When I was much younger, my mother had bought me a child’s Bible. Every time I read this bible I felt some divine intervention was happening and I was automatically transferred into being a good person. No matter what I did to my sisters, or to anyone, I could be forgiven, because I, oh holy me, was reading the Bible. Cure of all ills.
Now, well, now I am taking a class on the Bible. So I am again reading the Bible. I am reading The New Oxford Annotated version, and oh let me tell you, it’s nothing like my old trusted child’s Bible. After re-reading the book of Genesis it has dawned on me that I had no idea what the stories were really saying. That I read the creation stories and the Adam and Eve stories and I thought they were a tell all, and that they held the key to life’s great mysteries.
Then, I read it again. Critically. And started ripping it apart piece by piece. Chapter by chapter. Verse by verse.
And my eyes are now open. I am not denouncing religion (of course not…I’m Catholic), but, I am astonished. I knew the Bible contradicted itself and was confusing, but now that I am actually really and truly reading it, and not just reading it and having the stories already in my head, it’s a completely different book.
Scary. Everyone should read it. Not just for the religious experience, but so you know what all the hype is about, and you can then form your own opinion. You can’t knock it till you try it.
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