The public college offered some very exciting courses on PHILOSOPHY, LOGIC, AND PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION as well. Of course I took them all!
The Bible as Literature class was all about the Bible as a literary text in Western society.
We purchased the Oxford New Revised Standard Version with annotations, maps, notes, and historical explanations of every little detail.
THAT WAS MY KIND OF CLASS!
I grew up with a church youth leader that helped us to develop our own thinking. He never gave us straight forward answers such as
THIS IS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS- THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS.
Actually, he would test our thinking by ARGUING EVERYTHING HE BELIEVED. He played the devil's advocate and challenged us on every term. We did this every Friday night and Saturday morning
SINCE I WAS 12 YEARS OLD!
This continued until I was about 19.
7 YEARS OF LEARNING LIKE THIS!
And at the end, I basically had more questions than I had answers. WHICH WAS GREAT!
With that background in mind, I went to college and began taking non-religious courses about Christianity. HUH???!
The funny thing is
I WAS GREAT AT IT!
I could ask intelligent and insightful questions. I was able to see both sides of the fence extremely easily. In a class of so many different faiths and belief systems I was able to sit in any group and just hang and not take things personally. But this got me into trouble with the other Christian folk in the classes.
THEY ALWAYS ASKED ME: HOW CAN YOU TALK TO THEM ABOUT THE BIBLE LIKE THAT? WHY DON'T YOU TELL THEM THAT THEY WILL GO TO HELL? WHY DON'T YOU TELL THEM THEY HAVE TO GO TO CHURCH?
My answer was: Because they didn't ask me those things...
...and also because I do not believe that just because something is right for me, it should work for everyone else. My life path is MY LIFE PATH and not the path I should expect or require of my friends. Our differences are a blessing and I don't believe I need to fight against others, even if I don't always understand their ways.
THE STORY OF JOB GENERALLY FOCUSES ON A VERY WEALTHY MAN. He had children who were party animals. But he was righteous. Within a short amount of time (about all in the same day)
all his wealth
children
livelihood
HEALTH ...
EVERYTHING WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HIS WIFE WAS TAKEN FROM HIM DUE TO NATURE (...windstorms causing houses to fall onto the family, etc.)
AND THAT IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK OF JOB!
The middle of the book is about his "loving" friends and wife.
What do they do to comfort him in all of this time of need???
THEY BLAME HIM!!!
Okay okay okay, they don't say JOB THIS WAS ALL YOUR FAULT.
But they do get all up in his business and ask things like:
What did you do?
You must have done SOMETHING!
How did this happen?
You must have sinned SOMEHOW!
How did you lose the favor of God?
...hmmmm, I have got to be honest. I have found myself asking troubled friends
THOSE SAME TYPES OF QUESTIONS.
Back to my Bible as Literature class,
we looked at Job 2:9
Where Job's "loving" wife exclaims:
"Are you still holding on to your integrity? Bless God and die."
THE WORD "BLESS" HERE CAN ALSO BE "CURSE." Because the culture would not want to say "curse God" many wrote "bless God."
She says this while her husband is grieving his lost children. Broke and broken. Covered in boils. Using broken pottery to scrape away at his skin! THAT'S JUST A LITTLE HARSH!
But how many times do we do the same thing to people? Of course they may not look as bad off as Job, but we kick them while they're down. And we think in the back of our skulls-
I need to know how to avoid this hell they are going through;
I need to know what the heck they did so that I can avoid this kind of pain.
Right?
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