The Agrinautica

   So I've decided to try to write about theological issues once a week. I've always been fond of mythology, and no mythological subject is as written about as the stories which make up the abrahamic religions (Judiasm, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism). Additionally, interpretation of what exactly the significance of these ancient texts is similar to interpretation of modern legal documents ... only filled with obscurities and contradictions. Anyway I'm legally a reverend so I ought to do some reverending. (=
   Anyway, YOU should pay attention because the stories I am going to discuss are believed to be true at least in theory by an overwhelming majority of the population. Many apparently only believe in the general gist of it but not any of the specifics, which is a standpoint I find hard to rationalize really (It is the word of God but he didn't really mean it?). Anyway, as always, I will do my best to relate the factual allegations to you without biasing it with my own commentary. Do your own interpreting.


   Anyway, I thought I'd start on an interesting note, The Time Jacob Wrestled God and Won. Interesting. Well I'm not going to actually recount the story, because the best place to read it is here (note the arrows to move forward and backward in the story, I didn't notice them at first myself when I first found the site). You may be skeptical that the story really goes like that, so I welcome you to cross reference the lines in all other versions of the bible. If you're feeling rather skeptical and want some convenient cross-referencing, the Skeptics Annotated Bible puts it all in context from a critical standpoint.

   Other than wrestling God and forcing him to bless him, Jacob had also compelled his older brother to transfer his birthright (which entailed certain holy blessings) to him and later tricked his father into thinking he was his older brother so that he would receive further blessing meant for his older brother.
   Having horded these blessings, Jacob passed them on to his 12 children (from his two wives and their two maidservants), who would go on to become the legendary 12 tribes of Israelites. The various previous and subsequent covenants and commandments God would make to them would be inhereted by all adherents to the Abrahamic Religions (Abraham was his grandfather btw).

Discuss.


   In unrelated news, apparently the superbowl was today. I'm proud to say that I've managed to remain blissfully unaware as to even which teams were involved.