August 15, 2009, 10:28 am by dc-agape.

John 1:1 – 34

The Gospel of John starts with the spirituality of Jesus.  Matthew starts with the physical lineage of Jesus.  Mark opens with a portion of who John the Baptist was and Jesus’ spiritual “awaking”.  Luke begins with both the births of John the Baptist and leads into the birth of Jesus.  As a result, the Gospel of John begins from the very beginning to delve into the more mystical attributes of the man history knows as Jesus.  In this way, John is more similar to the Gnostic Gospels than the Synoptic Gospels. 

To say the least John starts off being very mystical.  Traditionally the “Word” that John describes is translated into the spiritual being of Jesus.  This, to an Atheist, immediately brings up the 1^st century through 3^rd century disagreement between the Gnostics and the Pauline Christians.  Even St Valentinus was more a Gnostic than a Pauline Christian!  The readers of the New Testament must always keep in mind that man did not codify the New Testament until the Third Council of Carthage in 397AD.  True some of the Books of the New Testament were accepted earlier than others…but the NT as we know was not accepted until 397AD.  So for John to start his Gospel with the spirituality of Jesus is very interesting!

In fact, John does not mention Jesus’ birth or even much about John the Baptist.  The introduction of John the Baptist was specifically for the purpose of preparation for the baptism of Jesus.  John writes nothing of Jesus prior to “the Holy Spirit came down and remain”.  As far as John is concerned the physical body of Jesus was not as important as the spiritual body of Jesus. 

For me this post seems short.  But I feel that the John’s introduction deserves special recognition.  It is obvious, for the omission of Jesus’ earlier physical existence, that John is not concerned with the body of Jesus.  This is clearly a Gnostic perspective.  He does not attempt to describe the “Virgin Birth”, Mary the mother of Jesus is unimportant, and even the events surrounding Jesus’ physical birth are ignored.  Jesus ministry is of utmost importance to John, who was certainly the only guaranteed eyewitness to Jesus’ existence known to modern humans.  Yet John’s focus is on the teachings and actions of Jesus…where is, and why is it not, apparent in the Church today?  Yes, some focus on Jesus’ teachings, but many more (to an extreme) focus on the physical aspects of what is legal or sinful to perform as a “Christian”.  Oddly, this brings me to the strange concept that the word Christian is only used in the Bible three times!  Where are the disciples of Jesus?  Why has that term been watered down to “Being a Christian”?  Is it because being a disciple means being more like Jesus than merely being a Christian?  I have a strong feeling that this may be the case for a large number of “Christians”.

Posted in Gospel of John, The Nag Hammadi, Disciples | Print | 3 Comments »

August 15, 2009, 10:09 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 31:1-21

An unknown number of breeding seasons have passed since Jacob and Laban made the contract for the spotted livestock as pay.  Jacob’s use of heredity has caused almost all the sheep, lambs, and goats to be spotted.  Remember, Jacob never calls on YHWH in the previous chapter for assistance; Jacob is responsible for the outcome.  Well, of course, both Laban and his son’s would have noticed this by now.  YHWH finally chimes in with “go back to your father”. 

Jacob makes plans with his wives to leave Paddan Aram.  He explains to his wives how he feels that Laban does not treat Jacob the same.  Jacob admits that he has put all his strength into the work that he has done of Laban, but then the lies to his wives:

Gen 31:6-7 You know I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times.  However, God had not allowed him to harm me,

This is, if we can take the Word of God literally, a flat out over exaggerated lie!  Only once did Laban change the wage, and in that process Jacob got 4 wives.  Up to this point Laban has treated Jacob with complete respect.  Remember in the last chapter, when Jacob wanted to leave and Laban asked:

Gen 30:31 “What shall I give you?” he asked.  “Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied, “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them:”

In verse 32 he makes the deal with Laban about the streaked and spotted livestock.  Laban has treated Jacob excellently in everything except the wife switch more than 14 years earlier.  Not one recorded violation has been recorded. 

YHWH finally speaks up and tells Jacob that it is time for Jacob to honor the conditional prayer that was made back in chapter 28:

Gen 28:20-21 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be by God

So here is YHWH making good on the vow that Jacob made.

Both Rachel and Leah have seen that all the wealth now belongs to Jacob as well.  In fact, they compare their marriage to Jacob as slavery:

Gen 31:15 Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us.

So it would seem from the wives point of view that Jacob actually has 4 slave wives.  But they agree that it is time to leave their father’s home.  They tell Jacob to go wherever YHWH has told him to go.

Jacob packs up everything that he has earned in the long stay with Laban.  This includes the 4 wives, the 13 children, all the sheep and goats, and heads for his father in Canaan.  The two things have been done that are contemptible.  First, Jacob runs away without telling Laban that he is leaving.  Jacob is taking the daughters and grandchildren of Laban away without tell the man, without letting the man say goodbye to his family, or letting Laban know where his grandchildren will be!  How would your grandparents feel if this occurred to them?  But Rachel does something just as bad.  Remember that Laban is an idolater; well it seems that Rachel is still an idolater, she steals the family idols from her father.   Here we have Rachel taking the most precious item left to her father and she is still not a believer in YHWH.  It’s a good thing that only the men count.  Rachel is certainly not a good example of how to be faithful to YHWH!

As a gay atheist this story only reinforces two observations that I have about our society.  First, that the concept of marriage has drastically changed over the millennia, TrueChirstiansTM who do not like the idea of gay marriage should look more closely at their holy book.  In the Word of God there is slave marriage and polygamy.  Since YHWH sees nothing wrong with that, why is that not the norm for marriage now?  Second, as an atheist, I see nothing in this book that I want to use as an example of how to be a better person.  These people were corrupt, they lied, they stole, and they manipulated.  The whole concept that these were the chosen ones of YHWH only makes me know that YHWH does not exist!

Posted in Biblical Marriage, Family Values?, Genesis, Readings | Print | No Comments »