Open mind, insert thought

I just finished reading a fascinating book that was (ironically?) given to me for Christmas.  The title is Misquoting Jesus, and it takes a critical look at the Bible we English speakers read.  The upshot is that the New Testament has changed dramatically from the original texts (all of which are actually lost).  The source material available in any language was changed by the scribes who copied the texts in the early centuries of Christianity, and those changes stuck, ultimately giving us divergent "families" of texts that tell sometimes significantly different stories.

A few good examples: the King James Bible is based on a Latin translation of a single Greek version of the New Testament (and a heavily altered Greek version at that).  Earlier Greek versions, among the "closest" we have to the originals, leave out some fairly well-known stories: the famous "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" story and Christ's sweating blood before he is captured to be crucified, to name a couple.  Also, scribes often tried to reconcile the gospels, which means we don't have to grapple with the question of whether Jesus was an imperturbable figure (Luke's story) or a bit of a moody badass with a message (Mark's original story!).

I have always been fascinated with history and love to study religions, so I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Take a read through it, then go consult your Bible and see if it has a few of the incredibly well-researched footnotes that perhaps it should.  No version is perfect, but as for me, next time I want to read the Bible I'm likely to consult the NRSV.

Posted by Scott D. at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow, I'm going to do something that I have never done in my adult life: pass up the opportunity to vote.  I'm certain I could find many excuses - seven-month old at home kept so busy I didn't look into my absentee ballot, I'm crazy busy at work right now, I thought I'd vote in person but my day got booked...  But none of that would be true.  The God's honest truth is that I do not care which candidate wins the primary.  I'm a Democrat, and I believe that both Clinton and Obama are flawed candidates for our party.

The more I listen to Clinton, the harder a time I have rallying behind her.  She seems to have the depth and experience necessary for the job, but I'm not as passionate about her vision for america as I was for Bill's.  That's an unfair comparison, though, because Bill Clinton was the only presidential candidate I actually voted *for* (rather than voting *against* the Republican candidate).

Obama would be a strong candidate, but without knowing who his running mate will be, I'm not voting for him alone.  I assume he'll do what Kennedy and even Bush II did and bring on an elder statesman for a running mate.  That move would give his campaign the gravitas needed to win while still attracting the young vote.

I actually am fine with just about any of the four front-runners (and this is a wacko liberal speaking).  McCain would probably make Jon Stewart press secretary and we'd all have a ball with a surprisingly socially liberal Republican in the White House (kind of like what we have here in California).  And Romney doesn't really scare me.  Huckabee, on the other hand, that one would get me right out to the polls.

Add to all of this the fact that I have literally no opinion on the local initiatives (though I can't tell which set of Indian tribes are flat out lying to me in their point-coutnerpoint advertisements, but one side or the other is clearly fibbing), and I'm just staying out of this one.

So, to those of you who are voting tomorrow, I hope you vote your convictions.  I just don't feel the love this time around.

Posted by Scott D. at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)