The Devil's Gateway

Once more, all heads nodded.

"But before that, Angels went to Lot to warn him to get out of Sodom, but the men of the town thought they were other men and wanted to have sex with them. Lot offered them his daughters, didn't he? Annie, how about reading Genesis, chapter 19, verse 8. Rachel, keep us honest, okay?"

Annie read it, and Rachel agreed.

"Now that's nice, huh? Lot has two virginal daughters, and he'll gladly throw them out to strangers to do with 'as is good in' their eyes. Is that how God always thought, that we weren't worthy of anything but as meat to hungry, licentious men who were always horny? Okay, let's find out since we're on this subject. Annie, again, go to Judges, chapter 19, verses 22 through 29."

Reading again, Rachel agreed also with Annie's reading.

"Again, 'do as seemeth good unto you', help yourself to my virgin daughter and the man's concubine, but please, please, don't fuck the man. It further says only what they did to the concubine—the bastards used her, then killed her, or so the bible says. Is this really God?

"My partner, Paula, said she'd often heard her preacher preach on Lot and the Angels, and the men who wanted them, but she couldn't remember anything being said about Lot's daughters being offered so cavalierly, nor had it to come up in what they called 'Bible Study' classes. Of course, she'd never heard about the concubine, and maybe the virginal daughter, not from the pulpit, nor from the bible classes. How about you? Had any of you heard of any of this as Paula said she didn't?"

A lot of sad and angry heads shook.

"Isn't that something? Preach on what you think is good to preach on, but skip what is either unsavory, or what you think they don't want to hear about. This is all important because it adds to the foundation, or lack of it, to the bibles veracity. Martin Luther, the guy who tacked his objections on the church door in Germany and started the Lutheran church, is supposed to have said, 'Sola Scriptura', meaning the scripture only. What it should have been is 'Sola Veritas,' or truth only.

"Okay, let's do another bit of what-some-fundies-say." Liv held up a different bible. It was big, and it looked cumbersome. "This is called Dake's Annotated Reference Bible. It was put together with commentary by a fundamentalist who believed that God's word is in the bible, and is inerrant. If you'll look at it, you'll see that it's a pretty expensive looking thing. It is. It was written by Finis Jennings Dake, thus the name. Not to pick on him too much, but let's look at something in Isaiah.

"Annie, since you're such a good reader, allow me to have you read a little more." Annie smiled, then took the bible. "If you will, find Isaiah, chapter 14, verse 13. You'll find it on page 692. By the way, this particular bible has a copyright date in the 1960s. Yes, it's got a little age on it, but not for bibles, and people have been using bibles from the time of Jerome who wrote it in Latin back when the Catholic church hadn't been in existence too long. Of course, the printed bible wasn't a reality until about 1450, and it wasn't read by one and all, but then again, it still isn't; people own them, but do they read them? Okay, Annie."

Annie grinned, then read it. It was fairly long for one verse.

"Now look on the left column, and read Dake's note titled m, if you will."

"It proves that heaven is a planet? Was that right?" Annie nodded.

"That's what it says," Annie said.

"Anyone hear of a physical planet called 'heaven'? Liv asked. Nobody, of course, said yes. "Neither have I, and so far as I know, he's the only one saying that. He's assuming that what the bible says is without error. In another note below it, referring to the next verse, he says that the verse proves that Lucifer's kingdom is on earth. 'The bible said it, I believe it, and that's that.' Remember the bumper sticker I mentioned?

"That's what a fundamentalist is. If it's in the bible, that's all there is to it, and no arguments accepted no matter what.

"Okay, confession time—I'm not an expert on religion, nor do I know all there is to know about it. Quite the contrary, I'm a student, and not even an expert student by any means. Still, one doesn't have to be an expert to do a little thinking when properly led, and I was led, and it was all explained to me. By whom, or how? Please understand this, ladies, we're in a golden age of information, and I mean information geared to simple people such as you and I who are not experts.

"There are many bible books in print now. Yes, most are what I like to call 'Me-too' type books, and read by those who don't think, don't question, don't challenge. Everything I've said, if a fact, I've told you where to find it. If not a fact, I've told you it is my opinion. If I've read it somewhere else, I'll tell you. On these sheets for you to take with you, you'll find the titles of some books to consider. All are pretty easy to read, and fact-filled. Two authors in particular are Karen Armstrong who wrote 'The Bible' ", she said, and held up a copy of it, "and many books by Bart Ehrman. Bart is amazing just like Karen is. There is no bull from either of them.

