Faith, Hope, Love....But the Greatest of these is Love

 

Over the last 5 weeks I have watched the miniseries "The Bible" on the history channel. I read the critics reviews and it would seem a love hate relationship was had.  Some found the production trite, while others were inspired by it. I fell somewhere in the middle. It was intriguing enough that I continued to watch, but it had its moments where I thought it took shortcuts and a minimalistic view of the stories through blinders. It did remind me of my childhood Sunday School teachings and helped me recall some of the more whimsical stories like the fall of Jericho (walls crumbling down after a 7 lap march and an army battle cry). I enjoyed the old testament stories and build up to the birth of Jesus. I will say the Moses story line was almost as badly overacted as the Charlton Heston version in the Ten Commandments. 
  
What I struggled most with was the self serving casting of Roma Downey as Mary, Jesus' mother.  She and husband Mark Burnett (Yes that Mark Burnett) were responsible for bringing the production to life, but as a viewer I would have been the first to vote her off the island ala Survivor style. I understand she was previously "Touched by an Angel"   but for this story, they should have continued with fairly unknowns in order to allow the viewer to continue the pretense that these were biblical characters brought to life, not Hollywood tainted. Her presence pulled me out of the story and back to Hollywood. It just felt off. 

The highlights for me were the clarification that Jesus was purported to have spent time after his resurrection amongst his followers before his ascension. and of course Paul's message found in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^{[a] 6} it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Of all the passages in the bible, this is one of my favorite. I am not a scholar nor am I prepared or able to debate the nature of religions and their competing covenants.

Its true, I don't subscribe to the business of what religions today have become, but I did grow up with a prevalence of teachings. I acknowledge a core belief system within myself planted and nurtured in my formative years. I have since opened my heart and soul up to embrace and respect a broader range of spiritual musings and doctrines,  but they don't usurp or displace many of the basic principals on which I was raised. At the core of every belief system, you will find the elements of faith, hope, and love.

Religion is a messy business and has become the justification for war and greed and destruction throughout time.

The bible is a book of stories retold through the centuries, translated and re-translated. Like any history book it is subject to interpretation and the influence of the viewpoint of the story teller. I believe it is a window in a period of history full of turmoil and transformation.But I also believe that neither the Pentecost, the Baptists, the Catholic, the Jew, the Muslim, the Mormon, the Buddhist, the Wicca, or any other, has all of the answers. I think the truth can be found in all of these, in pieces. None of us are privy to all the answers and as a result we have no right to judge each other for what we believe.