~Sigh~

I find this to be very...disapointing. I know that i need to do these blog posts twice a week, and yet i still can't get into the habit. It's aggrivating to say the least, knowing that i can do this, and i should do this...frankly i have to do this for a good grade, and yet I can't really remember to keep it up. I haven't really had time to read the bible anyway >.> I mentioned this before but since the beginning of the school year all my time has been wrapped up in work, sleep, and a major project I've been working on for the past month. I suppose I should be entirely forthright in these explanations, you should know Professor sexson why i am doing so abysmally on this blog thing.

Well the project for the past month was to make a full body costume (seen in action above). I started with a box of fur and absolutely no knowledge of sewing besides the skill of threading a needle. Over the past month I have basically designed and hand sewn the costume from stratch in order to make a deadline which came and went this past weekend and I am rather happy with the result.

I suppose i ought to feel guilty, especially considering that if i put as much effort and time into reading the bible as I did this suit, i could probably have been done with it by now. However at the end of the day I did get to run around in a big fox suit, and that is it's own reward really.

It's been hard getting into the bible, Genesis is so...dreary. It's not the foundation for a kind loving religion where you feel wanted and loved. It's quite a few stories of violence, rape, murder, trickery, and some all together evil things. Not really my cup of tea to be honest. Though I must admit Joseph's story was a nice come back. He has character development! He starts as a whiney little taddle tale that's daddy's favorite, and through his many life trials, which he overcomes with human perserverance with the blessing of god (nothing superhuman) and becomes a powerful man that actually does what's right GASP! he forgives his brothers without some sneaky coniving backstabby reason. Sure as david Plotz points out, he makes a terrible dictator, probably ruining it for everyone later on, but at least on the personal level he has a heart...something i'm not sure i could say for the other characters.

That leads to my reason for this blog. While i haven't really had the time to read the bible, i picked up the Good Book on my way back from Seattle this weekend. I finished the summary of genesis. First I would like to comment on how refreshing it is to read. I don't need to set aside hours of alone time in order to read this book and understand it, as i do with the bible. Plotz has a style that almost seems like you're having a conversation. He's just telling you what his experience reading the bible was like as you hang out. My one disagreement is he seems to take things to literaly or i don't know, he seems to be searching for meaning where i have come to the conclusion there is none. For instance in his examination of the story of Noah, he asks why God does such a terrible thing. What has mankind done to deserve genocide. If God wanted to teach us humility and the fact we are dependant on him aren't there better ways? Where's the moral here?
I personally don't think there is one. It's a sort of Urmyth (is that the right word? i'll pretend it is anyway) I think it did actually happen, sort of. Once upon a time there was a big flood. Maybe even a few. It was so devastating that it passed through generations of storytellers until one day, instead of breaking the river banks and flooding the village, killing all the chickens in town, it flooded the world! I mean after allthere's many many many myths about the great flood.
despite that little disagreement I quite like Plotz's style. He tells his opinion on things without making it seem more than opinion, not without citing and quoting the bible anyway. I liked how he came to the conclusion of many writiers are responsible for the bible, or really, many editors. It doesn't really make me feel guilty for not continueing with as much enthusiasm as i should have however. In summary Genesis really is rather...well like i said dreary. It's just such a spectacular hypocracy to the idea of the bible being the ultimate book of goodness and morality. It doesn't help the bible's case to see where Plotz points out every point of what could easily be considered evil.
Well i shall toil away at the bible again at some point, and I shall certainly try to read as much plotz as I can now that I have found myself with freetime again. Pity really. I was getting really good at sewing.