The 'Holy' Bible?

I have avoided talking about this topic ever since I became a Freemason. After all, I promised to be prudent, temperate, and discrete. I also promised that I would respect the religion of others.

All that said, a man has his limits and I feel compelled to make comment. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people insist on referring to the Bible as the 'Holy' Bible.

There is a particular irrational system built within Freemasonry that I have largely ignored. We are 'told' that it is open to men of all religious faiths, so long as they profess in a belief in God. I met these criteria, especially since I particularly like the term 'Great Architect of the Universe' since that phrase has a close affinity with my personal belief.

Personally, I believe in a form of Intelligent Design since I believe the Universe itself to be a creative and intelligent entity. The fact that I am, myself, a creative and intelligent entity within Universe I find of particular significance.

At a personal level, I do not 'believe' in the 'Holy' Bible. I believe it is the writings of generally savage and brutal primitives who lacked the benefit or the knowledge we have today. In fact all of our modern understanding of life, the Universe, and everything comes from a field of inquiry that was suppressed and threatened with horrific death and torture for over a thousand years.

Without the protection of organizations like Freemasonry, no form of enlightenment would have ever occurred. If you read the history of the Royal Society, and its affiliation and sponsorship by prominent Freemasons, you will find a close tie to be found. As well, Freemasonry has continued to be a champion of freedom of religion, freedom of thought, equality, and the right of every person to receive a proper education. These have been, and should continue to be, our core principles.

All that said, I remain confused by the frequent references to the 'Holy' Bible within Freemason ritual. Old Testament scripture is riddled throughout all of our rituals and, at least here in America, the book itself takes a prominent position as the sole testament of God.

I have had difficulties with this over time, and I still do yet today.

In general I have been able to let it slide. I realize that since I happened to adopt a Western Mystery school (as opposed to learn downward facing dog in Yoga) I acknowledge there must be some compromises.

So, why am I writing this post now? This evening I saw the documentary "Jesus Camp". There was nothing in it surprising to me; been there, done that. I have seen evangelical Christianity throughout my whole life and I know what goes on there.

I also realize that any person who believes, with a straight face, that life began on earth 6,000 years ago is an absolute and total freaking idiot. How can you respond to people like this?

Well, unfortunately, there are a lot of ignorant people in the world today; yes even in 2007. Just as there were ignorant people 5,000 years ago when various parts of the 'holy' bible were written; by generally ignorant savages who wouldn't know DNA from a gnat on their ass; these were people who had no understanding of cosmology, physics, biochemistry, or any other scientific discipline. Their understanding of the facts about the nature and fabric of reality, which we have only been able to discern by benefit of the enlightenment and centuries of scientific progress, was woefully inadequate.

How anyone in the year 2007 could seriously expect this decrepit archive to be relevant to modern life is beyond me. Don't get me wrong. There actually are some lovely pieces of scripture, even within the Old Testament, but when it comes to matters of law, or explaining life, the Universe, and everything, it is a horribly misguided and error filled repository. It is also, quite often, horrifically brutal, immoral, and depicts a genocidal, savage, selfish, self-absorbed, insecure, brutal, ego maniacal, killer as its 'God'. Idi Amin, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, and Genghis Khan combined wouldn't hold a candle to the amount of savage, and brutal genocide attributed to 'God' in the Old Testament (from the grand act of killing, well, nearly everyone on the planet in the alleged 'flood', to the killing over every first born child in Exodus, to the complete and total destruction of every man, woman, child, and beast, in Joshua, or even the petty killing of 42 children who were ripped limb from limb by two bears; simply because they had the audacity to tease a bald man that 'God' liked.)

So, in addition to my pet peeve that the ‘Holy’ bible is constantly in use during Freemason rituals (even though we are supposed to be open to men of *ALL* religious faiths) I have a much greater concern. I can cut Freemasonry some slack from the fact that (A) we don’t discuss religion, anyone’s religion, in lodge and (B) no one cares what religion or faith you subscribe to and (C), and probably the most important, is that Freemasonry has largely been a champion of Free-Thought and Enlightenment principles throughout its history. That is not to mention promoting charity, brotherly love, relief, truth, and the public school system. So, yeah, I can cut them a lot of slack. Just because the ‘Holy’ Bible is on the altar is not to presume anyone cares whether I believe in it or not.

