According to Wikipedia, the band Dishwalla got its name from an Indian term for a person providing cable television to a neighborhood. Now, because Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone, they are notorious for factual mistakes. So, whether this story is true or not, I don't really know.But here is what I do know, to me, whether this is literally true or not is not important. The value of how this all comes together to make a greater truth, even if the facts are wrong, is what I value.
Here's something that will make my fundamentalist friends crazy. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are not factually true. They are what is known as "The Hebrew Creation Myth." Written during the Babylonian captivity, these stories are how the nation of Israel differentiated themselves from their captors and their God from their captor's gods.
Every ancient society has a creation story. Most ancient cultures have flood stories. These are common tales that transcend races and cultures. But here's the kicker, even if the Genesis stories are not literally true, they are eternally true because they are the basic stories of how the Lord God relates to creation and the people.
In Babylon and Egypt, the gods are tricksters and were tricked themselves by people. The Hebrew story is of a God who seeks a loving relationship with creation and the people. This is the difference.
Today we continue to worship a God of love, a God of peace, a God of mercy, a God of grace. None of this changes if creation didn't really happen the way the myth says it did. (Since there are two different creation stories in Genesis it may even be better to say it didn't really happen either way the myth said it did.) God doesn't change.
The truth of the myth may not be literal (sorry to my fundamentalist friends) but the truths within the story are eternal, and isn't that more important?
Art Direction for "pet your friends" by Sunja Park. Photo by John Brenneis
Before getting onto your blog I got a Google Blog warning that the content might not be appropriate and to proceed only at my own peril. I hope that my blog gets such a warning soon, but then, I haven't said as directly as you that there is No Fun in Fundementalism.
ReplyDeleteNot literally true? Gee, watch the debates tonight. "Government" in action, either way, in any case, whatever...democracy: hip hip hooray!
Let me say that I enjoy visiting a blog that is "under review" by at least one of our Masters--whether that Master is Google, the Bush Administration, or simply an old hold-over from the Nixon Administration hiding out in the hills like some Japanese soldiers did after WWII was over. Gosh--who would have imagined that one of our local vicars would be the object of review! I will certainly stay tuned!
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