Wednesday, January 31, 2007

If You Think About the Bible Enough, It's Insane.

I find it necessary sometimes to read the Bible as if you were reading it for the first time. Like it was a brand new thing, fresh and thick and brimming with all sorts of strange data. I was fed Bible stories from a very young age so it often becomes difficult to look at these tales with a sense of authenticity and presence.

The music of The Beatles offers an idea akin to this phenomenon. I and almost the rest of humanity have been so highly exposed to the sounds of The Beatles, that we forget just how good those sounds were when they came out. Since I wasn't around in February of 1964 to experience The Beatles for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show, when an estimated 40% of the U.S. population watched them, I can't fully understand their significance, and never will. I've grown up with these catchy songs and give almost no heed to them when they appear in various commercials and movies. I felt pretty apathetic to The Beatles for a long time and never really understood what everyone else seemed to get so easily. For me its like thinking about the atomic bomb. Yeah I know there was the huge bomb that blew up in Hiroshima and killed a bunch of people and it was real crazy and whatever. But if you actually think about it, I mean really sit there and allow the facts to present themselves, your head about blows off. To envision 90,000 people dying instantly becomes almost too much to handle, too insane.

The same is true of The Holy Word. I was reading in Acts ch. 5 today and thinking about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira. Let me see if I can refresh your memory on this.

1But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. 3But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4"While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.

Three hours after this, his wife comes in and is struck down dead as well. If you have any knowledge of the book of Acts, you know that it is the beginning of the church immediately following the Ascension of Christ. The disciples had just been given the Holy Spirit and thousands were being added to their number each day. They were all living together as a community, selling all they had and serving one another. Ananias was trying to help by giving some money to the disciples, but lied about giving it all. Several things seem to be at work here. It is highly unlikely that this was the single reason God chose to take their lives. I can think of several purposes of their death.

1. They were most likely engaged in more serious sin.
2. They were probably giving for the wrong reasons, otherwise why would they lie?
3. To make an example of those that don't fully submit to God.
4. To instill the fear of God into the possibly prideful disciples.

Despite these reasons, this whole thing seems totally unfair. Don't you wonder where these people are? I mean are they in Hell because of this? Everyday I am selfish and don't always do what the Lord tells me. Do I deserve to be immediately struck down? I'm trying to decide where the forgiveness is. People die all the time but you don't ever know it was because they sinned. Here you know they died because they sinned once.

This gets me back to my first point, that The Bible is insane. Its a good sorta insane though. At least it makes me think about things, which is good for me because I like to think about insanity. If you havn't read this way in awhile, I advise it. If you also want to rediscover The Beatles like I did, listen to their newest release "Love." The all too familiar tracks have been remastered and remixed to allow for an open mind. So go and read and listen and have your head blown off.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Its pretty hard sometimes

to organize your thoughts and expell them onto a computer screen. I often find myself staring blankly at this glowing box, analyzing every possible way I could convey an idea. I usually get really confused with verb tenses and get so frustrated that I just quit, and move on to other things.

Today I am attempting the describe the old man that operates the elevator in my building. eMi is housed in a very old building most likely erected circa 1926. There is this ancient elevator that is immediately to your left after you enter the front door, and move up a flight of stairs. When I first saw it, I passed by quickly and gave it little notice, as I was too busy rushing into my soon to be office. When I looked at it more closely later, it was revealed to me that this was not any old elevator.

The elevator is built inside of a screen, much like the Arabic window opening known as a mashrabiya. This opening allows for people to see out of the structure when within it, while hiding them from the view of others. This concept is predicated on the nature of our eyes, and our inability to see dark areas, when viewing them from a bright place. This is all somewhat irrelevant to describing this elevator, but it seemed an interesting tangent. Back to the vertical circulatory device. It is really old and has to be manually operated by someone that is familiar with this ancient technology. This someone is a very old man, that looks much too old to be doing anything other than eating or watching cool tv shows.

This man sits there all day and transports people between floors. This is his only responsibility. He sits in a chair in the elevator and watches people pass by all day. When I am an old man I hope to do something rad like that, just chill and hang out with people. He seems less than content than I would expect however. Every time I see him, he seems to get older and sadder and less friendly. I wonder if this is because he realizes he is dying and is left alone everyday at the elevator to think back on his long life and all the oppurtunites he missed and the shots he never took. I think this might be what he is feeling but I have no way of knowing. After all, I'm not an old man. I think I will become friends with this guy. Maybe he can tell me some cool stories about the old days, and sneakers, and how he used to be a good boxer. I would like that.