The humans who wrote the Bible are many, and they should be honored for telling stories with important messages. The Book of Genesis includes two creation stories, each tells a truth, but are contradict each other in the details. That's only a problem when one wants to believe the Bible literally. It's not a problem when one looks to stories for larger meanings. Stories contain details, but they don't need to accepted as historical facts, just details which the author made up to seem like facts in order to make the story interesting enough to make a point.
Lewis Carroll made up details, disguised as facts, for his powerful, in terms of important truths, Alice In Wonderland. I don't know of anyone who accepts those details as historical facts.
I suspect that the authors of the Bible would be amused that many of their readers took their stories literally. In fact, I think they might be rather disappointed that the truths they were trying to convey were lost in the need of many to find factual meaning in their reading. And who knows what else was lost in translation?
Perhaps God, whatever one believes that to mean, inspired humans to use their words to reveal The Word. In the little Protestant church where I sing in the choir, above and behind the pulpit is a beautiful stained glass window with the words, "The Word of Our God Stands Forever."
That has great meaning for me as an agnostic. It appeals to and connects with my willingness to accept that God, though not an anthropomorphic being, is a Presence contained in a Mystery.
I have had some experiences in life which I cannot explain scientifically, and which seemed to be responses to certain questions and pleas I admitted to in prayer.
I ascribe to the American Indian concept of The Great Spirit. What I make of that belief system is that a Great Spirit was acknowledged to exist in all things. The buffalo, for example, was thanked for his sacrifcie so that, by eating of his flesh and blood, and using his hide for security and protection, they would not die. Sound familiar? The Last Supper story in the Bible is strikingly similar in meaning, though not in detail.
Jesus is reported to have said something like, "The Spirit of God is within you", and I will not leave you comfortless, but will send you the Holy Spirit".
The importance of the Bible is its conveyance of ultimate truths, morals and mysteries through the words of stories which are far more useful and valuable when accepted metaphorically. The stories are not factual but are truthful. To believe them to be accurate factually obscures the truth in them.
There are some realities which I think must be accepted.
In a party atmosphere as kids many of us learned a great truth. In a lineup of us kids, someone whispered a story in the ear of a person on one end of the line, and was told to pass it on. After it was passed along to the several others in the line, the last to hear it was asked to tell the story. The story at the end of the line bore virtually no resemblance to the original story.
In The Beginning, the stories of the Bible, especially those of The Old Testament, were orally transmitted from one human being to another, and thus passed along.
The stories of the Bible, when written down were done so in the local language and dialect, and subsequently translated for the benefit of those people who spoke another language.
Things are lost in translation, and the most tragic loss can be the embedded meaning of the story.
The Bible available to us today, and in it's many modern translations, is the product of those who thought of themselves as authoritities on what is should contain. Biblical Scholars and authorites have uncovered many examples of editorial decisions made by those in the positions of power, the hierarchy as it were, to exclude parts of the earlier texts, and include those written later, often decades later.
How to account for what has come down to us as The Bible?
Should we ascribe to God, The Great Spirit, The Holy Spirit the power to bring to us The Word?
Should we ascribe to the views of those who have human and personal agendas the power to filter what was written over centuries?
Should we ascribe to the views of the translators, first from the oral stories and then from language to language?
As children we're taught, In God We Trust. As adults it's on our currency. Jesus is reported to have said, about currency and taxes, render unto Ceasar what is Ceaar's. Render unto God what is God's.
I don't have any more answers than the next guy, but I have questions I'm not shy about asking, in spite of my expectation that many might vilifiy me, including those of my own flesh and blood.
I guess that's what the Last Supper and other pagan observances have been all about; the Ultimate Communion Observance.
Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper
Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper
Perhaps that's just the problem which exposes its limitations. When one cries, "Author, author"
there is no one there to respond. There is no single agent to hype it, though thousands of preachers and rabiis try to do so at least once a week. There is no single author to accept the accolades of the readers. And many of the authors would likely sue over having been left out of what is today's book by editors with an axe to grind. And many of the authors used or were given pen names, which, over time obscured their human identities.
Perhaps in time Samuel Clemmons' human name will be lost in the obscurity of history, and only Mark Twain will survive. What were the human names of those who wrote chapters in the Bible called Mathew, Mark, Luke and John?
What were the names of the humans who wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, etc.? Who were their editors and publishers?
(Disclosure: I have read the Bible from front to back, from first written word to last written word, twice. I majored in English in college where I took a course in Humanities which included a study of the Bible as a work of literature.)
Enough with cynicism and sarcasm. I employ these devices only to make the point that the Bible cannot possibly stand up to literary scrutiny as an accurate historical record. That would require of the reader a total suspension of common sense and/or a preference for living in a land of make believe, like Dorothy's Land of Oz, Alice's Wonderland and Disney's Magic Kingdom.
The history of the Bible as a work of literature is remarkable. It tops the best seller lists pretty much all the time. I can only speculate on it's popularity.
Here are some of my speculations.
Parents of all three Abrahamic Monotheistic faiths expose their children at a very early age to the stories of the Bible. Raised as child of nominal Christian parents, I know about Sunday School. I have no knowledge of how this plays out in Jewish and Muslim homes at that early age.
Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper
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