(untitled inane rambles of the second/third watch)

WARNING: Semi-conscious tirade ahead. Thou hast been warn'd.

Leviticus. Hmm.

This is the very book that I stopped during my attempt to read the whole Bible in a year as part of Yoshua's Bible Company (YBCo), a commitment started by a group of teenagers from D'Nous Academy 2003. Previously, I have never attempted, much less completed such a task.

Climb into a time machine, set the clock to exactly a year before this date and pull the crank. *enter multi-coloured warp typical of bad sci-fi flicks* Meet me a year ago (who incidently does not look that different from myself now, plus and minus some facial and cranial hair). Mention reading the Bible in a year and you would behold a surprised face. Mention reading the Bible half a year as well as blogging about it each week and you would behold the countenance a very confuzzled person.

Confuzzled. I like that word. It's almost Tigger-ish.

Now, back to Leviticus...

My first attempt to digest the whole of Leviticus failed because... well, I never really got the whole chunk of it down my throat. After around twenty odd chapters of 'torn apart but not totally severed' birds, priests waving thighs and breasts, mildew-ridden houses and "Unclean! Unclean!", I just got too caught up with the rest of my life that I left the whole project alone for quite a while. Oh, and the fact that I couldn't really appreciate what I was reading played a part too. Of course, in 'typical evangelical fashion' (quoting Yancey again), I shall 'blame myself and not the Bible'. For, try as I may, I simply could not get myself to reboot the program. The Task Manager laughed at my futile attempts to end the task that had frozen my machine.

Fast forward a few months, and here I am, at the completion of the Tabernacle once again. I know what's in store for me beyond this page. Burnt Offerings, Fellowship offerings and Guilt Offerings. Regulations about mildew and infectious skin diseases. All I have to do, is make that one step. *cringes and steps forward*

soliloquy: Hm, well. Something's different.

knuxlee: What?

soliloquy: It says here Absolution Offering instead of Guilt Offering. Oh, and fungus
instead of mildew!

knuxlee: Har har.

But frankly, that was about all that was visibly different about the text this time around. It was still the same old long, detailed instructions not much different from what you would expect in any other religious handbook of rites (minus of course the totally gruesome rituals, but not totally bloodless either). Somewhere in the middle of it I just stopped and posed this question: Why am I bothering to study the details of a covenant that doesn't apply to me anymore (nor endears to my RSPCA-supportive nature)?

PAUSE: I don't think Audrey would have liked to live in those times. At least, I bet her tent would be the furthest away possible from the Tent of Meeting, to avoid having to see all the sacrifices.

My dad make a remark that probably explains everything in Leviticus. "The main point of the sacrifices was because they didn't have the complete sacrifice that was Jesus Christ." But I don't have to tell you that. You've probably been told that a million times over. But why exactly should you read Leviticus?

My answer is this: So that you can bore/confuse/shock yourself to the point that you can no longer take the New Covenant we have for granted anymore.

Yes, Jesus gave us new commandments on how to live that seemed and still seem crazy. But which would you rather have to do? Learn to love your enemies or sacrifice a lamb after having a child? Some (maybe even most) might say the latter, but I believe that there's far greater meaning in the former.

But I must be honest. Try as I may, I have yet to find answers that satisfy the sentences punctuated by question marks in my mind: Why the rigidity? Why such legalism?

I struggle with this question each time I read through the Old Testament. Perhaps as I implied in my thoughts on Genesis, it could have been another early design of Mankind. Maybe God tried to bring Man close to him through laws that would set clear boundaries and expectations for the relationship, like how ancient cultures drew clear lines for the relationship between a father and a son. Certain Eastern cultures for example emphasized the father's role as a provider and head of family, but not as one who comforted his child in times of trouble. Molly-coddling was a mother's job. The father was the strong one who showed little, if any emotion. It used to work. Well, sorta. But not anymore.

In this world we live in today, the father that fails to live up to the name 'dad' (which exuberates love and closeness) because he chooses to hold on to the old traditions will result in hatred or feelings of detachment in his children. Maybe a couple thousand years ago in Ancient China such a father could get away with it. After all, he brought home the dough. Whether he stunk of rice wine or was seen with a mistress in town made little difference. It was the way of life back then. But how times have changed. With the birth of psychology came the birth of research producing books on perfect parenting methods. Our image of the perfect father today definitely bears no resemblence to the traditional father figure of previous millennia.

Similiarly, our view on God should be and how the people of Leviticus thought God should be certainly shows how we've changed in four thousand years. Our love towards our own children doesn't change. Four years or forty, we still love them. What does change is how we treat them and try to solve their problems. We know that at some point we have to give them 'the talk', but we will not do it any earlier than the time we decide to be correct. In the same way I believe God did know that someday he'll have to send his son to die for mankind, but he would not so earlier than the time he felt was right. During the teenage years our children will no longer just bow to our rules and regulations. I believe so did God know that a new covenant was necessary for a 'teenage' generation of mankind.

A crazy thought. Is the entire human race like a child that is born, grows and matures?

It's too much for me to think that I believe I have to stop writing now. The signal from my muse, garbled as it was, is now reduced to pure static. I should re-read through what I've written to make it less of the mess it is now, but I'm far too... confuzzled. I'm sorry for jumping from one track to the next with no warnings. My plea is that you'll forgive me, then proceed to grill me, saute me with the flames of your komen and pendapats. Goodnight world.

"The ride's over. Did you enjoy yourself?"
--many sources, but it is my choice to quote the song "Leech" by Incubus, for no particular reason (I don't even like the song)

P.S. I think the Bible was reffering to albinism in Leviticus 13:12-13. What do you all think?