"Many books on religion, in my opinion, are very deceptive, and short on facts. What I want and need are facts. Facts may lead me to believe things, but it's by extrapolation from facts, and not just what I've been told to believe. It's what you need to, I think.

"Are there any questions before we close for the day?"

There were a lot of questions, but nothing different from what she'd told us about. All of us looked as if we had a lot to think about, at least from the way I felt, and the way Caryn looked.

"We've set our class foundation, what this is all about, and where I'm taking you. Foundation is key, and so is the Zeitgeist. The Zeitgeist we've seen so far is a lot of what someone thought God would, or should, say, and to hell with women. So far it doesn't match with what we, in our modern day and age know, but unfortunately, what too many believe is not according to what we do know as well as see as Sola Veritas.

"Next week we'll get into Historical Textual Criticism, and maybe a bit of archeology. You'll be very surprised by what I have to tell you about it, and what it means to us. Enjoy the rest of the weekend."

Chapter 8

"That was really something," Caryn said. "I wish it was next Saturday already."

"I know what you mean. That's about how I feel."

"Penny, how about going to the book store and look for some of these books?"

We found a large book store, and sure enough, they had that one book by Karen Armstrong. We decided to get one each so we could read it separately during the week, and talk about it. Caryn was very excited, and that had me feeling hopeful for her, as well as for myself and our love. We also bought another book each.

Fixing a sandwich when we got to my house, I let Caryn talk all she wanted, and she sure wanted to talk.

"Penny, do you think that we've been lied to? All of us, that is, and me in particular?"

"It would seem so, but I think we better wait on what else we learn from Liv. She did do a good job of making us see things, and of questioning them, and she provided answers, real proofs, and from the bible too."

"Yeah, but the bible is so huge. How does one get through it all if you stop and check out everything? Maybe that's why we don't do it, huh?"

"I guess. I never have," I admitted.

"I've always been afraid to. If I had a question that had a tad of doubt in it, I'd get these little niggling feelings telling me I shouldn't be doubting, and I'd quit. I know I did that a couple of times," she said.

After our usual routine of showering, we went to bed. There hadn't been any hesitation in Caryn coming into my arms since near the first time she did that, and as always now, she kissed my breast before laying her head on it.

"Do you think it's foolish of me to hope now?"

Knowing what she meant, I didn't think so, and told her. "I love you, Caryn, and I'll always hope that someday we'll be lovers as we want to be, so no, I don't think it's foolish of you to hope. If you are foolish, then so am I."

"I love you so much, Penny, and you've been so good with me, patient as I never imagined anyone could ever be. When I did think of finding someone, I always worried if that someone would be patient with me, but then I'd worry more, and have to push it out of my head, but that feeling of anxiety stayed with me long after I quit thinking like that. Please keep being patient with me. Please," she said softly, a few tears wetting my sleep shirt.

Had I gotten used to us being like this, sleeping together, yet not touching our bodies, much less making love? This was odd, but Caryn was worth it to me. This was how she needed me right now, and a part of what I had to fight through to win her love forever. There was no way my heart could ever live without her, she was so perfect in every other way. Aside from that, I knew much of what had been drilled into her, and though I'd never experienced that, it didn't keep me from knowing that it had to be rough on her. How do you just do away with a habit that has been so forcefully hammered at you for years. Habits weren't something you could just decide to do without. I knew a lot of girls who tried to quit smoking and just couldn't do it without a lot of help. Then again, that was physical, but was it still much like what Caryn had in her.

"I'll always hope, Penny," Caryn suddenly said, and quickly got atop of me, our bodies together as they'd never been. "I know this is dangerous, and that I'm tempting you too much, but I have to hold you close to me, to feel us together. Soon, my sweet darling, soon. Please believe that," she said, and kissed me hard.

My pussy was running away with it's hoped for joy, my panties instantly soaked, my heart jumping in happiness, and my arms holding Caryn tightly to me as we kissed. Then just as suddenly, she was off of me, her head on my breast again, my breath trying to do it's job, my breasts heaving as I could feel Caryn's were too—but I was happy. There was more than just hope for us.

* * * *

We spent the day reading, discussing what we were both reading since we read in the same book. It was fascinating, and Caryn's eyes kept saying that she couldn't believe it, but not in a bad way, not for her, or for us, but in how she felt she had probably been deceived, not to mention her whole family.

