Chewing On a Bone

I know this is a unique title, but it came to me as I pondered my Biblical studies this a.m., while watching our pup frantically chew upon her artificial bone!

You might need to know that she has never tasted the real thing, though gnawing on a bone seems a part of her nature.

Well, hello!!

Religion, at least American Christianity, my birthright orientation is beginning to feel somewhat fabricated as well.

Much of my current gnawing comes from my training in "cause and affect", alongside of the current status of our nation, now approaching 250 years under a primary belief system of Christianity.

One nation under God seems now mere motto!

In my half century of devotion to the inspired Word (I still believe such) I am beginning to suspect that many of those divinely called may not have been the deepest of thinkers!

Lest I offend the best of my pastor friends, I too have been limited by boundaries set up by institutional hierarchies, all in good faith that souls might be saved. Or, worse case, simply preserving income stream for their denomination, though Covid seems to have dealt quite a blow to many of those.

Uhmmm?

If you have been reading my blogs ('09-present), you've likely sensed my gnawing now for at least a couple years!

Yes, I believe in an inspired Word, but only with the caveat that a majority of the text is more revelation of who we are as humans, rather than who this "I Am" truly is. Likely at times within the text, our human error has even been falsely transferred to the character of God!

Ouch!

God is love, full of grace and mercy, the message of the Christ, God in the flesh!

So, as I now read (gnaw) through Job with Jesus as my template, the afflictions imposed upon Job no longer seem to be the hand of the Lord, as much as a primitive understanding of hardship.

I thank God for the lessons learned by Job, as well as the benefit of a new bone, which seems a recent gift from my Master!

That's right, I seem finally turning a corner with the One who invites hard questions, unlike religion's rigorous resistance to any duplicity relative to the text and one's life experience.

Now back to Job and my most recent questions as I chew through the book once more.

The oldest book, they say?

Seems that thought comes from linguistic differences that appear somewhat "pre-Hebrewic", alongside the evident lack of priestly rituals from in Abraham's story (as later captured by Moses).

Moses, I'mtold learned not only from a burning bush (no doubt on my part) but also from generational, oral tradition and perhaps from the archives of Joseph by way of his exposure with the Pharoahs.

It's easy to hear the inspired thread captured in scripture, one that continues forward from Moses, then by way of David, the Kings, the Babylonian captivity, Cyrus, the Great, the Prophets, and as well demonstrated in what early Christian believed, a trajectory toward and revelation of the Christ!

That Scarlett Ribbon, not the institutional church alone preserves my faith in the scriptures.

As I chew even further, I have found reinforcement for this God of mercy and grace, who is unwilling that any should perish. One who has always been about the recovery of Creation, a Presence declared well before Abraham or the writings of Moses.

And while Job provides us a serious clue as to the earliest demonstration of God's heart, Abram's story seems the one most often chosen as the means for walking humanity forward toward the Christ.

The presence of other world religions or Christian sects illustrate the fragmentation that results when men and women resist the Spirit or relinquish their own spiritual reasoning to the authority of religious institutions alone.

And God forbid should the latter ever cojoin fully with such political bias as we now know in our land! The origin perhaps of the historic and tragic Crusades!

Hope this bone I'm chewing accomplishes it's divine purpose in me and in others!