The Bible TI251 Fall 2020

In class we discussed the difference between monotheism and polytheism. Monotheism is believing in one God whereas polytheism is believing in multiple Gods. In a paper I previously wrote, it discussed the idea that the Exodus from Egypt started the trend of Monotheism. Moses’ ideas from God about believing in solely one God started the movement. They took away from Egypt and went on their own to believe in their own religion. They moved away from Egypt’s ideas of multiple Gods to worship. Moses lead the trend in beginning to focus on one God with Judaism, with Christianity and Islam to follow in his footsteps.

On Thursday’s class, we discussed proverbs and the story of Job. I always knew what a proverb is but found it hard to define. They are defined as short sayings that offer some type of advice or wisdom. I had never realized that proverbs aren’t only religious sayings but natural sayings that I use in everyday life! Some of my favorites are:

“Actions speak louder than words”

“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”

“Early bird gets the worm”

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”

We also discussed the story of Job, which I have always found interesting in my previous religion courses. The discussion around suffering in the Bible is intriguing. I think the best part about the story of Job is that it is basically a philosophical thought experiment along with a wager. The idea of 2 deities making a bet based on the actions of a human is comical but also makes me feel a little uncomfortable. It doesn’t sit right with me that deities could just be seeing us as little pawns to mess with.

For Tuesday’s class, we read some articles that discussed the difference between monotheism, atheism, and polytheism. Monotheism is defined as the belief in only one God. Atheism is defined as the disbelief of any God. Lastly, polytheism is the belief of many Gods. Before this class, I was aware of all of these beliefs and their meanings. While reading something new I learned is monolatry, which is the belief that there are multiple Gods/deities, but only one is worshipped. I think this is an important distinction to make.

In class, we discussed the idea of Prophets. I find it difficult to define a Prophet but, the definition that makes the most sense to me is a messenger or contact of the words of God. Dr. McGrath asked us to come with ideas of Prophets in recent history and they didn’t have to be religious. My group came up with MLK and scientists like Dr. Fauci (especially in COVID19 times). I see the resemblance between MLK and Prophets because not only did MLK directly quote the Bible, but he is a person that was held with high respect and many people listened to him and still do years after his death. Similarly, scientists are held with high respect and people listen to their opinions and directions. However, both MLK and scientists aren’t always listened to but Prophets also weren’t.

When it comes to wisdom many people might come to mind. Parents possibly, celebrities, authors, philosophers and more However, in class we didn’t mention those people instead we mentioned the idea of Proverbs. many proverbs were thrown around in class such as “The early bird gets the worm” and “with great power comes great responsibility” The amazing thing about proverbs for the most part is where do they originate? for the more common saying no one knows. Excluding a few of course. However my favorite Proverb comes from proverbs 13:20. He whom walks with the wise man becomes wise. I remember when my pastor told me this after getting in trouble at church and it lead me to surround myself with people who would push me to do and be better. But in all Proverbs no matter their origin the ideas are considered timeless. Going back to “The early bird gets the worm” you could trace that back to its literal meaning or in comparison for humans the time of hunters and gathers. Today it has the meaning of drive, ambition, and success. Proverbs provide us with not necessarily exact way to success but give us guidance on the path of success.

The story of Job brings forth the ideas of wisdom and if any man could be truly righteous in an imperfect world. A person who is righteous is someone who is morally correct, which is different that self-righteousness, which is when a person believes they are more virtuous than others due to self love. This story of Job revolves around the idea that God believes Job to be the most righteous man in the world, and because of this, he lets Satan test Job. This test includes Job losing everything his has earned in life, and basically ruins Job’s life. In the end, Job is shown to be a blessed man who loved and had the fear of God inside him.

God chose to believe that Job was perfectly righteous. But, is it possible to be perfectly righteous? Job was incredibly righteous, but he also knew that he was righteous. This allowed for a little bit of self-righteousness to seep in. He questioned why God would punish him when he was so incredibly righteous. However, he could only question this if he knew how righteous he was. That is where it falls apart a little bit. I don’t think that any person could be completely righteous, there is always going to be some slip up in their actions or beliefs. No person is perfect. So, Job might have been the closest person to being perfectly righteous, but he was not completely righteous, and all that came when he started questioning why bad things were happening to him.

