FICTION AND NON-FICTION? (The Bible)

Member Name: Aang

Product:	The Bible
Date:	14/12/01 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some of the thinking is beneficial.

Disadvantages: There may be a lot of spin.

DNA testing suggests that the Jews and the Arab Palestinians are more or less the same people. The friends of Mr Sharon and the friends of Mr Arafat have very similar DNA. The people shooting at each other on the West Bank have probably got common ancestors.

Did God really tell one particular tribe that it could steal another tribe's land? I doubt it.

When I dip into the Koran or the Bible or the Holy books of the Hindus, I often find bits that make sense. But I tend to the belief that none of these books is necessarily perfect. Mark's gospel, for example, has mistakes in geography.

The Bible is perhaps like the curate's egg. Some of the thinking is divine, but some of the 'history' is rather suspect.

There are bits in the Bible about love and kindness and forgiveness that help to make the world a better place. There are bits about survival after death, which I am inclined to believe.

But there are other bits that I am not so sure about! (My sources include the Bible, the Koran, National Geographic December 2001, The Herald November 10 2001, and various encyclopedias and journals.)

In the Old Testament's book of Joshua we are told that the Israelites came from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. Yet Israeli archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog tells us that the Israelites were never in Egypt. When certain archaeologists examined Jericho, they came to the conclusion that the walls had fallen down long before Joshua was supposed to have arrived (13 century BC) and at a time when Jericho was probably empty of people.

Samuel I and II and Kings tell us about King David, whom we are led to believe had a wonderful city called Jerusalem. Yet certain archaeologists tell us that in present day Jerusalem no pottery has been found dating back to the time of David. There is apparently no archaeological evidence of David's occupation of that city. Carol Myers, Professor of Biblical Studies and
Archaeology at Duke University, believes that David's 'Jerusalem' was in fact a small settlement in the Judean hills, and not the Jerusalem which some Israelis claim is their capital.

Let's go back to Genesis and Abraham. The story goes that Abraham came from Iraq, or possibly Syria, and moved to Canaan.

(Abraham is important both in the Bible and the Koran. Many scholars now believe that the story of Abraham is much more modern -7th century BC rather than 2,000 BC - than previously thought)

The spin in Leviticus and Deuteronomy is that the Canaanites went in for deviant sex and human sacrifice, so it was OK to boot them out of their land. However, neither archaeology nor Canaanite texts support this view of 'bad' Canaanite behaviour. The book of Joshua makes out that it was Abraham's family that worshiped false gods.

The Bible has Abraham in Egypt. Yet according to Manfred Bietak, of the University of Vienna, there is no evidence in Egyptian historical sources that Abraham was ever in Egypt.

Abraham's first son was Ishmael (Ismail) and the mother was Hagar (Abraham was at that time married to Sarah who was barren.)

Abraham's next child was Isaac, born to Sarah, when Abraham was about 100 years old!

Abraham , according to the story, decided to kill Isaac. The story is that God was testing Abraham's faith by ordering Abraham to kill his son.

Now this does not make much sense to me! Why would a believer in a good God go in for human sacrifice? Why would a good God seemingly try to trick Abraham?

Sarah died at the age of 127. Then Abraham got a new wife and produced 6 more children.

Now, I am thinking that there is possibly a lot of 'spin' in this story. Can you imagine Abraham living to the age of 175? Can you imagine the CIA finding a video in which bin Laden boasts of murdering innocents. Can you magine James I's spy ma
ster knowing nothing in advance about the Gunpowder Plot?

To me, the Abraham and Isaac story is about a tribe struggling to find the truth about life and God and morality. 'Abraham' comes up with some good ideas, but those who write about him are not being totally straightforward.

So, what are the 'divine' bits of the Bible?

"Love your enemies..."

The Palestinians and Israelis should embrace each other and intermarry. And Catholics and Protestants, and Moslems and Hindus.....

"Give to the man that asks you..."

The West should be building more clean water wells in Africa, rather than building more six million pound houses...

"Forgive people..."

Stop bombing civilians in Iraq.

"Don't worry about your lives..."

Smile and be joyful when the sun shines...

"You are all brothers..."

We don't know how much of Hitler or Mother Theresa there is in each of us. We are not necessarily worse or better than our neighbour...

"The greatest among you will be your servant..."

The good guys in the Bible are sometimes the humble folk who realise their own faults. The self righteous pharisees who take the best seats in the church or synagogue may not be the greatest.

"I was hungry and you gave me food..."

Watch out for the people in need of help; and help them.

"Sell all you have and distribute to the poor..."

Nobody will go hungry if the greedy guys stop being greedy.

"If the wheat grain does not fall into the soil and die, it stays as it was, a single grain; but if it dies it yields abundantly..."

We all die and we all come back to life again, and again, and again...

"I am in my father, and you in me, and I in you...."

We are all inter-linked, if we keep in touch wit
h 'goodness'.

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