THAT OLD

THAT OLD-TIME RELIGION

(approx. reading time: under 10 minutes)

As a child in church, I was puzzled as to why adults were saying such things.

I knew that God was greater than that, that Jesus was better than that, and that human beings are actually wonderful creatures - if we're treated well.

I couldn't comprehend why adults were saying that God would give us a book which millions before it had no opportunity to see - and that millions since have no opportunity to read - yet insist: "This is it, people. Believe only this - or get punished."

As an avid reader, however, I did read a great deal in the Bible. But I was troubled again about why adults called it The Good Book. Already in the late 1950's, some conscientious school-teachers - the sort now derided as "politically correct" -- were lecturing us against the cruelty of laughing at handicapped people and snubbing classmates who didn't have both a mother and a father.

But at night in the Bible, I would see passages like Lev. 21:17-24 stating that God forbids all who are blind or lame or crookbacked, or who has "any blemish" to "come to the altar." Likewise, Deut. 23:2 -- all illegitimate children are outcast from the congregation, and their children, for ten generations.

And are you old enough to remember the grief of any child whose "shameful mother" was divorced, even if it was the husband who had left her? Lev. 21:7 (King James) identifies such abandoned women in the same paragraph with "whores."

Even worse, God's many rampages of rage reminded me of a playmate's drunken and abusive father. In the 50's, an abusive father's behavior wasn't yet properly classified as the mental illness it is. But all who suffered because of it - or even like me, who only witnessed it once when I stayed all night - knew it was ugly, knew it was bad, knew it was wrong. Yet that man's rages -- like God's throughout the Old Testament -- were all about "obey ME -- or I will hurt you, I will kill you!" Later, I heard my friend's mom crying to her sister; her minister's solution to the beatings was for her "to be a better wife."

On another front, we all giggled at the idea of "homos" and "queers," for which Lev. 20:13 states the penalty is death - which some radical Bible-Believers today are carrying out with their very own hands, such as those in the Christian Identity movement.

But many of the old, appalling social realities have mercifully changed, now. We help the handicapped instead of discriminate against them, for example. We properly understand rages and threats as mental illness, no longer to be tolerated by the victims. Women and children are no longer allowed to be equated with cattle and other property, in the biblical way. Likewise, slaves no longer must "obey your masters."

But this illustrates a disturbing fact: humanity has steadily changed for the better, but the Bible has not. It's true there are many uplifting ideas therein, but it's also true it is not in its entirety a Good Book. Enforcement of its social dictates has caused countless innocent people untold harm and grief.

And most importantly for the Christian world, if Jesus said ALL the things that are attributed to him, I think that might indicate he had a multiple-personality disorder. Unless he was ill, he wouldn't say, "you are gods" one moment, and then threaten you with hellfire and damnation the next.

But I DON'T believe he was sick like that! I believe that sick men - abusive, controlling "authorities" -- at best, misguided men - added negative Old Testament ideas on to Jesus' new and positive message. And thus you have the Christ of Confusion that so many good people reasonably reject today.

Many an atheist is born from confronting God's unacceptable cruelties of the Old Testament and Jesus' crazy inconsistencies of the New. Many a troubled spiritual seeker turns elsewhere upon reading "The Good Book" and finding so much that is bad.

As for me, I have comfortably returned to what I simply knew as an innocent child - that God is greater than that, that Jesus is better than that, and that human beings are actually wonderful creatures -- when we're treated well. My life-long "supernatural" experiences - involving miraculous healings, out-of-body experiences, contacts with exceptionally loving extraterrestrials - and mostly, all the good-hearted and intelligent people around me - are proof to me that I'm not wrong. It's a matter of historical fact that Bible attitudes have grievously harmed many people, and the book doesn't even begin to explain what the universe is really all about. It focuses only on a limited time and a particular place, and to me, that is spiritual starvation.

(For details on my convincing-to-me experiences, see the second section of About the Author, on this site. It's entitled: "An Unusual Life")

But I am not content to just enjoy what I know. In keeping with my knowledge of a greater God - who does not demand to be worshiped! - I have written METAPHYSICAL PRINCIPLES, which follows. (Reading time: approx. 30 minutes.) In keeping with a better God, I think it's a new and better creation story. And in keeping with a mentally healthy and truly helpful Jesus, I think it's a new and better Gospel.

But because it IS healthy, believing it is optional! You don't have to know this, you don't have to have this in your life. If these things are true, you will find them in your own way and in your own time -- because you are a Beloved Being from a Loving God. There's a Lot Bigger Picture than we've been led to believe. And because God's love for you is real, you are under no pressure whatsoever.

That said, go ahead and read this "briefer, better Bible" if you want. You might enjoy it very much!

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