Reading a book may not seem like such a big challenge, compared to some of the projects I've taken on in the past, but this one will be.
No it's not Tolstoy's "War and Peace" (actually, I've read that already) or "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (I own it, but it's still sitting in its beautiful box on my night table), but the Old Testament.
I have read many parts of it, studied its stories and lessons, participated in Sunday School classes with this as the text, and generally delved into pieces of it. But I have never gotten right down into it, reading from Genesis 1 t0 Malachi 4.
I have no illusions that this will be easy or fast. There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament. My goal is to read 5 chapters a week. do the math and that means it will take me three and a half years! Slow and steady wins the race, right? I figure anything faster will make me feel like I'm just trying to get through it, rather than learn from it.
I've never been a fan of reading the bible chronologically. I've always been a subject studier - choose a topic and read different chapters and books that cover it. But I think there is something to be said from reading chapter to chapter. Hopefully it will provide me with a much better understanding of what led up to the chapter or event which I read.
What I'm really hoping to discover is deeper insight into the history of God's people. What was their life like? What were their thoughts and feelings about his commandments? How did God ask them to live? I'm very familiar with the New Testament and its tenets, but wonder if I have a gap in my understanding because of the lack of knowledge from the Old Testament?
So I will embark on this challenge. I feel a little daunted, but also excited.
I was also thinking it might be fun to have a little reading group, if there was anyone interested in it. I find as a new mom with a fussy baby I only get to hear snatches of Sunday School lessons. So if anyone is interested in joining my challenge, reading the Old Testament, and meeting once a week, or every two weeks, or even just once a month, to talk about what we've read, let me know. I'd be more than happy to host! If schedules don't permit, perhaps an online journal would be helpful also. (Although I'm really trying to move out of the online world a little and more into the real one! How I crave human interaction, and conversations with someone other than my children!)
11 comments:
My daycare is in a Church, and I covered a 7 week sick leave in the Church office once. Every Wednesday morning, we started the day with quiet time in the sanctuary. My grandmother had just passed away months earlier, and I had her King James bible. I decided it would be a good time to read it, and, as funny as it sounds, it's an interesting read. I don't think I got past Genesis, though, for one reason or another. I then spent a year or so going to Church, which I loved at first, and then slowly came to realize that the church's beliefs and mine did not mesh as cohesively as I had once thought. I believe in God, but I do not think Church is for me, as it were. I kind of have my own relationship with Him. I'm struggling with whether or not to Baptize Shea. I want him to choose his own religious path, and I want him to have options. I will take him to any church he expresses an interst in attending. I would like to Baptize him because it opens up more doors in the protestant religion (the only one I know, really), but I cannot stand in Church, before God, and promise to take him to Church and raise him with a religious background. To me, knowing that I would not do so, would be blasphemous. I follow, as basic being a good human goes, the mores of the the Church, but not necessarily the teachings of the bible, so to promise to God that which I will not keep seems wrong, and I can't Baptize him without making such a promise.
But I digress, hehe. I find the Bible to be very interesting, and with many good lessons. I do not believe that everything in it happened ver batim, but I do believe they are based in truth that, as any folk story does, have been augmented through hundreds of years of aural storytelling, several language translations, and frequent interpretation. In short, I think you find in the Bible what you are looking for, which, when used responsibly, is not a bad thing :).
-Heather.
I should note that I started going to Church to off-set what I was hearing in the Church office. I went to an Anglican Church, my daycare is run by a Pentecostal Church. Evidentally, there are BIG differences. After spending all morning putting labels on tracks that essentially told me I was going to Hell for having premarital sex (which, as you can imagine, scared the pants off me), and hearing much talk about homosexuality being an evil that can be cured (something in which I do not believe), I contacted the Church that I knew, and spoke with the Priest there about my concerns. I found it reassuring. Like I said, I've since grown more and more uncomfortable in any Church, and have come to terms with my own beliefs and faith, at least enough to know that I don't know exactly what I believe.
-Heather.
I always find it interesting to hear of people who feel fear or guilt when attending church.Despite the thousands of variations on Christianity, I think the one commonality that should be evident is that God is love. Where there is love, there is no fear or guilt. I worry for people who think they are bad, evil, beyond hope BECAUSE of their religion. As far as I can tell, the idea of finding God is that you can rid yourself of these feelings!
