An American Bible - Ingersoll

Where has Robert Ingersoll been all of my life?  I'd never heard of him before I discovered An American Bible.  I've been reading The Gospel According to Robert Ingersoll, a man who lived during the Civil War and was known as "the great orator," and as the "preeminent agnostic of his day."

Because I share much of his cynicism concerning traditionally accepted Christian creed, doctrine and dogma I find much of his writings to be breathtakingly refreshing.

Consider the following:

"By this time the whole world should know that the real bible has not yet been written, but is being written, and that it will never be finished until the race begins its downward march, or ceases to exist...(the real bible) has no fear of being read, of being contradicted, of being investigated and understood.  It does not pretend to be holy, or sacred; it simply claims to be true."

"We do not need the forgiveness of gods, but of ourselves, and the ones we injure.  Restitution without repentance is far better than repentance without restitution."

"We know nothing of any god who rewards, punishes or forgives."

"Religion is supposed to consist in a discharge of the duties we owe to God.  In other words, we are taught that God is exceedingly anxious that we should believe a certain thing.  For my part, I do not believe that there is any infinite being to whom we owe anything.  The reason I say this is, we can not owe any duty to any being who requires nothing--to any being that we can not possibly help, to any being whose happiness we can not increase.  If God is infinite, we can neither give, nor can He receive anything.  Anything that we do or fail to do, can not, in the slightest degree, affect an infinite God; consequently no relations can exist between the finite and the Infinite, if by relations is meant mutual duties and obligations."

"Let us forget that we are Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians or Freethinkers, and remember only that we are men and women.  After all, man and woman are the highest possible titles.  All other names belittle us, and show that we have consented to wear the collar of authority--that we are followers."

"An infinite God ought to be able to protect Himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures.  Certainly He ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep Him from being laughed at.  No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment...Surely politicians could be better employed than in passing laws to protect the literary reputation of the Jewish God."

"The pulpit should not be a pillory.  Congregations should allow the minister a little liberty.  They should, at least, permit him to tell the truth."

"As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man.  The Bible was not written by a woman...In the Bible will be found no description of a civilized home.  The free mother surrounded by free and loving children, adored by a free man, her husband, was unknown to the inspired writers of the Bible."

"Religion has not civilized man--man has civilized religion.  God improves as man advances."

"In the republic of mind, one is a majority.  There, all are monarchs, and all are equals.  The tyranny of a majority even is unknown.  Each one is crowned, sceptered and throned.  Upon every brow is the tiara, and around every form is the imperial purple.  Only those are good citizens who express their honest thoughts, and those who persecute for opinion's sake are the only traitors.  There, nothing is considered infamous except an appeal to brute force, and nothing sacred but love, liberty and joy."

I am far more of an agnostic than I supposed!

An American Bible

Recently while going through my mother’s things I found a treasure.  At first glance I mistook it for an old leather bound copy of the New Testament and planned to sell it.  While trying to decide how to price it I looked at it more closely and saw that the actual name of the book was An American Bible, published in 1911 by Alice Hubbard.

The book is a compendium of writings from 8 men of American antiquity: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, Robert Ingersoll, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Elbert Hubbard.  I am currently reading in the Thomas Paine section, having completed Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

Each section of the book is titled, “The Gospel According to…” These men were incredibly astute, and compared with the statesmen of our day, they appear absolutely brilliant.  My how far we have strayed from the ideas and ideals put forth by these founding fathers!

Consider the following:

Ben Franklin says of the various religions, “I respected them all, though with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mixed with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, divide us, and make us unfriendly to one another.”

“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”  Thomas Jefferson

Is America meant to be a Christian nation?  Thomas Jefferson again, “Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting the words ‘Jesus Christ,’ …the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan (sic), the Hindoo (sic) and Infidel of every denomination.”

I leave you with Thomas Paine, “When it shall be said in any country in the world, My poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness;--when these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and its government.”

I’m looking forward to The Gospel According to Walt Whitman.

UTTGO

Years ago I heard a minister say something startling.  He was talking about the uncomfortable times; times of suffering that all of us face sooner or later.  We find ourselves in circumstances or situations we would rather escape.  And usually we complain or perhaps even whine.  He paused and looked at the gathering of people around him and simply said, “just bear it.”

One of the greatest gifts I’ve received from the practice of meditation and silent prayer is the realization that everything has a beginning and an end.  When what is transpiring between the beginning and the end is uncomfortable, it can be born.  We can endure.

One of the first instructions I give when teaching meditation is that you must use a timer.  When we sit to meditate or pray, it is for a definite time.  We set the timer for 20 minutes (or whatever time you choose) and then begin, confident that at some point the timer will go off.  In the meantime, we sit.

