Letter to the Editor – The Bible: Old and New?

Varghese Pamplanil

 

My dear friend Dr. James Kottoor has put in the public domain, a strictly private correspondence exchanged between us, on some incident narrated by someone called Luke in the so called gospel. This Luke character was not any one who ever lived in Israel; he was totally ignorant of even the geography of that place, let alone about the life and doings of Jesus.

 

I don’t have the audacity to carry coal to New Castle in the sense that James studied theology. From my perspective it is a sheer  waste of time to brood over years together on an imaginative, “Three in One; One in Three”Christian god especially in  Rome, the headquarters of Mafia and all sorts of cabals. Michel Walsh says that Rome is the one place studiously avoided by  the Trinity even for a short visit for the last 2000 years because of the skullduggery, poisoning of rivals, cold blooded murders, corruption and other nefarious activities happening there.

 

It is also pertinent to mention that the Christian god’s tenure is a mere dot in the Universal Clock of billions of years. The claim of an everlasting church  by the clergy seems hollow; they better study the story of human civilisation.

 

Many illustrious and learned persons of prestigious well funded universities abroad, have spent years and years of research and critical studies on Jesus, bible and  history of the church. They seem to have concluded that the efforts are similar to pealing onions; the result: stinging tears in both the eyes. If anyone is bent upon chasing Jesus and sees the bible as the ONLY BOOK to follow, it is his/her business?I have nothing to with it.

 

After graduation in 1961 till the end of 2,000, I was engaged in “survivology” to  the exclusion of many things of interest to me. I would recall a joke — one person was being ferried over a deep turbulent river, he wanted to know whether the ferryman had studied theology, ontology, micro-biology and other “ologies”. The canoe man enquired of the passenger whether he knew “ neenthology” –  the answer was “no”. The boat capsized, the boatman could swim and survive; the theologian drowned.

 

The Old Testament is narration of depraved incidents unfit for reading, especially by children;  it is worse than Micky Splines’ smut literature.

 

It is not for me to comment on the words attributed to the Galilean. The Jesus Seminar of 1985 observes that the Bible has been padded, contrived, mutilated, even prostituted by the conniving, scheming Church for achieving its ends. It is not a reliable book to quote and prove any thing. Jesus was found to be illiterate. He uttered only a few sayings. He was no “world shaker” during his life time. He was lionised and made larger than life and an object of worship by the Church.

 

If anyone likes to chase mirages,  it is his or her business. For me, right now, removing weeds in my compound is the priority; not nitpicking the Bible. What worries me is how to survive Covid-19.

 

Anyone and everyone is free to pursue his/her pet subject. I am not interested in religion  any more. Religion does not impinge on my life. I think I can live without the crutches of any religion. Please leave me alone; it is a request.

 

Sam Harris has rightly observed that if humanity perishes due to violent fightings among people, it would not be because it is written in the stars but because it is written in two books centuries ago.

 

Thanks for nothing.

 

Varghese Pamplanil.

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1 Response

  1. K.J. GEORGE says:

    Luke was older than Christ by 6 years or so. He never met Christ. The account he wrote was 100 percent of hearsay. He studied in Alexandria for medicine and became a doctor. He returned to Palestine after the crucifixion of Christ. He was instrumental for removing the ban order of Christian teaching made immediately after the crucifixion. Hew had a ring (royal insignia) with him and he demanded to cancel the ban with the help of the Ceaser's ring when he was present in a get together of Pilot, Herodos and other important Jews.He wrote the Acts of the Apostles. He did not do any miracle except brought to life a child – attended a delivery case but could not save the mother. At the Council of Nicea in 327 AD they accepted the work of Luke because he was the only well educated person who wrote an account  – a trustworthy account – of Christ's life.

     

     

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