I think you're stance on religion and your son is bang on. While I think it's important to teach our children our beliefs, it's equally important to help them discover their own beliefs. It's great that you're so open minded. So many "non church attenders" would not be so open to taking their children to church if they expressed interest.
In terms of baptism, I think you are wise to wait. If Shea wants to be baptized, he can do it when he's older. Baptism is a sign of religious commitment for you as a parent (if you practice infant baptism) or him (for adult baptism). Your comment that it "opens doors" in Protestant religions intrigues me - does it really discriminate against you if he isn't baptized as an infant?
I am amazed at the differences in Christian religions out there. When we first got married we attended many different denominations to see what the variances were. It was a two year search and of course we felt like we had barely scraped the tip of the iceberg!
At any rate, I'm excited to start my read. Yesterday I actually started with the introduction in the King James letter, written by the translators to King James. I don't know if I had ever read that before! Interesting. I'm excited to read it for both spiritual guidance and as a literary work.
I felt fear and guilt in the Church office. It was religious talk all day. It was constant. And it was intrusive. The PEOPLE were lovely, but I found the beliefs of their Church to be judgemental and fear-mongering, regardless of the good intentions. I found it religious to the point of being blasphemous. I do not like it when people try to tell me what God thinks. It's not up to you (royal you, not you Terri-Ann :)) to tell me what God thinks, how do you know what God thinks? And I believe in prayer, but I don't like prayer for trivial things like figuring out which way to put the paper in the printer. I kind of feel like God has better things to do than help you with things you can easy do yourself with some figuring. And when I pray, it's usually in thanksgiving. Maybe that makes me weird, but I tend to be reminded of God when good things happen. Like you, I see God as loving, and since the Old Testiment does not always portray him as such, I find it conflicting. How can a Church tell you God is all-loving and all-forgiving, but you're going to Hell if you have pre-marital sex? My own Church was not like this. In truth, it was more the people in the Church that turned me off it than the religion. I find God tolerant, I find people intolerant, especially when they are doing so, "In the name of God." I have used you as an example many times, believe it or not, of how to spread the word of God in a positive way. In highschool, I was quite curious about the Book of Mormon, and you were always there to answer any questions I had, but did not try to teach me unsolicited. That, in my books, is the way to do it, and I appreciated that. My Aunt (also my Godmother) is the same, she just makes it well-knows she is there for me should I have religious questions (and has been every time). I felt no fear of guilt in my Church, more that I was out of place. More that I was uncomfortable hearing God interpreted. God is the one thing in my life that I am more comfortable accepting that I don't understand. I almost always need explanations for things, I like to be in control, and I like things wrapped up in a neat little package. I tried to do this with God, it did not work. I nor find it more comforting just accepting that I don't know exactly what He is about, but that He's there if and when I need Him. Working in a Christian daycare, I saw good things in religion and I saw some ridiculous things being taught to children (like that the Big Bang Theory can't be correct, of everything there was a loud noise, life would be created. It's fine not to believe in the Big Bang Theory, but is that really your evidence against it?). I tend to subscribe more to faith than religion these days. I stopped going to Church when I realized I was going because I was afraid not to. I did not think fear was a good reason to go to Church, and I think my relationship with God has grown more fulfulling since I left. This having been said, I believe Church is an incredibly valuable institution. I think that for many people, it is fundamental in their lives. I believe in Church, I just don't feel it is the place for me, personally. This has no bearing in my belief in God. For me, God and Church are two individual things. Linked, yes, but not the same thing.
