So I found a blog, where some people from different backgrounds have decided to read the KJV Bible throughout the year. I decided I will cross post some of my thoughts throughout this process here as well. These will most likely be sort, and riddled with errors, the result of me typing on the fly as I read.
It is difficult to understand, and really digest a text, without going back to the original language it was written in. Though I guess most Christian churches don't really go into it at this depth. However, if you see a problem with something I have written, and know the original words and their context, PLEASE point it out to me.
One thing that bugged me when I was a Christian, and still makes me wonder: Why did God create the Earth first to be "void and without form?"
"1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also."
This is the first thing I see, that is directly at odds with science, as well as evidence for earthly authors. The moon is not a light.
"1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
I don't like this verse. I guess in mythology it is common for man to be the pinnacle of creation. Though I would argue that the laws of physics have much more control over every living thing, including us.
Chapter two seems to review a bit of chapter one, and elaborate. Perhaps an afterthought? The description of the location of Eden does not lend itself to the theory that the Bible can be used as a geographical text. We also have the bits about where women came from (man).
So from chapter three we learn that God does not want us to have knowledge of good and evil. I still don't understand why that is. I tend to like the allegorical theory, put forth in “Ishmael.” Where's it is an adaptation of a cultural story. Though I wholly accept that is a work of fiction.
So mankind is given to the world, with Eve being the “mother of all living.” Which leads to a bit of an incestuous family tree when taken literally. When I was a Christian, I took this mostly as allegorical. There was no Adam or Eve, there was a culture, and eventually they sinned, and were kicked out. I think the Catholic church takes a similar view.