People often say to me, “I’ve tried meditation but I just can’t do it.”  That always puzzles me.  It is usually followed by the declaration that “my mind just won’t get quiet.”  The implication is that if my mind won’t quiet down, I won’t bear the mental noise.  I will not sit with myself and listen to my chattering brain.  I could understand if it meant I was required to sit there interminably, but that is never the case.  I only sit UTTGO—until the timer goes off.

I have been meditating for many years, and yes, my mind has, with practice, been trained to settle down more often than not.  But there are still days when from the moment the timer starts until it chimes, my mind races.  I can bear it because I know it will end—the timer will eventually chime.  Years of experience have taught me that I cannot judge the efficacy of my meditation by how I feel during the meditation.  Twenty minutes of a racing mind is every bit as valuable as twenty minutes of bliss. 

The same is true of our daily lives.  Times of turmoil are every bit as valuable as times of equanimity and composure, if we will sit with ourselves in faith. I now have a much deeper sense that when life feels uncomfortable I can prevail, I can endure, I can wait patiently (perhaps I should say more patiently) until the situation ends…until the timer goes off.

Knowing

I love to teach

I love to share

I love to encourage

I love to hear myself speak truth

I love to proclaim

I love to say what I know,

Knowing what I know

May change in the next moment.

I know so much that I don’t know,

Not knowing no longer frightens me,

Not knowing forms the ground of any knowing I might claim.

I know, too, that you know

Far more than you admit.

I want to be the one you tell it to, finally, or

For the first time.

No longer threatened by your knowing, or your not knowing.

Hiding what we know is selfish

Denying what we know is foolhardy

Ignoring what we know is perilous

Forcing what we know is arrogant

Gratitude for what we know is security.

Genesis

In the mid 80’s I discovered A Course in Miracles and pretty much set the Bible aside.   The Bible angered and frustrated me whereas ACIM mesmerized me.  The Course helped me unlearn so many painful lessons from the Church of My Childhood that I became a Course devotee, even though I could not and still do not understand portions of its radical message.

After years of avoiding church I joined a Disciples of Christ Church in Paris and regularly occupy the pew on Sunday as well as attend a stimulating adult education class.  The pastor of this little community was also raised in the Church of My Childhood, which fosters a precious bond of trust between us…up to a point.

Pastor Charlotte initiated a program Jan1 in which we would all read the entire Bible over the course of the year, on a planned schedule.  We get a printed card at the beginning of each month with the assigned readings.  My initial response was, “you’ve got to be kidding.”  Nevertheless I decided to embark on this journey with my newfound community.

Lordy, lordy, lordy the Bible messes with my head!  I have come to believe in and know a radically loving God, a forgiving God…a God who would no more punish than he/she would forsake.  My God has no concept of vengeance, does not “smite,” does not have a chosen people or tribe, does not threaten and does not denounce.  The God in Genesis does all of the above, repeatedly.  I am appalled to recall that I taught these frightful stories to young children, as they had been taught to me. 

The greatest benefit I have found so far in re-reading the Old Testament is  profound gratitude that my understanding of the nature of God has been so blessedly altered!

Meditation/Prayer Class

I am offering the meditation/prayer course in Paris for the first time.  If you took the course in Austin and found it helpful feel free to comment.  I, for one, am so grateful I learned these practices!

MEDITATION/CENTERING PRAYER CLASS

Instruction and Practice

Robyn Whyte

The purpose of this six-week class is to learn and practice the most common forms of meditation and introduce participants to the Centering Prayer method of silent prayer as promoted by Thomas Keating.  The course provides a gentle, positive approach to meditative practice.

Week 1                Introduction and breath meditation

Week 2                Mantra meditation

Week 3                Guided meditation

Weeks 4-6           Introduction and practice of Centering Prayer

Each class will include discussion of the prior week’s practice. It’ll be fun!

Who                     Robyn Whyte has taught this course

                           numerous times and practiced Centering

                           Prayer for many years.  Robyn received certification

                           from Contemplative Outreach to teach Centering Prayer

                           in 2001

When                   Tuesday evenings at 7:00, beginning Jan 15

Where                           519 CR 32505—4 miles from the loop off Hwy 79

Cost                     $50 at first class, or $10 per class, OR whatever

you feel you can comfortably afford.  Please do not allow cost to prevent you from participating!

RSVP                    Please call for more information and to register at 903-782-1240, or email to robyn0623@gmail.com.

                           PLEASE SHARE WITH ANYONE YOU THINK MIGHT WANT TO JOIN US!