First Experiences with The Bible

Coming into Humanities, I have never read the Bible; I barely even laid a hand on a Bible before in my life. I have only stepped into a Church three times, once to watch a friend perform in a choir, and the other two times with my girlfriend and her family when they went to Sunday mass on the days I stayed over. So as you can see, my exposure to the Christian religion, let alone religion in it of itself, is minimal, to say the least. So seeing both the Bible and the Qur’an on the book list was a challenge I was willing to accept. I have wanted to test the waters, and see what everyone has been talking about, and this class has given me a reason to pick these books up.

            Reading Genesis, and the Bible itself, as a work of literature, was not as hard as I had thought it was going to be. Before opening up the Bible, I had expected something along the lines of reading Shakespeare, language that I could barely make out. But the Bible was a surprisingly easy read. This may be the immense popularity of the book, as it is the most sold book of all time. In order to have this success, translators must have had translated the book not just word for word, but in a way that would have the average reader come back to the book. But that comes with a trade-off, as much of the Bible’s meaning is lost due to the many times it has been translated, whether sections were reworded to help the public better understand, or whole sections were removed due to distinct tastes. And not only did the translators change the meaning behind many sections in the Bible, but the many parts of the Bible seem to have many inconsistencies. Many sections seem to speak of one thing, but the section after may just disregard what was just said. This is evident very early on, when Genesis speaks of the creation of Adam and Eve. It was said God created both male and female in his own image, but later on in Genesis it was depicted that female was created from the rib of Adam, therefore stating that female was created in the image of male.

            When I finished reading Genesis, the God that was depicted was not the God that I had heard about from many of my religious friends, nor the God that my uncle, who is a pastor at his own church, speaks of. The God they all speak of is a benevolent God, one who forgives man when they sin, as long as they confess and recognize the harms they have done. The God depicted in Genesis comes across to me as a very spiteful and vengeful God, one who has no tolerance for sinning. This God would destroy cities that are filled with humans who have sinned, and would even destroy every form of life because evil has grown in the world. If this God were present in our life, all sinners would be evaporated on the spot, and there would be no need for jails. This God also comes across to me as bias. He picks his favorites among the human race. He chose Noah to lead the arc which saved all things of flesh on the Earth. He also choose Abraham as his favorite, and even allowed for him to trick him at times. God also made promises of infinite lands and riches to the followers who did as he said. These traits are not traits that I would envision God having. He should be non-partial, omnipotent, and forgiving, as he is depicted today.