And we're off

Genesis 1-2:25

This is much more of an undertaking than I thought it'd be. You know, the whole "let there be light, land, animals, man, woman, tree...wait, you're naked! (actually, that isn't until the next chapter). One of the only things I think of when I read these chapters is one of Robin Williams's standup comedy routine. He talks about "In the Beginning" and those that take this part literally. It goes a little something like this: 


"In the beginning, Genesis, 'let there be light. Could that be a metaphor for the Big Bang? 
[hillbilly voice] No. God just went click. [imitates flipping a light switch] So you're saying we're all descended from Adam and Eve, we're all cousins? [confident hillbilly voice] That's right!' 
[imitates playing banjo]

If your remember from my first blog, religion was kind of shoved down my throat. I mean this as harshly as it sounds. I was told that if I sinned and did not ask forgiveness, not matter how trivial the sin (not saying that there are different levels of sin, but killing a man and having a thought are different) you would definitely burn in hell. Gay = Hell.  Jewish? Yep, there's a spot made just for you to burn for eternity. My favorite (smothered in sarcasm of course) was when I was told that were levels in heaven. Those that were "better" Christians would have a bigger mansion and those that were "bad" Christians would have smaller mansions. I view this as a sort of scare tactic to get me to behave as a child for my mother who was raising me by herself essentially. Also, I believe, those that were teaching me these things truly believed everything they were telling me, to a T. 

But back to Genesis, my view on this is that the bible is attempting to explain the beginnings of what and who we are. I was having a conversations with my Mother-in-law the other night about the bible and she had some good points (her father went to seminary and has a doctorate in theology), one of which is that science is basically attempting to do the same, explain it all. She said the way her father always put it was that there is not way to prove the "In the Beginning" part of the bible and that is what science does for us. Science is just mankind making sense of everything with evidence that is present. The bible presents what happened and science explains what happened. There isn't any reason the two cannot coexist. I like that point of view. 

Matthew 1:1-2:12 - The lineage and birth of Jesus

Wow, the lineage of Jesus is quite a read. Lots of names I can't pretend to pronounce, all being summed up at the end to say there were 3 sets of 14 generations of Jesus's family line. I would guess this is important because anyone could go into the history books and look up all these people and make the connections to prove that Jesus really did exist. Tough read but important nonetheless.

When I was little (even up to high school age) I would go to my aunts house for Christmas. We would prepare a ton of food (always too much, barf me), I would play with the little cousins, we'd eat and hang out, then we would gather around the Christmas tree. Any logical thinking person would assume we'd open presents next. Nope, sermon time. My aunt would make me read the story of Jesus's birth and she would give a 30 min (or more) sermon about how Christ was born 2000 years ago today (Christmas) and then we would sing happy birthday to Jesus... then we'd open presents and everyone would relax and stop feeling so awkward.

I had read some books when I was older that claimed that Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. I brought this up to my aunt one day. You would have thought that I just told her I didn't believe that Jesus ever existed. Now, it's not really important the date in which he was born. The fact that he was born and the reason that he was born is what's important and those that try to speculate otherwise (December 25th being a Pagan holiday, thus making the transition to Christianity easier) clearly aren't focused on the significance of the Holiday. But, I did rather enjoy pushing her buttons :)

Psalms 1:1-6

Oh boy, the psalms. I always thought the psalms were just a little harsh. This particular psalm talks about not walking with the wicked and being planted like a tree next to a stream. The wicked will be judged, and it won't be good for them!

I kind of feel like this psalm is sort of a law to keep the lawless of the time in good check with the rest of society. A reminder that, hey, remember that if you walk with the wicked, you chaff!, then you won't be in the assembly of the righteousness. Almost a scare tactic. IDKDR (I don't know, dear readers... shortened it only to write it out anyway) What do you think?

Proverbs 1:1-6

It's a proverb... wise get wiser and the young need to stop pretending to know everything and listen to the wise.

Day 1 down, 364 left to go. Or is this a leap year?

Until next time, dear readers...

Awkward...