Genesis is just another collection of etiological myths and moral atrocities. It’s a horrible god doing horrible things to equally horrible people. From Adam to Noah to Abraham. I can’t imagine that this is a very good beginning to a book known as “The Good Book”.  I know, Christians only care about the New Testament, but these stories exist as part of the entire thing. This lays the foundation and it’s cracked and rotten from the first brick.

Over and over again God feel compelled to kill his creation. With so much failure, at some point it’s not the creation that is at fault, but the designer. Cain, Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, Sarah, Abraham, Esau, Jacob! When did God ever create something that DIDN’T end up a spiteful, murderous or deceitful asshole?

Sure, there are a couple nice people.  Joseph didn’t seem 1/2 bad and all Hagar did was get used and tossed aside. So, the almighty creator is not a complete failure, it’s a close thing.

So, these are clearly not the stories designed to make up fall in love with this God. No one would expect us to be happy that this was our lord. Which begs the question: Why these stories? Why wouldn’t someone invent better ones?

I suppose because these are the stories people had. People didn’t “invent” them so much as they emerged. As they got told and retold they reformed into what they are. In the end, “history” is written by the winners. These peoples outlived their enemies. If Jacob’s descendants had died out and Laban’s had triumphed there would be stories of how he had to endure the treachery of an evil Jacob who stole his livestock and daughters.

It’s taken me a long time to finish these posts on the book of Genesis. I’ve not written as quick as I intended, despite reading the NIV all the way through. Yet it still feels like an accomplishment to blog the whole book of Genesis.

Onward to Exodus.