Songs/Stories for God

The book of Psalms is pretty interesting. They are supposedly sacred songs and/or hymns, but to me, they seem more like short parts of the stories from the Bible.

I, myself, have read four of them. They're all a bit confusing. It's not that I don't understand the text. It just feels like as if I'm reading a book starting from the middle without knowing the beginning. All of them seem to have different kinds of feelings about God, but yet, he is praised in all of them since he is thought to be the most powerful being.

Here's a part from the first one I read (Psalm 23):

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalms 23:4)

Here, the speaker, David, definitely shows that he believes in God and he has a lot of confidence since he is so sure that God will protect him all the time.

Psalm 42 seems to be questioning God. But at the end, God is still praised since he is anyways the father of everything.

Psalm 51 seems to be asking (begging) God for a favor since he is the most powerful being.

Psalm 137 was a bit different. The character that was speaking seemed to be remembering something that happened. But anyhow, God is still mentioned and is respected.

So, my conclusion would be that the psalms are all little bits of texts for us to believe in God and to be reminded about his greatness.

Good and Evil From Genetics

Throughout the story of David, I noticed that many of the characters always to inherit good or evil from their fathers.

First of all, Saul's son, Ish-bosheth, is named as the king of Israel (after his father's death). But, he accuses Abner, the chief commander, for something that he didn't do. Later, Ish-bosheth is betrayed and killed by his own men. He was unfortunate, just like Saul.

Then, there's David's son, Absalom. He was successful: He turned into the king of Hebron, just like his dad was.

But, not everyone gets this inheritance. This is when Amnon, one of the sons of David, is in the act of trying to rape his own sister, Tamar.

"Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me." (Second Samuel 13:15)

Amnon, of course, is not such a good guy even though his father supposedly was. Tamar even directly mentions the word, "evil".

Anyway, my point was to show how humans don't seem to change much every new generation but sometimes they do when someone like Amnon appears. So yes, the books of Samuel were fun to read.

More Stories, More Questions

So, here's yet another story from the Bible. This one is about Samuel and David of course.

David is chosen by Samuel to be the king of Bethlehem and he turns out to be very successful. Obviously he is the "good guy" of the story. And then, there is Saul, the jealous and selfish one (the "bad guy"). Long story short, Saul does things that God doesn't want him to do while David does almost everything that pleases God. So, Saul ends up cursed while David is blessed. Because of jealousy, Saul tries to kill him, but at the end of the first book of Samuel, Saul and his sons are the ones that end up dead.

This story, just like all the other ones, has a moral. But, all the stories I read in the Bible until now, I've noticed, technically share the same teaching: Always believe in God and follow His orders for you benefit (or else you will end up to be very miserable like Saul). But also, every time I read another part of the Bible, I always start asking myself more and more questions about God and the Bible itself. One question arose in my head when I read this part:

"Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel." (Samuel 28:11)

This is when Saul asks a woman to bring out Samuel's spirit for him. And, the woman just does it as if nothing happened. I thought only God had the ability to do such things. I mean, can any human bring up someone's spirit when they want to? And second of all, do the spirits of the dead just wander around Earth? Don't they either go to heaven or hell? Also, since David is so great, he is blessed by God and he's able to kill a really tough warrior, Goliath, with one single stone. So, God is technically giving David the right to kill since he has pleased God with all his doings and by obeying him. Of course, David is killing him to save his people, but isn't it weird how God is taking sides with David and not giving any chance for Goliath to win? Isn't that a bit unfair? Besides that, isn't it a bit selfish of David to kill other people only to save his? I don't know, but these small questions keep on coming up to my mind.

Anyway, the story is okay until now. It's a bit long, but still sort of interesting.

Just Like a Human

Throughout the end of the story of Job, Job realizes how mighty and powerful he is. He first started out wondering and questioning the reasons of God's acts along with his friends. But surprisingly, he never cursed God in any way (even after all the suffering). Later on, though, God reveals himself unto Job and shows his greatness and superiority. Job technically forgets all his subtleties and just assumes that God would have his own good reasons to do all his acts.

I, myself, don't have a specific religion. It's not that I don't believe in God. I just don't know whether I should. Just like Job, I always question myself. Since no one knows the exact answers to them, I can't decide what to believe in. I just want to sort of have everything clear before I know what I'm believing in.

Anyway, more questions arose in my mind while reading this story. Why is God so human-like in this story? God having control over humans is just like us having control over some kind of thing that we made (like robots for example). We know almost exactly how the robots would act if we did something to it, since we are its creators. But, we still try it out just for fun or to test it in some way. This is very similar to God testing humans. Not only that, but God also prefers some people (like Job) over other people:

"My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept." (Job 42:7)

It seems unfair to me since God is the one with the ability to change people's characteristics, and he still likes someone more than someone else.

