What is Robert Frost's magnificent poem "Directive" about, really? I do a line-by-line analysis to ferret out Frost's scathing criticism of the Bible's monstrous doctrine of predestination...
I remember reading your analysis of Frost’s “Directive” about a year ago, and I benefited from it immensely. I always love reading a good poem analysis, and this one is very iconoclastic and original.
I think this is original, and something for parents to think about regarding christianity and its dark influence on children. Hell is terrifying and that makes teaching hell to children a form of terrorism.
It's an interesting poem to study, and was of great interest to me because I was born into a family of devout evangelicals who believed the bible is the "word of god."
I read it from cover to cover as a boy, and became the black sheep, and a heretic.
Hurm. Frost is always subtler than many of his fans will admit. To me, what’s interesting is his implied acceptance of the traditional belief that John Mark, the companion of Peter, wrote this gospel. Most scholars don’t accept this attribution. There’s no real historical evidence for it.
All the New Testament books have to be interpreted as expressions of the authors’ viewpoints. If you accept their inspiration — and it’s not the kind of thing that can be proven — you need to see that God wanted them to express their viewpoints in narrative form. It doesn’t mean that every doctrine is true that can be deduced from those expressions.
The essential theme in Mark is usually taken to be the Messianic secret — the idea that not even the apostles understood Jesus or what his actual mission was. The traditional conclusion of the narrative is an interpolation. It really ends with the women leaving the tomb, frightened, and never telling anyone. You get the point?
Mark too is a much subtler writer than he is given credit for being.
Have you read “Grendel,” by John Gardner? There’s a haunting treatment of predestination in that book.
I agree that there's no evidence that John Mark wrote the book, but I sometimes say Mark rather than the longer "whoever wrote the gospel of Mark."
I think it's more likely that the writers of the gospels were making things up, than that god told them anything. They made so many mistakes and contradicted each other so much, that the work seems 100% human to me. One would expect better from an all-wise god.
I get the point of Mark. He thought Jesus was the Messiah, but all the evidence seemed to say otherwise, so it was a matter of faith. On the cross Jesus seemed abandoned by god. Mark admitted that no one saw or spoke to Jesus after the allegedly empty tomb was discovered. But was the "empty tomb" originally a metaphor? That would be my guess.
I haven't read "Grendel," but thanks for the tip.
Predestination and god using human beings as puppets (the pharaoh, King David during the census that god commanded then murdered 70,000 people over what he had caused, god sending evil spirits to afflict Saul and put lies in the mouths of prophets, etc.) are recurring themes in the bible.
The bible is more frightening than any book I've read, if one believes in its diabolical god. I read the bible from cover to cover at age 11 -- I was a reading prodigy -- then came up with this epigram to express my conclusion:
I remember reading your analysis of Frost’s “Directive” about a year ago, and I benefited from it immensely. I always love reading a good poem analysis, and this one is very iconoclastic and original.
I think this is original, and something for parents to think about regarding christianity and its dark influence on children. Hell is terrifying and that makes teaching hell to children a form of terrorism.
I did very much profit from this analysis. I should have said so at the outset.
Thanks for taking the time.
It's an interesting poem to study, and was of great interest to me because I was born into a family of devout evangelicals who believed the bible is the "word of god."
I read it from cover to cover as a boy, and became the black sheep, and a heretic.
Hurm. Frost is always subtler than many of his fans will admit. To me, what’s interesting is his implied acceptance of the traditional belief that John Mark, the companion of Peter, wrote this gospel. Most scholars don’t accept this attribution. There’s no real historical evidence for it.
All the New Testament books have to be interpreted as expressions of the authors’ viewpoints. If you accept their inspiration — and it’s not the kind of thing that can be proven — you need to see that God wanted them to express their viewpoints in narrative form. It doesn’t mean that every doctrine is true that can be deduced from those expressions.
The essential theme in Mark is usually taken to be the Messianic secret — the idea that not even the apostles understood Jesus or what his actual mission was. The traditional conclusion of the narrative is an interpolation. It really ends with the women leaving the tomb, frightened, and never telling anyone. You get the point?
Mark too is a much subtler writer than he is given credit for being.
Have you read “Grendel,” by John Gardner? There’s a haunting treatment of predestination in that book.
I agree that there's no evidence that John Mark wrote the book, but I sometimes say Mark rather than the longer "whoever wrote the gospel of Mark."
I think it's more likely that the writers of the gospels were making things up, than that god told them anything. They made so many mistakes and contradicted each other so much, that the work seems 100% human to me. One would expect better from an all-wise god.
I get the point of Mark. He thought Jesus was the Messiah, but all the evidence seemed to say otherwise, so it was a matter of faith. On the cross Jesus seemed abandoned by god. Mark admitted that no one saw or spoke to Jesus after the allegedly empty tomb was discovered. But was the "empty tomb" originally a metaphor? That would be my guess.
I haven't read "Grendel," but thanks for the tip.
Predestination and god using human beings as puppets (the pharaoh, King David during the census that god commanded then murdered 70,000 people over what he had caused, god sending evil spirits to afflict Saul and put lies in the mouths of prophets, etc.) are recurring themes in the bible.
The bible is more frightening than any book I've read, if one believes in its diabolical god. I read the bible from cover to cover at age 11 -- I was a reading prodigy -- then came up with this epigram to express my conclusion:
If god
is good
half the bible
is libel.