Lyrically Speaking: Snakes + Apples
My spiritual beliefs have, like many, evolved over time. When I was 12 years old I saw the film “Gandhi” and it was my first experience with religious views outside of the traditional Judeo-Christian canon and it had a major impact on my life. My family would go to church every Sunday and one day I asked my mother if Gandhi was in Heaven. My mother is the most loving and caring woman I know but her answer was unsatisfactory to my twelve year-old mind. I remember saying that if God wouldn’t let someone like Gandhi into Heaven because he was not a Christian and didn’t believe the same way we do, then I am not sure I want to go Heaven. I stopped going to church after that conversation but I never stopped examining spiritual practices. I suppose I have always been a seeker.
I remember reading the King James Bible cover to cover in high school on my own. Then reading anything I could to learn about Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Satanism, Paganism, Wiccan, Atheism, Humanism, Animism, and more recently Panpsychism. Talking about religion, especially questioning religion, is one of those taboo topics that when broached publicly can turn a friendly conversation into one of anger, frustration and hatred. And yet, here I am, releasing a song called “Snakes + Apples” that asks the question:
“Why do we allow these biblical stories to have so much control over our lives”?
I do not think the answer is simple, instead I believe it is repetitive and subconscious. When you first hear the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden as a youngster going to worship, you may not think to ask the question “What does the portrayal of Eve in the story subconsciously instill about women in the society that believes this story ”? “What about the portrayal of snakes being evil”? “Why isn’t Adam held in any sort of disdain after the event”? Instead the stories are consumed over and over again until questioning them brings accusations of heresy, ostracization, and possibly physical harm. Certainly, where I live in New England and in Europe for many centuries, openly questioning these beliefs and stories could be fatal.
Another aspect of these Abrahamic religions is the notion of man’s dominion over the other forms of life on Earth. If we believe that the lives of animals and plants are for us to determine and control what does that lead too? And when we see the harm that it does (Climate Change, Factory Farms, or Mass Extinction) and we make excuses for it as God’s Will, are we absolving ourselves of the responsibility to change our destructive behavior? I quote a line from Isaiah 24:6 “A curse consumes the Earth, its people must bear its guilt”. How is it a curse if the permission to act in this manner is given in the very words being repeated over and over again for centuries?
Along with the portrayal of Eve, I also raise questions about the story of King David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba is considered a Temptress, yet how can that be if King David is the one who sees and summons her to his chambers? It certainly was not a consensual relationship. How could it be when to deny the King’s order would be death? And yet the story blames Bathsheba for the King raping her. What is even more confusing is that God forgives King David, yet Bathsheba is destroyed. What does repeated consumption of a story like this reinforce about relationships between men and women? Or about Powerful Men? How long do we blame women for men’s behavior? And why does God forgive one but not the other?
When these questions are asked about the Inquisitions, Witch Trials, Crusades, or Missionary Work which destroyed indigenous populations and belief systems the response is often that it is “God’s Plan”. That it is a mystery and we can not understand the way God works, or that it is all in “God’s Hands”. Once again, I am left with the feeling that using the language of “God’s Plan” absolves us of taking responsibility for the atrocities we commit. We would not accept such an answer from misbehaving children. Why do we accept it from grown adults?
We love our stories but we get real defensive when we question them.
Snakes + Apples.
See You on the Path,
Josh
Listen to “Snakes + Apples”