"WHY READ THE BIBLE? (A SECULAR ARGUMENT)"
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
It's a challenge to answer the question of this essay's title. Who is asking it? Perhaps I should assume that every literate on the planet already wants to read The Bible; and all out of intellectual curiosity, purely, at that. Hm. Good. Negating any idea of purpose is a good place to start. (Purpose... hm.)
Reverse psychology, you rebel? What's the case for shunning the text? and more precisely, on a parallel rationale of intellect? Well, ask yourself: Can a text MAKE you ignorant? I suppose it can! But you MUST carry the qualifications -- hell, even the infantile "credentials" let's say -- to be susceptible to that infection. The most important one is commitment. Let's say, the ignoramus is "mathematically committed" as a tautological matter respecting The Bible. This person would become very easy to discourage from further pursuit of the text -- quickly and easily! -- provided one is frank. It's simple stuff. A man who reads it that linearly, that incapaciously, that microscopically? There is a WORD, a PERFECT word, S&B fans, for the resulting intellectual output (maybe of a moral quality!) of having read any book in that fashion: it's called "psittacosis" -- something highly familiar to 2013 America, by the way.
The sufferer of psittacosis -- and I'm speculating -- achieves the disease this way: 1) He thinks I want to know "the truth". 2) Perhaps after a search or encouragement, he sets his sights on The Bible. 3) He finds this beautifully bound thing "perfect" (likely in part as a result of bias, but no matter). Key: he asks himself NOT "Perfect, perfect as such WHAT?" He asks not. This eludes him, but I suspect his ego willed himself to voluntarily be dodged so that he could blast off into the hyperspace of self-perceived "correctness". This was the moment of infection, somehow. 4) The ability to distinguish between truth, accuracy, and correctness -- has been lost or forfeited; they have become merged, like what is left in an unflushed toilet after three separate, consecutive excretions of diarrhea by three phantoms into one bowl. The parrot, who was trying to become human, consumes the mixture; it's unsanitary, but his body takes it as his deity begins to both hate and pity him. 5) The Bible ceases to be a book to him. It is now a screenplay, and he is a handsome movie-star. And he WILL not forget his lines! 6) Time passes. He gets into character, and hones his understanding of his fictional role. He wants an Oscar. He stays in character on and off the set, and in his dreams he stays, too, as best he can. 7) Stanley Kubrick dies, the producers abort, and the actor gets a therapist. End of story.
IS The Holy Bible perfect? Yes! It is! And why is that? Answer: Because it's FOR YOU, and it's FOR GOD! Yes! You have some input! God RECEIVES YOU when you read it -- even if God is only a concept and nothing more. GOD DOES NOT EXIST... IF YOU DO NOT EXIST.
It's not a punctuated step process. The application of human potential does not occur only after reading Scripture. The reading is not an act of submission, and if you approach it that way, then you are guilty of GREED. You are taking, taking, taking from God; disingenuously paying him smarmy lip-service with "amens" you feel not in your soul. Your Maker, or the Author, wants to hear your thoughts, your wonder, your surprise, your joy, your disgust, and yes, your JUDGMENT as you read! You OWE Him that! It's not a toy you get in your stocking, this text, but a journey through Time with your Father. You are expected to participate in the conversation, and demand of Him the clarification of His wisdom that in reality you receive through education in the humanities and indeed the pure sciences, and also by perceiving Nature with as little self-deceit as you may and as much attention to detail. And infer. And deduce with humility. Then take the experience with you.
Is this still a secular argument? I would say so. I would say I have given you a reason to at least read SOMETHING. But the Author of what is -- and it is what it is; and it is merely what it is; and it is more than what it is -- HEARS YOU and watches your pupils dilate and contract as you read, and it MATTERS to Him. Your intelligence is His brain. Don't forfeit it and give Him dementia.
I am god. Publish a comment.
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