ideologyhunter
Contributor
Right-o. Many of the 'devout' seem to react to Bible reading (if it is done by them, not to them) like it was kryptonite. And yet they think it's a precious, magical set of words given to them by their loving sky father. They'll tell you it solves all the mysteries and has some sort of Master Plan in it (which, amidst the genocide and gynecological obsessions, I've yet to pinpoint.) Or that it's God's love letter to man (in which case, doesn't Courtney Love write better copy?) But read the thing? Fuck that! The ones who have read like to brag about it and tell you how many weeks they were at it. Like it was an ordeal.
A few weeks ago, before we all went camping, I was in the public library and a fellow patron overheard me discussing a weird passage in I Corinthians where Paul says that a man has the image and glory of God, but a woman is "the glory of man." (So maybe not so weird. It's in chapter 11.) The patron was a Christian, and was so worked up over what I quoted that he wanted to know the chapter & verse. A day later he came back and thanked me for the information, saying, "Yes, Paul does say that, but he sets it all right a few lines later." Which I refused to argue with him -- I think the verse I gave him speaks for itself and isn't reversible. Point is how shocked he was to hear those words, and, possibly, my sarcastic description of them. 50 or 60 years in church, and it's news to him? And the NT is, usually, about 300 pages of text. Just don't ask them to read it.
A few weeks ago, before we all went camping, I was in the public library and a fellow patron overheard me discussing a weird passage in I Corinthians where Paul says that a man has the image and glory of God, but a woman is "the glory of man." (So maybe not so weird. It's in chapter 11.) The patron was a Christian, and was so worked up over what I quoted that he wanted to know the chapter & verse. A day later he came back and thanked me for the information, saying, "Yes, Paul does say that, but he sets it all right a few lines later." Which I refused to argue with him -- I think the verse I gave him speaks for itself and isn't reversible. Point is how shocked he was to hear those words, and, possibly, my sarcastic description of them. 50 or 60 years in church, and it's news to him? And the NT is, usually, about 300 pages of text. Just don't ask them to read it.