King David was gay?? And other Bible tea

A few years ago, in a clumsy and perhaps irresponsible moment, I slipped, fell, and hit my head on a rock. After a couple of stitches, I recovered quickly, but it was just scary enough of a moment that it caused me to reflect on my own mortality.

One of the things I realized I wanted to do in my life was to read the entire Bible. Cover to cover.

So my wife and I drove to Barnes & Noble, and I bought the New International Version of the Bible and a translation of the Qur’an.

Quietly, I began to read.

Let me tell you, at times it was a grind. I’d compare the experience to what I imagine it’s like to train for a marathon.

Reading the Bible and Qur’an were like taking a long walk through a forest. Instead of gathering specific wisdom from certain passages like noticing every tree in the forest, I got general impressions.

One general impression — I love both the Bible and the Qur’an. They are written documentations handed to us from people from long ago in civilizations I don’t recognize of the struggle with ideas of morality and God in ways that are still recognizable today. If you ever find yourself on a mission to read the Bible and Qur’an, I highly encourage it.

One of the major differences between the Bible and the Qur’an is that the Qur’an is far shorter than the Bible. That might be among the reasons why I think far more people have read the Qur’an than the Bible.

I’m going to venture a guess that this explains why so many times while reading the Bible, even though I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic high school, so much of the Bible seemed like new information. At times, I can’t help but feel that parts of it were deliberately hidden.

Now, I don’t want to pretend to be an expert. Over two years have passed since I finished reading the Bible and I keep discovering new things. It’s like that forest of the Bible keeps revealing itself.

If there are any main messages from that forest of the Bible, I think the most prominent theme is to worship God. It is the Holy Bible after all, so I don’t think that message should surprise anyone.

What hurts me then, is when the Bible is used to oppress others. Or when people claim they take the Bible literally, but then use it for hate. That’s not the Bible I read.

About taking the Bible “literally”…

I haven’t heard of anyone that still sacrifices rams, not in America at least. So maybe nobody actually takes the Bible literally.

Instead, maybe, what if we learned from the context of what’s in the Bible?

Well, I think we all know what happens to King David. He becomes one of the most beloved, if not the most beloved, king of Israel.

Clearly God had no problems with King David’s sexuality. Neither should we humans.

The story of Sodom is one I think about often. It’s a story many people have cited to justify that the Bible and God hate homosexuality. Yet, I wonder how many actually know the story?

This was the final straw that caused a rain of sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ok maybe this fact isn’t very groundbreaking. But I’d say it’s the equivalent of not learning about Benjamin Franklin when learning about the Founding Fathers. Just a fact to know.

This was just a fact that made me realize there was a lot in the Bible I never learned about. Felt suspicious.

More on this concept next week, but Elohim is constantly used throughout the Bible. Even the first line of the Bible is properly translated as “In the beginning, Elohim created heaven and earth.” Changes the meaning, doesn’t it?

To be clear, I’m NOT calling Jesus evil. The fact that Jesus is described as having ancestry that did evil gives me some hope.

Take the United States and its reckoning moment with history (this is related to reckoning its role in slavery, wars & genocide against native people, etc). We can recognize that Americans have done incredibly evil things.

That doesn’t mean we have to continue doing evil things. If Jesus can come from a lineage that includes evil, maybe the US can try to do right if it only recognizes its wrongs.

Forgiveness is allowed if we only want it people.

And the word for “God” used here is “Elohim”, which again, is a plural word describing what I’m pretty sure is a pantheon of gods.

I know that’s a bit confusing and might take a couple times to re-read. Take your time.

For me at least, the concept of Elohim is very powerful. It throws a lightning bolt at the concept that God, Yahweh, is an invisible human-like God in the sky, and instead makes God, (Elohim, Yahweh and other names), a visible tangible force around us. At least I’m pretty sure..

I rarely talk about my beliefs, so thank you for reading this. Stick with me, and next week for the final “Thought From Vilnius” I’d like to share with you some of my personal religious story in “Finding God’s Existence.”

Thought #1: A Journey Hosted by the Dead

Thought #2: “Hi, I’m your distant cousin. Do you want to see where your ancestors lived?”

Thought #3: A Poem Offering Peace

Thought #4: Front Lines of Belarusian Protests

Thought #5: The Difficult Question Facing the Belarusian Freedom Movement

Thought #6: Discovering Jewish Life of Vilnius

Thought #7: Reconciling Lithuania’s Hidden Holocaust

Thought #8: First 100 Baltivist Members!

Thought #9: King David was gay?? And other Bible tea

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