In terms of opening doors with Baptism, the way it works in the Anglican Church (generally speaking) is you are Baptized as an infant or child, you get confirmed as a young adult. You can't take communion if you are not Baptized. In my opinion, in a Church where most are Baptized in infancy, it would be awkward to do it as an adult. I never got confirmed because I found it awkward to do so when they other confirmation students were teenagers or younger. I liked that I was Baptized as a baby because then I could take communion, etc., and it made exploring Church a little more accessible, if that makes sense. I don't feel it would hurt Shea to be Baptized and choose not to attend Church, but I don't want to make promises to God that I'm not comfortable keeping. I don't believe in original sin, so I'm not concerned about Baptizing Shea for that reason as much as just giving him the foundation to explore religion later. Aaron is an Athiest, but supports any decision I make regarding my own religion (I was a Church goer when we were dating and newly married), and has left the decision to Baptize Shea or not up to me. Aaron grew up in a cult-like religion. It wasn't as dangerous as the ones you hear on TV, but it was brainwashing. Consequently, Aaron is turned off of all religion. He gets extremely uncomfortable in Church. He attended my cousin's daughter's Baptism, which I found to be a lovely service, and he was not himself the rest of the day. We were married by an Anglican priest. I had met her as an RA because she was part of the Multi-faith team at the University, and she's lovely. We were not married in the Church, or with a specifically religious ceremony, but there were religious undertones, that was important to me. Aaron was fine with this, as long as he did not have to make any promises to God. I wrote my own prayer. To me, prayer is more meaningful in your own words.
My parents have always been open to religion (within reason, of course. I doubt they would have supported my joining a cult!!). My sister is a firm athiest, my mom used to teach Sunday school, but is now agnostic, and my Dad is spiritual. My Dad grew up in the Catholic Church and was beaten by priests in the name of God, and told horrific lies, etc., and decided that these people were not, as they claimed to be, God's representation on Earth. He has taken bits from different religions and faiths and formed his own beliefs. I would say I have started to do the same. I think religion and faith are such personal things, and they are meaningless if you're only participating in it out of a sense of obligation, so for me to not be open to helping Shea explore his own path (again, no cults please!!), would be foolish. What good is it to force religion on someone? Faith has to come from within.
-Heather.
Please forgive the copious amount of typos. Geez, I need to proofread before hitting publish :). Hopefully you can make sense of that :). How I turned, "Or every time a loud noise....." into "Of everthing a loud noise.....", I don't know :).
-Heather.
I like that your recognize the Bible as a literary work too. As an English major, it's impressive (though not entirely surprising!!) how many subtle and less subtle Biblical references there are in literary works throughout history. A professor (I can't even remember which one!!) suggested that we all read the Bible, regardless of our belief system, just to catch the references in other literary works :).
-Heather.
P.S. - I enjoy that you and I, though from very different religious backgrounds, and sharing some beliefs and differing on others, can have a non-judgemental discussion about religion. I wish all differences in faith could be treated similarly :).
-Heather.
I love reading your insights on different subjects - I remember this being a big part of the foundation of our friendship and it's nice to be able to discuss like this again!
A friend of mine who grew up devout in a religion recently left it for much the same reasons (I think) that you feel - the people in the church. She and her family are still VERY much rooted in faith, with teachings about God and the bible prevalent in their home. However, they have decided that they don't need a building to worship in - in effect, she believes in BEING the church, not GOING to church. She has amazing dedication.
You're very lucky your family and husband are so supportive. Faith is so much more important than organized religion and experiences such as the ones your husband and father went through could so easily have turned them off of the idea of God altogether. And yet they are open to your ideas and supportive to boot.
Thanks for sharing about Anglican baptism. (I recall now one service we went to and feeling very out of place when they told us to cross our arms over or chest to signify we weren't baptized.) I always believe in learning about religions from the source rather than from books or even professors (of world religion classes). A friend of mine from church took a class and failed the test on Mormons because most of what the teacher taught wasn't true. He decided to take a stand by answering truthfully on the exam, and the professor failed him!
My biggest pet peave about religion is all the fighting between them! With so much real evil in the world, how can people decide their energies are best spent bashing other religions? Personally, I see anyone pursuing faith and peace on the same side.
(btw - I rarely proof-read any more, although I sometimes edit typos if I find them later!)
I edit the typos in my entries, but can I on comments?
Was the crossing of arms at the alter? Usually they tell people to cross their arms, or something like that, to beceive a blessing instead of communion.I liked taking communion, I didn't like the communal (in both senses of the word, I guess!!) cup. I have an irrational fear of cold sores!!
-Heather.
I can't remember - it very well may have been. I can't even remember what we did. I do remember the minister telling us not to bother dressing up - they would take us as we were. Made me feel funny because I was dressed as I normally do - I like wearing skirts!
Yes, many Anglican churches are pretty laid back, I think that's part of why I liked them. I didn't often get dressed up, per say, but I never went in jeans either!!
-Heather.
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