The Silly Thoughts of a Farm Girl (Part II)

An Attempt to Get the Unlawful Resident, god, to Vacate My Mind.

I wouldn’t have let Abraham hurt Isaac (The lineage of Israel), but there was a time I would have thought that unconditional love meant i should tell him to take on another woman so he could have a child - that was his dream. I would have thought that making the bed for him and Hagar would have been the loving thing to do.

 Hagar - Abraham’s legitimate wife according to Islamic tradition, a sex slave according to Judaism and Christianity.

Some like to point out that Sarah’s sin was her lack of faith in god and inability to contain jelousy or anger, cascaded to generational trauma. What if her sin was the lack of faith in herself and the resentment that came with it? Maybe she needed to do some “shadow work”.

She let her age define her, she thought she was inadequate and her husband not only agreed but went along with the narrative that god couldn’t possibly bless her. She thought that it was another woman that could bring joy and fulfilment to her sad, sad, sad husband. Besides, that’s unconditional love right? To love selflessly (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

*Yeah, as an adult, I’ve never physically attacked anyone. But I don’t think anyone could have stopped me from slapping him when he got back from that hike with Isaac. What was wrong with Sarah? More importantly, what was wrong with Abraham?

Why is it that the founder of the the three major religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was able to have “premarital sex” with the slaves he owned or wives he could discard when life got inconvenient for him, but his followers tell me that I am not to look at anyone with “lust”? Why are the rules to enter heaven different for me? What was his cheat code?

This man banished Hagar and their child, Ishmael (the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad) to the desert because he couldn’t keep his house in order. Oh, and he consulted god who gave him the green light.

"One day Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, was playing with Sarah's son Isaac. Sarah saw them and said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away. The son of this woman must not get any part of your wealth, which my son Isaac should inherit.” This troubled Abraham very much, because Ishmael also was his son. But God said to Abraham, “Don't be worried about the boy and your slave Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I have promised. I will also give many children to the son of the slave woman, so that they will become a nation. He too is your son.”

Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water was all gone, she left the child under a bush and sat down about a hundred yards away. She said to herself, “I can't bear to see my child die.” While she was sitting there, she began to cry.

God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, “What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy. God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter. His mother got an Egyptian wife for him." - [Genesis 21:9-21 GNT]

Sounds like Abraham and his god would have gotten along with the Red 💊 community. I wonder what other interesting topics came up during their “locker room talk”. Okay, let’s forget the women; did Abraham really want children? He seems to have had no problem getting rid of the children he was dreaming of having. Was Ishmael less significant of a son now that Isacc was the “chosen one”? And the audacity of god to ask Hagar “what’s wrong” like he was oblivious to the problem he signed and approved. A problem he enanbled.

*Yes, I fantasise slapping Abraham, not worshipping his god. 

But, hey, I’m not even allowed to look at anyone with “lust”. While I understand the premise, I challenge it. According to these religions, sex outside a contract sealed and approved by their god, is a sin even if it’s love. Oh, and only straight couples are entitled to this “blessing”.

*Damn, the real estate value in Hell must be skyrocketing with all the new move ins. Don’t worry folks, there are still plenty of vacant properties waiting in Heaven for those holier than thou.

The most prominent story etched into my memory about sex was when Jesus (descendant of Isaac) stopped a mob from stoning a woman to death, caught committing adultery.

Then everyone went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early the next morning he went back to the Temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?”. They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger. As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened up and said to them, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.” Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there. He straightened up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”.

“No one, sir,” she answered.

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.” - [John 8:1-11 GNT]

“I do not condemn you either” - Maybe that was Jesus confessing to her that he faces human temptation too. So he understands although he chooses a different path.

Yeah, Jesus told the slut not to sin anymore, but he didn’t tell her what her sin was. We just assume it was sex or the act of adultry in itself. For all we know, it could have been her inability to see her worth, allowing people to point fingers at her, telling her she is no good. Maybe her sin was the belief that she couldn’t do better and the only way to get what she believed she needed, was by letting go of her integrity. I mean, what happened to the man that committed the sin with her? Why wasn’t he punished? Wasn’t he just as guilty? But through out time and history, we have been obsessed with who’s sin is greater than the other. Is it because it is easier to focus on another person’s flaws than the bitter truth of our own? Was that why Jesus flipped the script and asked those who haven’t sinned to throw stones?

Later in his life Jesus met with another woman at a well. Although they worshipped the same god, they were meant to be enemies because of the geograhical location they were born in, the borders that separated them and the rituals they performed. Jesus still spoke to this woman who was shunned by her own people and society for having been married multiple times. 

