Rules

i just finished this book. It's very hilarious but thought-provoking at the same time.

The author dedicated one year to living the "ultimate biblical life" by following ALL the rules in the bible, not just the popular ones. He is an agnostic (someone skeptical about the existence of God) and at the end of the year, still remained one, though he wrote that some things have changed for him.

In that year, he grew a beard and didn't shave it (the bible says not to shave) and he tried to stone an adulterer (a small pebble, hilarious!) among others. In a way, he wanted to demonstrate how ridiculous religious fundamentalism can be. i was joking with a church friend that since our church was not mentioned in his book, we are actually not that "fundamental" in our practices as we claimed (use to claimed).

It's an eye-opener to read of the author visiting these churches in an attempt to follow a certain rule (he followed the Old Testament rules 3/4 of the year and the New Testament ones for the remaining). The author has a group of mentors from different churches to help him when he has questions.

The author found that many (churches) claimed to follow the bible literally but all of them are just as guilty in picking and choosing. After all, the bible does contain many strange rules (that i haven't heard of). And, in addition to that, the problem of many interpretations to a single rule.

William Blake the poet was quoted in this book:

Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.

It wasn't a "romantic" ending where the author is converted at the end of the experiment. i'm "glad" of that too. It made me ponder on certain issues which are closer to home, my faith and my church.

i'm stopping here too. i know, not exactly a neat ending to this post. But then, faith is never neat :)