Words

I have a hard time with the Bible, sometimes.

I realize that's heresy in the Protestant world.

The key idea of the Protestant Reformation of 1517 was the belief that the Bible, not tradition, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. (This, in big part, had to do with Gutenberg and his movable type printing press. Bible's were now able to get in the hands of many people quickly.)

In fact, over time the Bible became considered as inerrant, that is: "without error or fault in all its teaching."

Today a large group of people now believe the Bible is completely literal. Fundamentalists and evangelicals sometimes refer to themselves as literalists or biblical literalists.

A 2011 Gallup survey reports, "Three in 10 Americans interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God."

It is important to remember that Fundamentalists do not speak for all of Christianity. There are 1.285 billion Catholics who would respectfully disagree that the Bible is the "sole source of spiritual authority." They have a much more nuanced approach to how they incorporate the Bible into their spiritual practice.

It is not that I don't find certain parts of the Bible inspiring and lovely to read.

My problem is that trying to put the infinite totality of the concept of "God" in human, English words is just asking for trouble.

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Do you know that there are likely an infinite number of dimensions? You probably know that we live in a 3 dimensional world. Things in our world have  height, width and depth.

But did you know that we actually only see in 2 dimensions? That's why a photograph or painting can look 3 dimensional even though it is only 2 dimensional. Our eyes see everything in 2 dimensions.

For example, if an object became bigger as it moved away from us we would have no idea it was moving away from us as long the the lighting stayed consistent.

Now. Take one more dimension. The fourth dimension. It is literally impossible for us to truly imagine the fourth dimension. But scientist try with a Tesseract:

The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square.

In the fourth dimension you would be able to see through all 3 dimensional things.

But here's the thing, there isn't just a 4th or 5th or 6th dimension.

There is 600th dimension. There is a 6 millionth dimension.

How are we ever to possibly use human words to describe the 6 millionth dimension?

It's completely impossible.

So, even if God Himself penned every word in the Bible it would be such a tiny, tiny sliver that is what God is that it would be like you being represented by a single bacteria that is currently living in your mouth.

The Bible simply cannot be God. It is too limiting.

On top of that, the Bible, by it's very essence of inadequacy, causes rifts. There is an ever growing number of people that find the Bible off-putting.

"Bible thumpers" aren't helping bring more people to a spiritual life. They are pushing people away.

Imagine a drawing you made when you were 2 years old being the single, solitary piece of work that you are always being judged by your entire life.  "We would love to hire you. But that thing you call "Mom" in this drawing doesn't look the slightest bit like your actual mom."

And it gets worse.

Me even talking about this topic is off-putting.

If a Fundamentalist even made it this far in reading this post they likely are moving away from me. They are saying, "Sage and I don't have enough in common to work together. Sage is insulting the very core of my existence."

Words, by their nature, are "this or that."

If you say the word "apple" you aren't talking about an "orange" even though they are both delicious fruits. We now have to start talking about which is better: an apple or an orange.

Words are 1 dimensional. They are a rudimentary symbol of everything that is greater than them.

Dog. Rainbow. Pizza.

Those are simple words that do no justice to the incredible magnificence of what they represent.

I don't care for fancy spiritual words and talk.

I have a hard time listening to many Buddhist advisers, for example, because I find the way they talk uncomfortable. They often talk slow, and quiet and use weird woo-woo words that kind of just sound fake to me. But for some people I'm sure it is very comforting.

At the same time, I have a deep interest in my connection to all that is out there.

Maybe I'm just deluding myself and trying to make myself more comfortable as my impending death slowly but surely closes in.

But working with the homeless truly makes me believe there is something greater out there.

Even physics itself has never-ending mysteries that it can't yet explain.

At the very least, I find it fun and enjoyable to explore these mysteries of existence.

As I write these posts it's a little like telling you about a show I just watched on Netflix that I want to share with you.

But my words make me a bad story-teller. It would be better if you just experienced the show for yourself.

Some people bristle at the very word "God."

It is such a loaded word. It comes with emotion, personal baggage and churches who continually try to declare they know the "truth" of God.

I have no idea what I'm talking about when I talk about God.

How can I know? Physicists can't yet tell us what is dark matter and dark energy. That is 95% of the entire universe they don't yet know about.

These are incredibly smart, dedicated people that make full time livings out of trying to understand our single universe.

How can I possibly even begin to scrape a single speck of paint off the hidden reality of God on a random Sunday morning?

We can't know God. We'll never know God.

So, we can't describe God. And even talking about God makes God simple and untrue.

I prefer to experience God. I prefer to live God. I prefer to help the homeless because that feels like a path God would want me to pursue (whatever that even means).

God is not a church. God is not a person. God is not a book.

God is an experience.