a new beginning.

I have finally finished Genesis.

It is true that I may be a little behind the times in this accomplishment, but now that I've done it I have a little more hope that reading the Bible is not impossible.

At first, every time I came across an account of incest, polygamy, unjustified mass punishment, slavery, polytheism, or any other event/theme generally considered to be unholy, unjust, morally wrong, against religious values, etc., I was indignant. I kept asking, Why is this in the Bible? Why do people live by the Bible when they obviously are opposed to these things? How is religion even a solid institution when the so-called "Holy Book" contains accounts of sins committed by God's chosen people?

Then I realized what I think Dr. Sexson has been trying to tell us about reading the Bible. I realized I need to think of the Bible as a story, not an account of perfection. Because that's what it is, no matter how you spin it. Finally, my mind was at peace. At least, it was peaceful enough for me to read Genesis with an open mind. And I noticed many literary qualities of the text, such as parallelism (Jacob and Rachel, the tricksters), repetition (although I'm pretty sure a lot of this comes from compilations of multiple writers' accounts), and foreshadowing (Joseph's dream, for one). There are also several main themes, which I understand to be the inescapable evil of human nature, deceit (everyone's deceiving everyone, sometimes for no reason at all. I really don't get it), stubbornness (if God tells you, just do it! but many people seem to miss the message and need to get told several times. not to mention Pharaoh...), and the importance of offspring ("I will make of you a great nation...").

So I may not be enlightened, but I am at least encouraged. And since I just got my copy of The Great Code in the mail, I know what my bedtime reading will be...