Being vague is virtuous?

"Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

--H.L. Mencken

Alright, so I'm a little Hedonistic...

Since I posted something less than compelling yesterday, I figured that today I ought to find something a little more insightful to talk about. Well, if not insightful, at least something a little deeper than a passing grudge.

My "Bible as Literature" professor has some brilliant things to say that pertains to religion. What's great is that Gaines (my professor) does not focus on certain opinions or specific ideologies, but rather the Bible as a literary piece. Here are some things that I found interesting.

According to Gaines, the intro to the Bible, in it's original Hebrew translation, is NOT "In the beginning, when God created..." The actual translation is, roughly, "In the beginning, when God began to create" [italics mine].

Here's my own commentary to this little nugget of wisdom: This would imply an ongoing process, perhaps one that continues to this day. I have nothing negative to say about creationists, but I feel that this is an important concept to consider when it comes to the evolutionary process. Yes, I concede that my half-baked theory is bit of a stretch, but I myself have not come to any concrete conclusions concerning the meaning of the Bible, and I don't plan to. The Bible is marvelous, vague, and a total mystery, and I accept that. This brings me to something else that Gaines pointed out:

In Matthew and Luke, Jesus responds to often nagging questions in parables with more than one meaning. Christianity, as far as I know, is based on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and if this is in fact the case, I would assume that Christianity and all of it's assumptions may have multiple meanings. So nothing is certain. Perhaps, and this is just a theory, Christianity, and maybe other religions, ought to serve as guidelines. There's more to the Bible than the Ten (rather vague) Commandments.

Anyway, I don't myself as belonging to any religion (right now, anyway. I may one day reconsider), but I do find the Bible to be an exciting, very deep read, and if one allows to be, something special. Think of it as what it is--a book with complex, moving ideas--rather than a set of laws and certainties.