Should you read the Bible? You probably haven’t. A century ago, most well-educated Americans knew the Bible deeply. Today, biblical illiteracy is practically universal among nonreligious people. My mother and my brother, professors of literature and the best-read people I’ve ever met, have not done much more than skim Genesis and Exodus. Even among the faithful, Bible reading is erratic. The Catholic Church, for example, includes only a teeny fraction of the Old Testament in its official readings. Jews study the first five books of the Bible pretty well but shortchange the rest of it. Orthodox Jews generally spend more time on the Talmud and other commentary than on the Bible itself. Of the major Jewish and Christian groups, only evangelical Protestants read the whole Bible obsessively.
I recall when he announced he was starting this project. It appears after all to have been just a web-based publicity stunt.
I respectfully disagree. He is absolutely right about the centrality of the Bible to our culture. Biblical literacy (even for non-believers) is essential if we are to sustain our culture. And the fact that he finds the Bible maddening, confusing, and, therefore, God maddening and confusing, is (for him) a step in the right direction. Better to struggle with God than to indulge in apathy.
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This line left me confused:
[blockquote]They [Plotz’s biblical heroes] challenge God for his capriciousness, and demand justice, order, and morality, even when God refuses to provide them.[/blockquote]
IIRC, (and yes, I’ve read it all), the people he refers to received their answers. Maybe Plotz doesn’t like the answers to [i]his[/i] demands, or maybe he’s asking for the wrong things. But, it’s good that the patriarchs and Plotz ask. Jesus told us to do that. Jesus and the prophets also taught us that there is more to life than what we see now, something Plotz appears unready to accept even though he says he read Daniel, Amos, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.
I suspect he would get more out of reading the Bible, be less confused, if he would first humbly ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then open the book and read.
Frances Scott
Too bad he missed the point of all that “vindictiveness”: the destructive power of sin in a fallen world. It’s so powerful that “punishment” is the mercy of God, to keep us from destroying ourselves and all of creation.
But then, I suppose a Slate writer has to be an agnostic. sigh…
Yes, if you define reality in your own terms, you won’t be able to believe in anything but your own terms.
Exactly, #5, and that’s why I conclude that it was simply a publicity stunt. He apparently never considered, and never was going to consider, doing as #4 so wisely suggests.
God teaches us to wait on Him. It’s very hard not to want all the right answers now, have that perfect understanding, and I suspect that is where his frustration comes from.
If the bible is what Tacit and the like think it is, it should have changed him. Perhaps it is just not that powerful.