Sadly, my real concern goes back to the Evangelical Christians who continue to cut a swath of destruction in our society and culture. In the documentary ‘Jesus Camp’ I heard ministers lecture children, to the point of tears, about hell, damnation, abortion, sin, against evolution, public schools, free thought, and other self-described 'dangers'. I watched them worship an effigy of George Bush as if he were himself the returned Christ.

As I said, this isn’t news to me but it remains disconcerting nonetheless.

My particular pet peeve, and the point of this post, is the phrase The ‘Holy’ Bible.

Apparently, none of these people have ever actually read the damned thing. There is little within the Old Testament that could be described as ‘Holy’.

When we get to the New Testament we are on more solid theological ground. In general Christ’s message is positive and excellent. Just as it was when it was put forth by hundreds of religions before him and hundreds since. If you follow the generally acknowledged actual ‘teachings’ of Christ, which includes concepts like charity, brotherly love, relief, truth, forgiveness, compassion, hey, you are more than half way to being a Freemason.

However, when I watched the movie ‘Jesus Camp’ not a single one of these concepts was ever mentioned! We learned about war, hatred, sin, hell, and the evils of liberals (i.e. those people who actually try to live by Christ’s teachings.) There was nothing about love, peace, humility, compassion, forgiveness, or tolerance. Kick me if I'm wrong, but I honestly believe these are the true teachings of a follower of Jesus Christ; that is as opposed to worship an effigy of George Bush and tactics of guilt, fear, spiritual extortion, and systematic brainwashing.

It continues to shock me that evangelical Christians, who say Christ’s name ever third word, have no concept, expression, or understanding of his teaching!! Nor, do they practice them!! To every evangelical Christian in the world, I must politely remind you, that Christ, himself, *WAS A LIBERAL*! If you don’t realize this as a plain and simple fact, I can only say may God have mercy on your soul.

Heck, I can’t even say, necessarily, that I am not myself a Christian. I just may follow the teachings of Christ in his own words and as expressed in the Gnostic Gospels. Some day, if I ever became a Knight Templar (which requires you to be a Christian), I might be able to do so with clear conscience so long as I profess a belief in Jesus under the auspices of Gnostic teachings.

As I close I will leave you with two excellent references. The first is both scathing, accurate, as well as an eye opener. Some, however, might find it mean spirited. The second is no different than the first, except that it is presented in cartoon form and therefore brings out the absolute absurdity of the words in the Old Testament along with a great sense of humor.

The best reference for why the ‘Holy’ Bible is no such thing is:

The Skeptics Annotated Bible. This is the complete bible, word for word (no changes) but is highlighted and hyperlinked to point out the absurdities within this brutal document.

The second is the ‘Brick Testament’. The image at the top of this post is from a particular passage in Old Testament scripture. It is a piece of scripture that every Freemason knows and, I am sad to report, I have to memorize and deliver as part of my second degree lecture.

The link to the complete segment can be found here. Judges 12:1

Finally, before I close, I feel I would be remiss if I didn't cull out just a few examples of where the 'Holy' Bible is no such thing.

I will begin with my favorite case study. The following scripture comes straight from the 'Holy' Bible, word for word. I believe this to be a perfect example because it is both highly immoral and patently absurd on the face of it. You be the judge for yourself.

Kings 2: 2:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going
up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him,
and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the
name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare
forty and two children of them.

Kings 2: (6:28-29, 33)"So we boiled my son, and did eat him."Women killed,
boiled and ate their own children because of a plague that God sent, or as the
Bible puts it: "Behold, this evil is of the Lord."What the
Bible says about cannibalism

Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead

Exodus 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. 21:17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

Exodus: 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus: 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
20:11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
If a man has sex with his father's wife, kill them both.
20:12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

Joshua: 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. 6:24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

Chronicles 1: 21:14 So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men

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I could go own, you can go to the Skeptics Annotated Bible and read for yourself. Personally, I believe that the average person who calls themselves a Christian either never reads the bible or, more likely, only reads the New Testament. Of course, it's the people who *DO* read the Old Testament and consider it 'the word of God' that scare me. There is so much advice in the Old Testament about how to manage, control, punish, trade, and even kill your 'slaves' that there can be no doubt why this 'Christian' nation had slavery for such a long time and fought such a brutal war over it. To those in the South the believed then, and some probably still believe now, that their right to be a slave owner was a grant directly from God to his 'chosen' people. I need not conjecture who the 'chosen' ones were....