Holy books, batman!

here's a true confession--i watch joyce meyer on tv. the lady evangelist. i have been attracted to her teaching for many years because of her sincerity and the simplicity of her message. a friend of mine calls her "the Christian 12 step program".
am i some kind of fundamentalist bible thumping maniac that homeland security has now issued a blanket "watch list" about? no. i don't attend church and i don't witness my faith to people, other than to live and treat people in a way that is harmonious with my beliefs. i believe there is a God and i believe that Jesus was a divine figure. get over it.
back to my point--many years ago when joyce was on the tube she was talking about how people should read the Bible. got me thinking. i had been brought up in a church and slept dutifully through my little confirmation classes but basically other than remembering some of the names of the books in the bible, the ten commandments and a few cliff notes on the teachings of Jesus, i didn't know anything about it. it struck me as kind of stupid that i lived in a country the foundations of whose current government were based on a book i knew nothing about. so i poked around and found my old Bible that had been given to me when i joined my church (funny how we can ignore a holy book but can't bring ourselves to throw it in the trash, isn't it?) and set about the task. i actually ended up reading it twice. it was a kind of life changing experience--but not in some big flashy revelatory way. more like something that slowly seeped into my head over a period of time. a lot of it was esoteric gobbledeygook to me--i just kept reading. the prophets were weird beyond belief and i understood very little of what was written beyond the fact that at some point Elijah went flying through the air (in a UFO if you are of the Roswellian crowd) and John the Divine (i think thats who it was) saw a bunch of totally freaky things that had lots of heads and swords and seals and stuff; which would ultimately prove very inspiring to charles manson.
and some of the Bible is about as compelling as the manhattan phone directory--which is basically what the book of Numbers is. its a census--and reading it is about as enjoyable as hitting your thumb with a hammer. Leviticus is sort of like spending a day in a law library reading all the rules and regs. Genesis and Exodus are pretty interesting and accessible--Adam and Eve, Abraham and Issac--Moses, the plagues, Pharoh and all that stuff. Thanks to Charlton Heston thats all pretty easy to figure out.
The amazing thing was, when i finally got to the end of it, the Bible was more than a book. there is a symmetry of theme that runs throughout it that is deep and full of mystery. while i didn't understand all the stuff that was in the Bible--i came away from reading it through understanding the POWER of the document to influence people's lives.
We all know the story of the life of Christ--born in a manger--behold, halleluia and all that jazz--throws a fit in a church, pisses off a bunch of politicians (basically the religious leaders) who get a roman guy to do their dirty work for them so they can get rid of him. the roman guy could care less--he just wants the politicians to shut up and leave him alone so he can go eat some pizza or something--so he does what they want. what is this guy to him? nobody famous, nobody who can do him any favors--and if the guy is gone he can write in his next report to rome that all is quiet on the Jewish front. and the guy himself seems resigned to his fate, so whats the big deal. let's light this candle and get things over with. so they beat him up good first, have some sadistic fun at his expense (too bad TV wasn't around--everybody could have had a lot more vicarious violence and Jesus could have taken a bus to Golgotha) and execute him in a singularly grisly way that wasn't anything atypical at the time.
but something happened to me when i actually read the story from beginning to end, and in the context of everything that i had read in the Bible up to that point. I CRIED. I couldn't put it down. the tragedy of the moment suddenly came home to me in a way i had never appreciated before. i suddenly understood the meaning of that one life. the power of a single person to effect great change, and the consequences that can befall people like that. the incredible beauty that comes with a willingness to sacrifice everything you have--even your life--for the greater good, and the terrible loss that befalls all of us when someone who is genuinely willing to do that is asked to carry it through.
whether you believe the rest of the story as a literal truth or not is your own business. but i believe that the story as a whole shows us that it is possible to live a transcendant life. that this person spent his time on this earth as a living example of how that can be done. and it wasn't just the New Testament that made me understand this--it was HOW the story fit within the context of the entire book. People refer to the Bible sometimes as a living work--and I understand what that means now. and its something i can't explain--you have to experience it yourself.
Someday i want to read other Holy Books. i have read a translation of the Dao and came away with the same kind of feeling. i believe that these Holy books are not written just by people, but by people whose hands and minds were guided by a source beyond their mundane lives and existance. most people in the creative arts experience this kind of "guidance" at rare times in their lives. i have felt it myself a couple times--enough to know that it truly is there--regardless of where you think it actually comes from--it does exist. the Bible was written by many people, and compiled by committees of other people who may or may not have been inspired. but the sheer mystery of the story survives by virtue of its magnitude if nothing else.
so i encourage you to read it--not to be converted or anything--just to experience it.
after reading it you may decide to learn more about the book itself at that point--i was curious so i got a little book that explains the history of the Bible itself--how it came to be. it enhanced my knowledge of the history of the book, but it didn't really change how i experienced its message.
if its the right time for you personally to do this, you will see this post and begin. have a safe journey.