The Holy Book
Books have been a source of knowledge for thousands of years. Whether written on papyrus, animal hide, paper, or an electronic device (such as the laptop I’m using to type this), they have been a great means of conveying information. So great in fact, that according to several religions, God Himself (or Herself) used a book to convey His/Her will to humanity.
I am, of course, referring to The Bible.
There are many stories, ideas, and laws written in The Bible concerning a wide variety of topics. Many people have read The Bible and a great deal of them try to live their lives in adherence to some, if not all, of its teachings. Yet somehow, many of these people live extremely different, and often opposing lives from one another. You see, they have drawn different conclusions from the very same book.
It would appear that The Bible does not, in and of itself, give us a clear perception into an objective reality. Rather, the reader constructs an “objective reality” based on their understanding of the text.
Even if The Bible is the divine word of God, the understanding formulated by the reader, would obviously be subjective. It is important, therefore, to know what is actually written in the book, versus that which is learnt from it.
We are often taught passages or stories from The Bible at a very young age, before we have the mental capacity to differentiate the written facts from the teacher’s understanding. A teacher can easily mistranslate, misunderstand, or misinterpret what is written. Even if the teacher is incredibly proficient, chances are there exists an alternative reading of the passage, with entirely different implications.
The Bible, when misunderstood, can easily lead one to beliefs that are not necessarily true. This can give way to judgments, biases, and prejudices that are based on what you think is the divine word of God.
I’ll give an example of this.
A few years back I sat next to a woman on a flight to New York who was of the opinion that God wanted African American slavery. Apparently, she was taught that Noah’s son Ham was black, and that the African American plight was merely a fulfillment of Noah’s curse (Genesis Chapter 9). To many people this will sound absurd, regardless of whether or not they’ve read the Bible. She, however, firmly believed that African Americans deserved to be slaves, as penance for their ancestor’s wrongdoing. She was so certain that this was clear from the Biblical story that I had to literally find a Bible just to convince her that nowhere is the color of Ham's skin mentioned. She had learnt it that way, and to her the Bible practically said the words “African American”. That’s how certain she was. There was no swaying her from her convictions until she actually saw the original text with her own eyes. At that point she realized the story in her head was just her teacher’s explanation. Only then were we able to begin a discussion about the horrific injustice that was slavery.
It’s likely that most people have a warped perception of reality based on (or supported by) a misunderstanding of a biblical verse or story. We must therefore ask ourselves how we developed our beliefs and judgments, and whether or not they have a strong foundation in reality. Even those who are Bible believers, and are aware of a Bible passage that supports their belief, should question whether or not The Bible can be read, translated, or understood in a different way. Chances are that it can.
Because that's the strange thing about books.
They never read themselves.