Monotheism has been around for a long time. The idea of Monotheism is thought to have started in Egypt in the 14th century. Monotheism is known to be the belief in one God, and is frequently placed with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
However, the question has been asked if these religions, especially Christianity, are actually Monotheistic or if they could fall into a different category. That category being Henotheism. Henotheism is the worship of a single God, but also the acknowledgement that there could still be other deities out their. This especially comes into question when you look at the Ten Commandments. The very first commandment is “You shall have no other Gods before me.” Know is that a statement of trust in one God, or stating that there could be other Gods, but one is more almighty than the others?
Most people believe that these three religions are Monotheistic, and I don’t disagree with that statement. I, however, think that people are free to believe what they want to. Everything is up to interpretation in my mind, and I think that people should be allowed to believe in whatever they want to when it comes to religious practices.

One of the main resources of wisdom we talked about in class were proverbs. Not just the book in the Bible, but also short sayings that are nonbiblical, which people still go by everyday. One of the main things that I learned or that has never really caught my eye is how wisdom can be used in a negative way if it is in the wrong hands. It is actually a proverb in of itself: “Like a thornbush in drunkard’s hand is a proverb said from a fool.” We see this in Job and how his friends try to use wisdom to help him in his suffering, but in reality they were only making the situation worse.

One of the most fascinating things about the story of Job and one of the biggest things to take away was, not how faithful he stayed after the first bout of suffering came his way, but after going through so much more and coming to a point where he wishes he was never born, then seeing so much growth when he ultimately reveals his unwavering faith in God after going through so much pain while being as impressive of a human being as possible. It is such a good lesson on how to handle suffering, which is to come to the realization that God is bigger, better, and more consistent than anything in the universe and that the suffering one is going through doesn’t even compare to the goodness of God.

Suffering happens to all of us, some of us suffer continuously, many even suffer for no reason. Now obviously something isn’t right here, how could an all-loving God let so much suffering happen to people who in no way deserve it? This is an exceptionally complicated problem, something no person could ever truly and completely understand, but suffering is often a symbol of true grace and can be used as a very powerful tool for repentance. Suffering is naturally occurring which means there is virtually no way around it, yes it can be delayed through engaging in vanity or “worldly pleasures” as many of the church fathers tell us. We see Job, he is a triumph of humility in the face of suffering and uses his suffering as a means of repentance, constantly turning away (the word for repentance in Hebrew means to turn) from evil and not losing sight of the will of God. I believe suffering happens to people who don’t deserve it is because God is perfectly aware of what one is able to handle, to push someone beyond their ability out of great love is what I think the Lord truly wants for us. It is imperative that we do not see suffering as a negative occurrence like much of the West has conditioned us to think. Suffering in and of itself is a test of our will to match God’s, a necessity for spiritual growth and to change one’s heart to something that serves beyond themselves.

One of the most striking parts about our discussion in class today was the universality of proverbs. Since my English teachers always taught me to avoid cliches and overused language (since that’s what they can easily become), I haven’t really thought about them much. Proverbs are meant to be universal, and that thought had never crossed my mind before. So many cultures have variations of other short sayings, and I vaguely remember that from Spanish class also. It makes sense that proverbs would be shared between different cultures around Israel. It’s amazing how distinct cultures can have shared values that can be communicated through similar epithets. 

I also thought a lot about how wisdom writings often contain at least part of stories like Job’s. In order to have wisdom to pass on, authors need the experience to make it more than just knowledge. This has a poetic meaning to me, and lots of people find encouragement from Job’s story and the tales of hardship and advice in Proverbs. 

Once again, my mind was blown in class discussion. I always thought of Christianity (and in my limited knowledge, Judaism) as monotheistic. What I was missing was the wording of “thou shalt have no other god before me.” Moses, by the inspiration of God, is telling the Israelites to forsake the worship of other gods. By doing this, he leaves open the possibility of other gods. 

In my personal opinion, this is a lesson on tolerance for believers of the Bible. This passage could mean that there are more gods, and that followers of the Bible should simply place God before them–not hate, not go to war, not start an argument in the comment section. His commandment is simply to place their own God first, and that’s all that’s necessary. This allows for tolerance of other religions by acknowledging their existence and simply saying to follow the one that you feel is almighty. 

There is also the possibility of interpreting this as forsaking other idols that humans commonly place before God (money, cars, other relationships, work, etc). This still fits the same meaning, in my interpretation, because the Commandments are effectively telling people to fix their eyes on what’s important and mind their business.