That bible verse mentioned in my last post got me thinking about this. I was about 12 when I decided to read the Bible. I don’t recall who’d been talking about it, but they said things like “answers to all of life’s questions” and I had a thirst for knowledge, especially rare or secret knowledge. So I found a copy, I think a King James version, though my memory fails me here, and sat down to read it.

I didn’t make it all the way through. It was disappointing from the very first page, I recall thinking “It’s just another creation myth”, and it never got any better. If anything it got more and more boring as it left the imaginative fairy-tales behind and got into history and ancient politics and rules. I recall being amazed by how much space Leviticus devoted to the nakedness you weren’t supposed to see. As I worked through the Old Testament I skimmed more and more, thinking maybe when I got to the new part it would get better. I don’t think I got any farther than the genealogy in Matthew before I gave up.

I didn’t find any answers, certainly not to questions I’d been asking. I didn’t find any secret wisdom or mysterious knowledge. The lesson I took from the Old Testament was much more prosaic and a little bit cynical: An awful lot of people believe in this.  Read the rest of this entry →