Bible Verses
Here’s something else I noticed in my youth. We weren’t really bible people. Sure, we had readings from it in church, and we had one at home. But my mother never sat around reading it. And it hardly ever came up in school. Mostly, we just had the Baltimore Catechism and the good nuns, Sisters of Charity with their white winged bonnets. Even when I got to the seminary, it wasn’t a thing. I guess that’s why I mostly viewed it as a divinely inspired work of literature with lots of interpretation.
Later on in life I met people with different opinions. I worked with one fellow who was a Christadelphian. He believed the bible was literally the word of God. I wish we’d have gotten around to discussing all the translations of the good book. But I thought it was probably a better idea to leave him to his own devices. I also wish I knew what he was doing now, but we lost touch over the years.
I guess at some point I should read a good history of the bible. It would be interesting to see how all the ancient texts came together into the book we know today because it’s fun thinking of Paul writing letters to the people of Corinth to explain things, trying to get things straight. I wonder what he’d think today if he came back and saw how his letters were translated. Would we be on the mark? And what would he say to us if he wrote us a letter? I can just imagine the reception to Paul’s first letter to the Americans.
Part 15, Living in America, An Old Man’s Journey into His Past