The Bible is 500 Years Old!!! Time to Trade up for Science
I think that we can all admit that when something is 500 years old, we usually see it in a museum:
http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/extremely-rare-500yearold-navigational-instrument-discovered-in-age-of-discovery-shipwreck/
We don’t usually continue to use things that are 500 years old, even if they still work. Wallpaper gets outdated looking, after 10 to 30 years, and so do clothes. Plastic bags often get used once or twice and thrown away.Car tires and even cars THEMSELVES, tend to poop out after so many years. If you don’t buy new tires, in time, eventually you’ll have a blow-out. We don’t keep using dirty dishwater to wash our dishes, either. That would just be gross.
So, WHY do we keep reading the same 500 year old book, over and over, when it can give us NO information discovered after it was written?!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version
King James didn’t even commission the FIRST bible. He just had one translated that was commissioned by King Henry VIII. It was later translated by Queen Elizabeth I. Of course each monarch had to have a translation that fit a god made in THEIR OWN IMAGE. They had to be able to convince their subjects that they were the Right Hand of God Himself, and that no one was closer to God than their monarch.
I have heard that Queen Elizabeth I sometimes found it lonely at the top………….(She never married, remember).
Okay, her state of mind is beside the point. The point is that after almost 500 years, we are still devoted to this compilation of fairy tales, authored and translated over hundreds of years by many people, who each had something to gain by it’s being scribed. Those who actually put pen to page, were being paid by their masters, who had a vested interest in pleasing their monarchs that actually commissioned the bibles.
Those monarchs wanted a book that worked as much to their advantage as possible. Henry VIII and James were men, so the god of their bible was male. Women, then, logically, had to be made inferior.
https://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible7.htm
Even in the time of Queen Elizabeth, a man could still beat his wife with a stick………..provided it was no wider round then his thumb. A widow had to rely on her husband’s family to be honest and compassionate, when it came to what might have been left to her, from her husband’s estate. Sons inherited from their fathers, first, and then daughters might get something, but they were expected to marry well and be taken care of by their husbands. Of course women were also expected to work.
Women could do much of what the men could do, and often did. They could run taverns, and make the mead and bread that was served there. They did much of the cooking, sewing, carding, weaving, washing, etc.
Today, maybe because we’re so devoted to this 500 year old book, women are still fighting for equal pay in the workplace, and equal treatment, everywhere.
When I ask a religious person, today, why they cling so fiercely to a 500 year old book, that teaches the oppression of women, and the keeping of slaves, they often tell me that it teaches them morals, or that it uplifts their spirit.
I think about that and wonder how a story about a man being nailed to a cross and left to die could uplift one’s spirit, and how stories about some men selling other people into slavery could be thought to be examples of moral behavior. I wonder how a god that punishes a world with a flood, or a couple of cities of sinners (Sodom and Gomorrah) by wiping them out can be called a loving and forgiving god.
I’m perplexed by the difference, between children believing in Santa Clause or Superman, and their parents believing in an invisible superbeing, in the sky that is going to gift them with a beautiful afterlife, if they go to church every Sunday. And when they eat that little wafer, that’s supposed to be the “body of Christ”........ Wouldn’t we go to jail, normally, for eating someone’s body? (Not to mention…..GROSS)!!
These biblical traditions that were started with the first translation of a book that was originally translated from something that came from the Middle East:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_Middle_East
We have come far, since the time of Queen Elizabeth I, and there is nothing in the bible about healing ourselves with Stem Cell research, or about birth control pills, or about going to the Moon. It’s inconceivable to me that we are ignoring or simply taking for granted all we’ve learned since the bible was first translated by Henry VIII.
In biblical times, Leprosy and Epilepsy were still considered to be punishments, from on high, and incurable. Sometimes Epileptics, like me, were thought to be victims of witches’ meddling. Some of us were hung as witches, (Salem Witch Trials) because the convulsions looked scary, and made the “righteous” think that we might be consorting with the Devil.
I can assure you, that if I had the Devil’s ear, in that way, 45 (and phone solicitors) would be suffering, right now, from a painful, flesh eating ailment, ………..in a tiny Siberian gulag with no natural light or indoor plumbing. (Ya. I really AM that vindictive, and 45’s whimsical policies, instability, incompetence and lies have hurt a lot of my friends and fellow Americans).
Because of science (Medicine, in particular) I haven’t had an epileptic seizure in over 30 years. Because of science, my son has a way to study that suits his needs. (Online education). Because of science, I can put this blog out to you, and you can read it, without our having to deforest more of our world.
We know the importance of not deforesting, and how to measure our effect on our environment, through science, and how to mitigate that damage and control it. (Even though many of us are still denying the truth of Climate Science and Climate Change).
Because of science, we can carry a tiny device in our pockets that my son can use for his education, AND for calling me to pick him up from a friend’s house, after he’s done playing. NASA has even made it possible for us to use those same little devices (called cell phones) to navigate our way from unfamiliar territory back to familiar territory. (Google Maps, etc).
The bible didn’t teach us how to measure time, or seasons, but it did mention that Man had dominion over the creatures of the Earth.
https://biblehub.com/genesis/1-26.htm
So according to the bible, Man has dominion over women and other creatures, and so far many of those creatures have gone extinct, and others are on the endangered species list. My guess is that, if there were a god, (s)he would not be pleased with Man’s performance as a care taker.
My time spent acting with the Renaissance Fair, has given me perspective on how we live now, according to the bible, and how we lived then, according to the bible. Back then, there was more of an emphasis on doing good works, and one common good work, was to open the kitchen or dining hall to strangers in need. (We were being proper care takers, back then).
There were Poor Laws in her time that were meant to make things a little easier for the poor. Each parish was supposed to look after its own poor, by having its Justice of the Peace collect taxes for the poor (rather than for the 1%, as now):
Also, the Justice had the duty of finding work for the jobless, or apprenticeships.
These days, there seems to be more of an emphasis on judging others, including the poor for being poor. We cherry pick the bible for an opportunity to make others wrong or sinful, rather than for opportunities to do good and be kind and helpful to others:
Being gay is a sin.
Not supporting tRump is a sin.
Being Muslim in America is a sin.
Being poor or begging on a street corner, or selling on a street corner gets the police called by people who proclaim to be living according to the bible……….which says a few things about giving succor to the poor, and how to treat the meanest of those……….
https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/poor.htm
If we really wanted to Make America Great Again, while bringing back and protecting religion, (which I can’t recommend) we would do well to follow the example set by Queen Elizabeth I and her subjects.
Considering the current atmosphere of divisiveness and hatred fostered by our leaders together with our religious leaders, I would take a dim view of even this much of a concession to religion. I would be compelled to advise a more balanced and wider scope of education for the sake of our students.
If a religious scripture must be read, in schools, and or other public meeting places, then I would suggest reading it alongside other books, like Plato and Cicero, Shakespeare and Einstein and especially more recently published books of physics and archeology. This would provide balance, and a broader scope of education for our students.
It would take the focus off of the concept of sin, and remind students that there are better ways to relate to others, than judging them, and that there are ways to spend their time other than on studying sin and godliness. It would help them to continue to learn more about curing sickness that we haven’t cured yet.
In the meantime, I’ll keep my son in online school, because DeVos can’t corrupt those avenues of education by imposing an ancient compilation of religious scriptures on them, in order to brainwash my kid into judging others, rather than accepting and learning from them; and into being a good little soldier for the current regime……….no matter who’s in charge.
My son is going to learn to think critically and use scientific method to get his answers, rather than taking on blind faith, what he is told by authority figures.