Genesis 8 - 11 (AKA. Where were we.)

On with it

Honestly, over this last week I have been super busy. The pressure is piling on at work. I have not been sleeping well for some unknown reason. I've been contemplating the meaning of many things. Through all that, I felt really down about religion today. I was standing during the opening worship today and had this overwhelming feeling of "this is all bullshit." Then sitting through the rest of the service didn't get any better, I found myself questioning the interpretation of the words of the bible at every turn.

So with that, I suppose, on with the questioning...

Genesis 8

After 40 days, God stopped the floods. Noah sent out birds to know if the water had dried up. I find this distinctly odd, supposedly at this point the ark is resting on a mountain, he should be able to simply look outside the ark and see if there is water. The only window was supposedly on top, but I would expect one to be able to climb out onto the top of the ark. This also makes me think that family nearly went batshit crazy after those 40+ days of being in that dark ark. It would make more sense to me if he looked out and saw nothing but devastation, so he sent out the birds to see if they could find plant life (Eve probe, a la Wall-E).

I still find it hard to palete the idea of "unquestioning obedience" that some use Noah as an example of.

Genesis 9

The animals are food for the humans, but the blood must be removed for that is for God. Then something about Noah getting drunk and cursing Caanan, his grandson. Why? Because Caanan's father saw Noah naked and told his brothers. His brothers took Noah a garment and walked backwards so they would not see him. Why seeing his father naked was so horrible, who knows. It doesn't even say they he intentionally did.

Genesis 10

Genealogy, boring.

Genesis 11

Apparently the descendants began work on a city. God claimed they could do anything and so he spread them across the earth and made them speak differing languages. Why? Cuz he is God.

And... more genealogy.

Bible critical

He is a bit sour about these chapters. Though he raises an entertaining point about the Tower of Babel, did God feel threatened? I also find it interesting that it uses "we", who else is going down to confuse the language of the people and spread them out? Angels?

Relevant Post

God and what we talk about

The reverence humming within us. The traditional way to talk about god, are there other ways?

A pastor is expected to talk about god, be inspiring, and tell people how to live their lives under the hand of God. What if that is outdated. Maybe they should be walking through a discussion.

People are gullible. I grew up on the trailing edge of the revolution that is the internet. I was raised to be aware that people do want to take advantage of you, they will deceive you. I am paranoid about physical security and I am paranoid about digital security. I even am paranoid about emotional security. Trust, in both directions, was a recurring theme in my first long term relationship. Even after being together for over a year it would sometimes rear its ugly head. So, to have people try and tell me there is this God thing and I am a sinner, maybe you can understand why I am unsure who the gullible one is. My career is dominated with the mindset of "Trust no one". I still am skeptic about high velocity creating lower pressure, though planes stay in the air so who am I to judge.

"[God] does not play dice" - Albert Einstein

Animals and plants are giant (in terms of atoms) replicating machines. One of our primary functions is to make another one of ourselves. It is a complex process that is not fully understood. Part of that replication adds consciousness, what exactly makes that possible is a mystery. For all we know, quantum state is important to this and our body through evolution has developed the ability to place many quantum components into the correct state.

There is also a lot of weird stuff that happens in the world. A lot of coincidences. No one can explain them all.

God is the sum of the unknown. It is what is left over after we explain everything we can.

I am still waiting for my eyes to open, waiting to see how God makes is important in my life.

God is the connection in us, between us.

I guess my biggest issue is not whether there is a God. It is whether God is how the people of the world describe him (Which this book somewhat is not about, yet it is because it is what we talk about).

God is a convenient theory, if there is no God then it doesn't matter. If there might be a God, you may as well mind your P's and Q's.