LIVING BIBLICALLY

Today I viewed a TED Talk about an agnostic guy who went on a one year quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible. 

His spiritual journey is funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal.  Some rules got him in trouble.  For example, the rule that says adulterers must be stoned.  

Here is his account:  “It happened when I was in the park and was dressed in my biblical clothing. (sandals and a white robe).  Anyway, this man came up to me and he said, "Why are you dressed like that?" After I explained my project the man said, "I am an adulterer, are you going to stone me?" And I said, "Well, that would be great!"

 

"I actually took out a handful of stones from my pocket that I had been carrying around for weeks -- they were pebbles -- but he grabbed them out of my hand. He was an elderly man, mid-70s, and an angry adulterer. He threw them at my face.  I remembered the rule, “eye for an eye” so I threw them back at him.”  Mission accomplished. 

Other lessons: “I couldn't believe how much my behavior changed my thoughts. This was one of the huge lessons of the year.  I pretended to be a better person, and I became a little bit of a better person. I had always thought, "You change your mind, and you change your behavior," but it's often the other way around. You change your behavior, and you change your mind. For example, if you want to become more compassionate, you visit sick people in the hospital.  You will become more compassionate. You donate money to a cause, and you become emotionally involved in that cause." 

Another lesson: “I was praying, giving these prayers of thanksgiving, which was odd for an agnostic. But I was saying thanks all the time, every day, which changed my perspective. I started to realize the hundreds of little things that go right every day that I didn't even notice, as opposed to focusing on the three or four that went wrong. This was a key to happiness for me.”  

“I spent a lot of time with various religious communities throughout America. I spent time with evangelical Christians, Hasidic Jews, and the Amish. I'm very proud because I think I'm the only person in America to out Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness. After three and a half hours, he looked at his watch and said, "I gotta’ go."

“I had some preconceived notions about evangelical Christianity.  It's such a wide and varied movement that it is difficult to make generalizations. There's a group I met with called the Red Letter Christians, which focus on the words that Jesus spoke. I recommend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo. They're very inspiring leaders."

In the end, he says, "I'm now a reverent agnostic. Which isn't an oxymoron, I swear. I now believe that whether or not there's a God, there is such a thing as sacredness. Life is sacred."

This guy tried to live by all the Bible's Old Testament rules and he showed it can't be done. He gave me a new appreciation for the grace offered by Jesus.  During his talk I was challenged to consider "Have I really thought about that enough?"  I love learning about other people's spiritual journey, even if they reach different conclusions that I have at this point.  This is worth your time and will foster great discussion.  Click HERE to view this 18 minute TED Talk.


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