Monday, May 23, 2005
The 'Holy' Bible?
Or what happenes in the no man's land between belief and atheism.
The source of this fear is not our emotions or our spirit but our brain. The brain leafs through the Bible and discovers in its pages a talking snake who offers a forbidden apple to a beautiful maiden. "Sounds like Snow White to me", mumbles the brain. Not long after that, he gets to a story where some people build a tower and G-d decides to destroy it. "One second", asks the brain, "what was so bad about that tower?" He reads the story again and can't find anything objectionable in it. G-d just seemed to decide He didn't like it. And a few chapters later, Mr. Brain gets to a story where G-d asks a man to take his son to the top of a mountain and kill him. "That's it", grumbles the brain, "I think I've had enough of this book. None of these stories really make any sense."
And so the brain is ready to walk away. But one day he looks around to find that the body of which he is a part is sitting in a synagogue. And the man in the front of the congregation is talking very solemnly about this book, the Bible. Everyone in the pews is dutifully nodding his or her head in agreement. "What are they doing", thinks the brain, "are they nuts? Don't they realize this book doesn't make any sense?" And then something happens that's even worse. The brain sees that its own head has started to nod dutifully as well.
By this time, our friend the brain has pretty much had it. He's ready to revolt.
The source of this fear is not our emotions or our spirit but our brain. The brain leafs through the Bible and discovers in its pages a talking snake who offers a forbidden apple to a beautiful maiden. "Sounds like Snow White to me", mumbles the brain. Not long after that, he gets to a story where some people build a tower and G-d decides to destroy it. "One second", asks the brain, "what was so bad about that tower?" He reads the story again and can't find anything objectionable in it. G-d just seemed to decide He didn't like it. And a few chapters later, Mr. Brain gets to a story where G-d asks a man to take his son to the top of a mountain and kill him. "That's it", grumbles the brain, "I think I've had enough of this book. None of these stories really make any sense."
And so the brain is ready to walk away. But one day he looks around to find that the body of which he is a part is sitting in a synagogue. And the man in the front of the congregation is talking very solemnly about this book, the Bible. Everyone in the pews is dutifully nodding his or her head in agreement. "What are they doing", thinks the brain, "are they nuts? Don't they realize this book doesn't make any sense?" And then something happens that's even worse. The brain sees that its own head has started to nod dutifully as well.
By this time, our friend the brain has pretty much had it. He's ready to revolt.
