A story about reading important stories

Once, when I was taking notes for a disabled student at uni (maybe not so much like the recording angel), one of the professors was talking about the book 'Gulliver's Travels'. 

The psychology professor in question was a force of nature and not unlikable, spending bleak months reading Jung and interpreting his own dreams in deep secret diaries. Everything you would want a professor to be really. Not an unfriendly guy but not without faults.

He said (about the book Gullivers Travels and hating the Jack Black comedy film he had been forced to see) - "What kind of hermeneutic should we approach this text with?"

Hermeneutics remains just a turgid/jargon word for 'How you read a text' - usually it is applied to the Bible. It's jargon - a word which is meant to exclude, used by liberal elites and right wing academics (do they exist?). Or religious arses.

Now, you may, or may not have some dusty Bible app. An app with cobwebs all over it, or at least being put in the background to increase the performance of your phone. Maybe you even have some physical one. I don't know - I'm blind to your lives. And, by the way - colourblind.


I'll get to my point - I'm really convinced that because God created us as story-loving (and creating) humans that we should read the Bible in story or narrative terms, rather than mathematically, esoterically, linguistically, etc etc etc (although these things have their place within story).

Literally (!) we are created to form our lives and other lives through story - this, I'm 99% sure is how we are supposed to read the Bible.

By the way, I would extend this to psychology (and even the other disciplines) too. Rather than CBT or mindfulness etc, etc, etc, we should approach our own lives and mental health through a narrative lens. For example, in history/anthropology/sociology - what is the theory of evolution? It is a story. Whether it is a better one than creation or not is your decision. Metanarratives eh?

If the hermeneutic God wants was not through story then why did he speak in parables? So tell your stories. And even his. 

Let's go further so that I can really share my pearls of folly before lovely people....

God said something like, 'In your patience you possess your souls'.

One woman said to me after I said that... 'I think I mustn't have a soul then'. It was a witty response, but I replied, 'Yes, you do.' (That's a quick story too.)

We are interpreting our whole life stories through patience and a kind of wrapping up of periods of difficulty etc into a few words, despite our many thoughts and actions.

Let's go even further - so that my pearls of folly at least help whatever we are - if we are seeing our life stories through patience (along with the lives of others) then I ask this question -

To what extent are we patient with God (as he is with us)? By which I mean, we're pretty patient with God at times too you know? (Although, I guess, he wins in the patience/endurance competition.)

Why does he have to win everything?

Let's go one step further please - if we are supposed to approach the Bible narratively, then how the hell are we supposed to approach God (being as he is scary)? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, they say. (Errr... okay... makes him really approachable doesn't it?).

Tell your story. It's important. You are significant. (Unless you are an arrogant vocal arse, in which case please keep shtum for a while. Yes, government, I'm talking to you. With your banning of basic freedoms and the rumours of corruption).

Here's another rumour for you (rumours are stories) - God is going to help us.

Please tell your story.

 

Day 199 - About not reading the Bible

 

I really cannot tolerate much from the Bible at present and am not reading it at all. It is part of the strike, but also because I have no appetite for it. I can endure the most encouraging, sanitised bits presented before me, but even then, they seem largely useless to me.

My Bible, like that of many people, is simply gathering dust on a shelf. This supposed source of all truth lies neglected.

‘But it’s God’s love letter!’

Have you read it!?

Reading the Bible is one of those things you are ‘supposed’ to do after becoming a believer.

‘What do I do now?’

“Read the Bible. Go to church. Pray.’

‘Can I do anything else?’

‘Errr… you just focus on those things, and everything else will fall into place.’

‘But…’

‘Shhhh.’

I can read a few of the encouraging social media memes with Bible scriptures in them. Some of the quotes still sound hopeful to me. ‘And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age’. That kind of thing. But my brain is still full of the more unhelpful scriptures from the Bible. Rebukes, warnings and condemnations. And way too much about hell. It is only human to not be able to ignore these parts.

Maybe I’ll start reading it again if the prayer strike ends. But that only ends when past prayers get answered. And, at the moment, instead of anything approaching that happening, there is simply a lot of grief and difficult situations to tackle. Every day.

So, no brownie points for me for reading the Bible or praying. I’m not winning the spiritual holiness competition. Although I am still going to online church (or ‘the picket line’ as I call it). Maybe that should placate the ire of the Almighty. Or perhaps we just present a picture of God to everyone we meet and those of us who fear an angry God will find the evidence of him all around us. As the Bible says, ‘Seek and you shall find’.

I simply do not find the tone of the scriptures helpful at the moment. The Bible can sound authoritative – I mean, it is written in that way. The only other book which I have read which has a similar tone is the Quran. But that book has too little about love in it for my taste.

If the Bible is the map or manual for life which people say it is, why do believers argue about almost every direction given there? Also, it’s a very big ask to place all of your entire life under the discipline and authority of an ancient book which you have effectively learned after you learned to read. This goes for any book.

I can happily look at the book of nature and think about the Creator. But even reading that, there is evidence for a God who is not as benevolent as I would hope him to be. Nature can be red in tooth and claw.

And it’s okay for the Bible to tell everyone who reads it to repent, such things are allowed to be expressed. But am I to go around and tell everyone to repent too? No-one likes people who go around doing that. People have got their own consciences, some of them don’t need extra ones. Anyway, repentance is a journey.

Plus, what if you are in the process of repenting? The Bible’s advice – repent again? You can’t just broadcast that message to everyone – people are individuals and in different stages.

I do think that we present an image of the God we hold to be true. I had always hoped that he might be good, gentle and loving and the source of unconditional love. They say that this is the good news – that he really is all these things, as evidenced in the actions of Christ (maybe not so much in the words). But, if that is the case, why do we so rarely seem to experience this fabled love? And if we do not experience it – how on earth are we expected to share it with others? What is the point in telling people that they can live life in all its fullness if we are not doing so ourselves? But that’s the promise in the Bible – believe and you will have life in all its fullness. And if that doesn’t work out, what do you do then? Is it just user error if you do not? It’s not as if you can complain to anyone…

‘But you said ask and you shall receive, God. It seemed pretty clear.’

‘This is an angel here – we’re going to have to put you on hold again for a while. You’re number 234,323,221 in the complaints queue. Are you okay waiting? It’s sometimes slightly quicker if you message us online? The ‘answer prayers button ASAP’ button has been greyed out on your phone you say?

I’m not sure why, no. Have you tried clearing your cache?’