A Dutch Life

This guy, who previously read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for a book called “Know-it-all”, decided that this time round he would spend a year following every rule in the Bible. It turns out that the number of rules goes well beyond the Ten Commandments, with A.J. Jacobs documenting over 700 distinct rules and prohibitions.

Biblical Living: Following Every Rule for One Year – Newsweek Beliefs – MSNBC.com

There are a couple of things I find interesting in this little experiment:

1) That it’s incredible just how many of the books “Rules” have been discarded (fortunately!) over the centuries. Many of the rules would have been considered absolutely essential to a sin-free Christian life even just 100 years ago. This of course is where people will say “interpretation” comes in, but actually, I think it goes much further than just interpretation. To my mind, morality is a basic human instinct. We aren’t moral because of any book, but instead it’s our ability to mature beyond many of these 700 rules that makes us moral. I’m looking forward to seeing how many more of these ancient rules we can move beyond, for example the denial and demonisation of homosexuality and opposition (or worse) to the use of condoms in Africa, over the next hundred years.

2)  My brother actually highlighted this aspect, can “Rituals be sacred”? Like James I agree that they can. Over dinner last night, Petra and I spent a little more time talking through it. Rituals play a huge part in culture. Whether it’s celebrating those I’m familiar with, like birthdays, Christmas (which pre-dates Christianity), Easter or those I have become familiar with like Sinterklaas, San Fermín, or those my brother has adopted via martial arts. When I meet people from other countries there is no conversation I enjoy more than to ask them about unique rituals they perform on a regular basis within their culture. For an example, remind me to tell you about this Dutch Sinterklaas celebration, talk about weird!

So, in this sense rituals can indeed be sacred, I thoroughly enjoy them, and I hope they stay part of the worlds various cultures forever. However, with that said, I have a little trouble with the word sacred. To me it means that it cannot be challenged, that it cannot be questioned. Our minds should always be open, and as we as a society progress, then we should not be afraid to adapt such rituals to ensure they continue to reflect our modern values. Sadly many rituals that continue today, more sadly many inspired by religion, are way past their use-by date.