I also noticed that Job (the "good guy") had faith in God because of fear, more than anything. Even in most of the other previous stories, the characters seemed to have praised and worshiped God because of fear, not love. Supposedly, humans are supposed to believe in Him by loving him. But in the story of Job, God doesn't really treat everyone equally (since he prefers some humans over others), and he showed his strength and superiority to them which caused them to sort of believe in God only because of the fear of his power (like Job's friends). But whatever. I can't question God if he exists.

As you can see, the book of Job has left me thinking. Therefore, it's an interesting book to read but only if you are actually paying close attention to it. So yes, it was fun.

Satan's Failed Experiment

One very typical, but interesting, story in the KJV Bible is the story of Job. Job was a man with seven sons and three daughters. He had a lot of wealth since God blessed him because of his great loyalty towards him. One day, Satan just comes up to God along with the angels:

"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them." The Book of Job 1:6

It's pretty strange. Satan, the king of all evil, follows God's angels and just shows up in front of him as if nothing really happened, and they just start talking to each other like old buddies. Then, Satan somehow manages to persuade God to allow him to technically do cruel things to this very innocent and loyal man. But, I guess it's okay since it's actually Satan doing the bad things and God is only letting him do it because he is testing Job.

Anyway, Satan keeps on bringing unfortunate events to Job so that he will lose faith in God. It's sort of like an experiment: Satan tries to find the right ingredient to have Job lose faith in God. Satan tries many things: He takes away his livestock, his servants, and even all his children. While still suffering from all this, Satan pushes it a little more by giving Job horrible sores all over his body, and his wife tries to persuade him to curse God. But, none of these ingredients seem to have worked on Job even though he suffered a lot, for he always praised God, no matter what.

Although the story of Job isn't very exciting because it is a bit predictable, some parts of it were still interesting. I think it had too much text, but I guess it was generally okay.

Pointless Stubborness

The first twenty chapters of the Exodus talks about the incredible and famous story of Moses, where he divided the sea into two with his blessed staff. Well, here's a short summary of the full version of it.

There was this cruel pharaoh in the land of Egypt, and he technically had all the descendants of Israel enslaved. One day, he just decided to force all male children to be killed. Moses, of course, survived while he was still a baby but was separated from his parents. He, like most heroes, managed to survive until he was older and fled to another place where he could live in peace. But, God soon gave him a sort of a magical staff and ordered him to help save the kids of Israel by leading their way out of Egypt. It's interesting how even though God has enough power to do many things, he always chooses a human to do things for him just to test them. To make it even more challenging this time, he made the pharaoh more stubborn every time some kind of consequence occurred:

"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go." Exodus 10:20

It's funny how God was technically the one who created the disasters every time the pharaoh denied giving the children of Israel when it was he who hardened the heart of the pharaoh so that he would keep denying Moses. I'd say it was pointless. Almost all the people of the town suffered just because of this pointless situation. There were plagues of frogs, lice, flies, and later on, locusts (there were other consequences but let's not get so detailed). My point is that it's just a bit ironical how God is technically the one creating the problems just to test a guy.

Anyways, summarizing the end, Moses is finally able to get the people and he travels to go somewhere safe. He divides the sea into two with the divine powers of his staff and allows everyone to cross it. After they reach actual land, the water closes in on the Egyptians sent by the pharaoh that were chasing the people of Moses and they simply drown in the sea.

It was fun reading this part of The Bible since it had the story that I was fond of when I was young and also since I never really read the original text that it came from. Besides that, I also noticed how throughout the chapters, God tends to show himself less in front of humans. In the beginning, he would just directly talk to them, but now he has less contact and mostly sends angels to communicate with humans. Anyway, I like the Exodus until now.

A Sinful Blessing

The story gets more and more complicated. God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. But, when he goes up on a mountain and is about to kill his own son with a knife, one of the angels of God comes to stop him and tells him this:

"Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." Genesis 22:12

It's like as if God was only testing Abraham to see whether he would do anything for him no matter what. It's interesting. Supposedly, it's not right to kill anyone whatever the cause (especially your own son). It's actually a sin. But, God was grateful that Abraham was about to kill his own son just for him. I'd say it's a bit selfish. They even bless Abraham and all his future descendants just because of that:

"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." Genesis 22:17

Anyway, later on, Abraham sends his servant to go get a wife for Isaac. And, so he does. After Isaac marries the woman (Rebekah), Abraham dies and everything is left for him. Now, here comes the interesting part where a new story begins. Rebekah and Isaac give birth to two sons, Jacob and Esau. Isaac likes Esau more since he hunts, and Rebekah prefers Jacob just because. And, of course there has to be some kind of problem in this kind of situation. Isaac asks Rebekah to bring Esau so that he can bless him. But, Rebekah brings Jacob instead and since Isaac was turned blind, he accidentally blesses Jacob.

