A quick note, before we get started. Happytheman suggested, in response to an earlier blog, that I present a book to be used in a sort of online book club format. AJ Jacobs' book The Year of Living Biblically is that book.
The Year of Living Biblically is just what it sounds like, a memoir recounting Jacobs’s effort to “live the bible” for 12 months. After establishing certain ground rules concerning legality and literalism (when is a tower just a tower and when is it a metaphor for big breasts?), Jacobs sets out to adhere to everything from the Big 10 (Do not lie, kill, etc.) to the more obscure (Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together).
A premise like that is a perfect setup for irreverant mockery, especially when you consider that Jacobs doesn't begin the project with any personal history of reverance for the Bible.
But it doesn't go that way. That isn't to say that the book isn't funny (it absolutely is) or that Jacobs takes his project too seriously (he doesn't), but he does take it seriously. He wrestles with it in a way that I, as a pastor, often forget to. He tries it on and walks around in it, and he realizes that, in doing so, he risks being changed by it.
As one of his friends suggests early in the project "You're dealing with explosive stuff. People a lot smarter than you have devoted their lives to this."
Jacobs writes in response:
He's right. And it scares me. I hate losing control. I like to be in command of everything.
It is Jacobs' transparency that makes this project so fascinating. He isn't trying to hide from his readers, even in his more uncomfortable moments.
He also isn't willing to let us true believers off the hook, us or our book. In perhaps one of my favorite sections of the entire book, Jacobs writes:
How can these ethically advanced rules and these bizarre decrees be found in the same
book? And not just the same book. Sometimes the same page. The prohibition against
mixing wool and linen comes right after the command to love your neighbor. It's not like
the Bible has a section called "And now for some Crazy Laws." They're all jumbled up like a
chopped salad.
So, here is what I have for Part One of my soon to be continuing series on The Year of Living Biblically. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Christianity, Judaism, Agnosticism, or Atheism. Whatever your background or history with faith, here is my first book club question:
What is one of the teachings of the Bible that you find the most confounding?
5 comments:
I'm in but I need to purchase the book so give me a week I just ordered it.
Peace, Craig
I should make it clear, you don't have to have read the book to participate in the discussion. I'm committed to giving away only parts of the book, in the hopes of enticing all of you to buy it, but the questions and conversation won't be dependent upon you having already purchased it.
So, the wait has ended. Jump in.
haha I just noticed after a amazon email that the book isn't even released until October your doing books that the average joe can't get, not fair Kester not fair.
So now I spend time pondering this question....give me a couple of days.
I don't struggle too much with the teachings of the Old Testament for the most part. I agree that the Law is quirky in that commandments like "don't kill" end up within verse of commandments like "don't cook a goat in it's mother's milk".
Here's something I do struggle with, though, and I'll bet this will cause a stir, at least for some. Why does God have an issue with homosexuality if it occurs in a monogamous (like marriage)relationship? I'm not homosexual, myself, but neither am I homophobic. I just don't understand why God would have an issue with this. And arguments about it going against his design always end up feeling hollow to me when compared to the pain I've seen Christians in who are attracted to the same sex, but who know they cannot pursue such a relationship.
Again, may not be a big question for some, but it sure confuses me.
adam-
it's a great question. for more on my specific thoughts on this, check out my blog entry from march 2007. thanks for the post.
-kester
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