He told her, in a “cryptic” manner, that she would never be happy unless she tasted the water of life, that God is a spirit and they should worship in spirit and truth. She was a woman that hid from society because she was ashamed of the way she played the hand life gave her, but once she spoke with him, it’s like her shame disappeared. She went around town gathering more followers for him. Non of the other facts changed. She was still the same woman with five ex husbands and one lover. 

Let’s take a look at the most spoken woman in the Bible, Mary.

Christianity and Islam have different narratives to her story. But I was raised with the story in the Bible and here is what I sea. 

She is a woman, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus and possibly, other children. Whether she was truly a virgin or not is irrelevant in my narrative. But it seems to have been in her story. She was at risk of being killed for the narrative against her that she had premarital sex and got pregnant on top of that. 

She too was shamed by society and claims to have been an innocent pregnant virgin. Clearly there was nothing hush-hush about the rumors if we are still talking about it. Thankfully, her fiancé, Joseph, chose to help her, not because he trusted her, but because she was a “good woman” in his eyes. Luckily for her, he also had a dream reassuring him that Mary’s narrative wasn’t a delusion but a lived experience despite the loopholes and lack of logic. Trust was restored again and he stayed. That man struggled to provide and was always on the run. His entire world turned around because he chose to trust and stay men in power were afraid of being overthrown from the throne, they sent minions to murder children in the masses.

Apparently, their baby didn’t even want the throne. Apparently, the so called “messiah” had other plans. They still got to kill him though and here we are, over 2,000 years later murdering each other to be called “god’s favourite”. When are we going to stop throwing stones?

Suddenly, Joseph’s narrative fades away like nothing happened. I want to know more about that man than Jesus. No, I want to know more about Joseph than Abraham. Why wasn’t a religion founded in his honour? Is it because he had a strong sense of justice and had morals? Is it because he chose kindness and empath? ? Is it because he was willing to let society trash him for being a “neglectful father” after he divorced Mary (which was the original plan), instead of letting her die for what he believed was a sin? Is it because he still wanted to leave with dignity, honouring a woman who had no place in society without choosing violence? Or is it because he chose to be a so called “wimp”, for taking care of “another man’s God’s child” instead of his own blood?

Why did his story fade into the void? His death or departure would have taken a toll on Mary and Jesus.

Mary in my view is mostly silent in the writing, and yet, she commands the Master of the story, a.k.a Jesus Christ. She doesn’t take no for an answer, not even when Jesus claimed that it wasn’t “god’s” time yet. She didn’t care that god wasn’t ready.

She commanded god to get in line and provide. She trusted in her ability to command god’s respect.

She just got the job done especially during a crisis and she was one of the three people that still stood by Jesus when everyone abandoned him. For the most part, that is because she is a mother at heart. She looked pain in the eyes and sat with it. She stayed and watched her soul rip away until her son took his last breath. I am not a mother, but ask any mother taking care of a sick child what it feels like to watch their child in pain. Listen to the tone in their voice and watch the shade of their colour change. Observe the way their eyes sink in. Their pain manifests physically. To see it and feel it is called empathy. She is also a courageous woman because I would have struggled to stay silent and keep walking behind him knowing that it was to his death. Men ran away and fled into hiding. But this woman walked all the way to the foot of that cross and waited till her son was truly gone. She also ends up praying with the men that hid. That’s the part of her story that stuns me the most. 

That wasn’t maternal instinct!

They let her son die, but she still sat with them and prayed. I mean, i would have been so bitter and angry, I’d ask for space and call them fake. 

I can sea why the Catholics put her on a pedestal. She was far more resilient and a better God than Jesus, or the god that Abraham founded.

For the men in power that wondered if anything good could come from Nazareth? 

Yes, Mary - a silent warrior, a woman, a wife, a mother. The one who took all the punches and carried the consequences of social injustice. The one who commanded god to act before he was ready. She didn’t let anyone define her, not even god. 

Hail Mary, full of grace! 

Yes, Joseph - a strong armour, a man, a husband, a father. A man who wielded the gentle and strong power of honour, compassion and empathy. The man i(I) should have funded a religion in, because that’s what it takes to convey the message a.k.a “Truth”.

Hail Joseph, full of integrity! 

Jesus? He was probably a politician that got killed for speaking his truth. The verdict on him is still undecided. 

Since it is the month to celebrate love, my hope for you is that you find your Mary and you find your Joseph. First in yourself, then, if you hope for it, in another too.

Get rid of the Abraham entitlement, get rid of the Sarah resentment. Listen to the speech by Rocky over and over and over again. 

Listen. Observe.

Hail Joseph, Hail Mary, be You!

Until next time,
Minoli Christeen =)