I've noticed that all the problems in Genesis always occurred because of the flaws of humans (mostly because of their curiosity or their selfishness). It's like as if each little story of the Genesis is showing us our bad side so that we learn what is right and what is wrong to do. In other words, it's like teaching us many little morals.

Besides being written in long unnecessary riddles, the book is quite easy to understand. But, as I read it more detailed, I found out many different things that I haven't noticed before. My point is that The Bible is a great book to take time reading carefully, not only because of your religion.

Generations and Generations of Problems

After many generations following Noah, humans suddenly got the idea to build a city/tower in Babel that would be tall enough to reach Heaven. But, God randomly decided to give different languages to each of the humans so that they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. I find it a bit funny how it's always human curiosity that starts some kind of a problem or situation and then comes God to try to fix it in some way. So anyway, they were now scattered all around the world and the city was never finished.

About ten generations after a guy named Shem, came the descendant, Abram. This is where it starts to get a bit complicated, so here's the long story in a short version. Abram, Sarai (his wife), and Lot (his brother's son) journey to the south because God tells Abram to leave and promises him that he will make him a very good nation. So, they go through Canaan and later reach Egypt. But, they are soon sent out because of a wife/sister problem of Sarai. So, they go back to Canaan where Abram has a son with Hagar and is named Ishmael. God comes and visits Abram and Sarai. For some weird reason, he decides to change their names to Abraham and Sarah. Then, he decides to destroy a city called Sodom since almost everyone was sinful, but of course, Lot and his family lives. Anyway, going back to Sarah and Abraham, they have a child named Isaac. Since there is a lot of jealousy and problems between Sarah and Hagar, Hagar and her son, Ishmael, are sent to another place. But soon enough, Ishmael somehow manages to become the leader of a tribe after getting an Egyptian wife.

The Genesis seems to be very interesting in many ways. It's sort of like millions of different short stories that are all connected to each other. Almost every 4 chapters, there are always new main characters throughout the book (except God). It's a bit strange since the previous characters are never mentioned afterward, as if they were forgotten after many generations. Not only that, but the main problem of the story also keeps on changing.

I also noticed how most of these short stories explain how some of the things in our world started. One example would be the part about Babel:

Gen. 11
7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
[8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
[9] Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Here, the text shows how the humans ended up scattered around the world with their different languages.

Anyway, the story of The Bible seems to have been a bit rushed, especially in the beginning. Every chapter, something new appears. But, even though some parts seems short, they all seem to state out or show what The Bible wants to show. Each little story of The Bible telling us an explanation of how something started or teaching us a moral.

The New Beginning

A lot more problems start to occur on Earth throughout chapters three to nine from the Genesis. Adam and Eve give birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. Since God seemed to prefer Abel over Cain because of his lovely sacrifices, Cain ends up killing his own brother. God of course, showing his human-like emotions, curses Cain and sends him to another place, away from his parents:

Gen. 4
[9]And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
[10] And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
[11] And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
[12] When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

Cain, then has generations of children and grandchildren, until the famous Noah is born. At the time when Noah lived, everyone seemed to be evil and unjust, so God decided to bring a flood to kill them all. As simple as that. But, he wanted Noah, the kind and generous one, to live, so he gave instructions to survive the flood:

Gen. 6
[18] But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
[19] And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
[20] Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
[21] And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
[22] Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

So, Noah happily did what he had to do and managed to survive the flood along with his family and a pair of each of all the animals on Earth. After the flood was over and Noah stepped on land once again, God decided to never do that again and made a covenant with Noah and all his future descendants.

No offense to anyone but God seems to be a bit bipolar sometimes throughout the Genesis. He seems to be very human-like and gets angry many times. Second of all, I kind of find it a bit odd how he suddenly just decides to kill everyone on Earth but leaves one alive. Afterward, he realizes that he shouldn't do it again. Anyway, The Bible seems more interesting when you analyze it as if it were any normal book.

Translating the Beginning

The Bible by King James seems to have been written in a way so that people would understand and comprehend easier. But, there still are a few confusing things. The reason isn't only because of how it's written but also because it's a translation in the point of view of King James.

The first two chapters talk about the beginning of the world and humanity. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Then, what confused me a bit was how God's name changed to LORD God on the second chapter, when he was creating the first man. I think that LORD God is written only in parts where he has an actual physical appearance or when he shows some kind of human-like feature, and God is written when he's more of an unknown, mysterious being, powerful than anything (superior to men). Anyway, there was something else that I also realized in this part:

[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
[23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

This doesn't make sense. How can the word, woman, be created because of the word, man, if English didn't even exist at that time? As a matter of fact, I don't think any phonetic language existed in the very beginning of mankind. I'm just saying. Anyway, I think I noticed these things because I started reading The Bible as if it were just an ordinary book. I think this will help me analyze the book a lot better.