Thoughts on Genesis

One book down, sixty five to go.

I'm surprised how much of Genesis was familiar to me, considering I'd never read the entire book before. So has anyone read this but me? It's ridiculous. Seriously. I feel like the kid in The Emperor's New Clothes.

It's alarming how much influence the bible has over modern society. Take the creation myth. It spans two simpleton chapters. Is this really what creationists and intelligent design folks look to as proof of how we got here? I don't know how our story began either, but that doesn't mean God did it. The fact we don't know something is not proof that God did it. And I don't have to prove he *didn't* do it. In fact, I can't; the burden of proof is on the side making the claim. I also can't prove Jupiter is not full of cotton candy. If you think it is in fact full of cotton candy, it's on you to provide the evidence. I'm not wicked or immoral if I don't believe it. Same concept.

Abraham and his kin are nothing special. Actually they often act horribly, and yet they're the chosen people. Was circumcision, the symbol of their covenant with God, a new concept when the bible was written? If yes, why on earth would you agree to it as a token of your agreement with God or anyone else? Wouldn't you back away in horror instead? And if circumcision was known to the bible authors, weren't they simply writing about something they understood?

The bible is pretty plainly a product of its time. Rainbows weren't understood so they were described as God's cute little reminders to himself. We now have a straight forward scientific explanation for rainbows. This is one simple thing you can write off in the bible. If you dismiss this one thing as silliness, how do you buy the rest of it? If you also dismiss a talking snake, impossibly old people and Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt, where do you draw the line on what is "real" and what is not? OK, so maybe you write off the obvious baloney and hold up the bible as the ultimate reference for how we should behave. Well what about slavery, women as property, murder, rape, burning people alive, animal sacrifice and lots of other behavior that simply cannot be defended as moral?

I didn't find one good takeaway from the entire book of Genesis. On to Exodus.