Mark
I was reading the Bible today. There are all kinds of people wishing for me to do so, and trying to save my soul by this forced reading- as if I have a soul needing rescue and will become indoctrinated to their liking. I have read the Bible, as have most people who reject it. Major studies have revealed it is atheists who actually know the Bible material best. But as I read it I was reminded that I actually do enjoy reading it. I do learn from reading especially Gospel material. So this morning I picked up the book and started reading Mark’s gospel. I don’t know how to make this clearer, out of my interest in truth and learning I take a look at Mark’s gospel.
In the 7th chapter of Mark it tells how it was noticed that Jesus and his followers break with the tradition of their time by refusing to wash their hands before meals and refusing to wash eating utensils. Jesus and his followers get into hot water for not getting into hot water. I simply can not look at the Bible for a minute without some shocking discovery like this. Jesus is on the defensive over this lack of hygienic practice, but his message is clear. Jesus insists what enters a man can not defile him, but only that which comes out of him.
If one takes the Bible literally it could not be more clear that hand washing before meals and washing eating utensils goes against the teachings of Jesus. People who look at the Bible this way embarrass the hell out of me and throw Jesus on a cross of ridicule.
There is simply no possible way Jesus could have known about the existence of germs and the vital importance of infection control practices. Hand washing, this single most important means of insuring human health and well being, was not discovered until 1847. It was not revealed to man by any divine agent, and Jesus actually spoke against it. I can’t make this up. A “Son of God” would not oppose the human practice of hand washing.
Since hand washing and the washing of eating utensils could only have been understood as ritual in the time of Jesus- he was deeply in touch with the compassion and understanding that rituals, what one eats or takes in, do not defile a man because it is only going into his stomach and not his heart. Since Jesus is against being controlled by rituals and concern over what goes into the body I suspect he would react to the ritualistic consumption of his body and blood with the same shock and revulsion I would.
What comes out of the heart reveals the true nature of a man, and that is where the evils of the world come from. Jesus wishes us to focus on the heart, and pay no mind to rituals. He simply could not have known there was more too hand washing than met the eye.
So I read the Bible for a few minutes. As always, it left me even more convinced there is no such thing as Divine assistance or Jesus omniscience, but I am more in love than ever with this Jewish carpenter of 2000 years ago who walked around with a heart of gold few people notice.
John H. Bidwell
