Reading-Great Blogging-Not so much

I'm on track to actually finish the Bible before the first of  next month. The blogging part is killing me; I am so far behind. So, the plan is to blog today about class and a few other interesting notes and hopefully jump back in tomorrow.

I found a beginning to an answer to my question about Enoch. It turns out there is a Book of Enoch. When I get a reliable copy I will make more info available. I think this book might clear up a lot of the questions I have been asking. However, it does bring me to questions concerning the omission of this book. That tiny little passage about Enoch raises so many questions, yet the book with more has been left out. I am wondering why. I am going to catch up on my blogging before I read it, but I think I found a copy. I am so excited to find out what happened. This maybe a great time to ponder the importance of employing a good editor.

Class on Tuesday was a whirlwind of people who use the Bible, how they use it, and the power of the book. This brings me back to a Lit Crit from last semester during which we discussed "performance language".  Some words create something by being said or written. I believe one example used in class was when people get married they make a promise and the words create the actual contract. The words create the legal union. The Bible is somewhat like that to many people. If something is in the Bible, according to them, then that is how it is and should be. If the Bible says people should live a certain way then to some there is no question. The power of words together with such passionate beliefs are amazing. Unfortunately, it seems that in some cases, there is not a positive outcome. It always surprised me that there were so many religious wars. After reading this far in the Bible (currently at Joshua 5) I now know that this book details a grisly repetition of violence and murder. God encourages people to kill when he is not doing the dirty work himself. It is no wonder people resort to violence. If the author was trying to mirror and give reason for people's tempestuous nature I think he a fine job. Some of the passages are difficult to read just because of the amount of killing. My fiance tends to use a quote quite a bit that might help put this into perspective.  In the 1993 movie The Man in the Iron Mask, the character D'Artagnan
advises, "Think not of who you kill, but what you allow to live" (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Iron_Mask). (ps.Yes, I used wikiquote. No, I usually do not use anything with wiki in it.) Maybe that is the way to get through these passages; by focusing on what God was allowing to thrive instead of what He was killing the story gets a little more palatable.