"If this is all true, I can't wait until we go to class again. Why can't she hold a class every day," she carped, but then grinned.

Even when I took her to her apartment, we read, and later, we talked on the phone about it. It was the same that whole week until Friday evening when we went to the club.

* * * *

"You've got me thinking that I should go to the class too," Ariel told Caryn shortly after we'd been at the club.

"We can go if you want to," Sally told her.

"Why not. It's a good idea. We don't have the problem Caryn does, but it's interesting. I'm feeling like it's so terrible that these people may have pushed us around so much, like in Proposition 8, and maybe they don't really have a leg to stand on as they piously say."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Let's go if we don't have anything else we have to do," Sally said.

"We don't have anything special, maybe some grocery shopping, but we can do that on Sunday, can't we?"

"What are you all talking about?" Mary wanted to know.

We told her, and the others listened in too.

"Hey, that sounds good. Tell me how to get there; I think I'd like to go myself."

"How weird is this?" Sally said. "Here we are in a club where we're hoping to hook up, if we don't have a partner, and we're talking about religion. I mean, it's not all bad, or bad in any way, really, but it seems kind of odd. Is it?"

"I know what you mean," I said, "and it can seem odd, but it isn't. It's just that we're not used to it, not in the club, anyway."

It was Caryn's turn to pick me up, so we went to her apartment for the night, my book having been in the car. We cuddled much more than we normally did. It had been that way since we went to the class on religion, Caryn's hopes growing with our reading.

"I can feel it," Caryn said. "It's not going to be long now; I just know it's not."

"You know I hope that you're right, but no matter, we'll keep on keeping on anyway. We love each other too much to be apart."

"Yes, I know it's true. For the first time, I do sense things changing for us, changing in me, and I'm getting anxious for it to hit me. Do you understand that, Penny? Do you understand how anxious and thrilled I feel to sense it all coming to an end in me? That all of those rotten feelings of denial I've had will soon be gone?"

"From what all you've told me about how it's been with you, I do understand, just not like you can. I haven't experienced it as you have, and it's not plagued me over the years either, but I'm with you."

"Plagued is right. All of those days of looking at other girls, wondering, feeling myself wanting to be with them, catching myself looking too long, too hard, and making myself quit no matter I was aching so. Those times when I wanted to tell my parents, but became so frightened that I'd feel my stomach knotting up, then feeling I was getting sick. I don't want that for me, nor for us. I want us to love as I know we should. Oh, god, I'm so anxious to have this over and done. Not making love, but getting rid of all this baggage I've been carrying around my whole life, being two different people so nobody would suspect."

More tears, but I understood. How could I not?

Chapter 9

"Hi, everyone. I see we have some new people. Will you tell us your names, and what religion you're from, if any, and how religion has affected your life. I'm assuming you're all lesbians, and I shouldn't, so is anyone not a lesbian?"

We had Sally, Ariel, and Mary with us, and there were a couple of others, also. No one said they weren't, and answered Liv's questions.

"I take it you know about our first class already. Is that correct?" she asked them.

Once more, they all nodded. One said, "That's why I'm here."

"Good," Liv said with a smile. "I mentioned Historical Textual Criticism last week. Let's start there today. As I said, the bible as a book was first printed about 1450. One of the authors of the bible book I mentioned to you last week stated that Martin Luther was said to be astounded at the size of the bible as a whole when he first saw it. That's a good way to put it, I'd say. Imagine one of the books of the Old Testament in scroll form. It must have taken several scrolls for a book such as Isaiah, but that's just an opinion.

"What is not an opinion, at least not to the writer, Karen Armstrong, who says that one Rabbi Shlomo Yitzak, who questioned how that Genesis was started; he lived between 1040 and 1105 A.D. Notice I said 'Rabbi'. He was a Jew, and he was questioning what is said these days to be the inerrant word of God by many.

"Karen Armstrong further says that an Andrew St. Victor, born in 1110, questioned the translation of Isaiah that was written as a 'Virgin' giving birth. He had Jewish friends he spoke with about scripture since he was translating the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and not from the Greek that was used for the Septuagint, and more in a moment on the Septuagint. I don't know if any of you saw it, or if you did, gave it note, but not long ago, some Catholic bishops agreed that it shouldn't have been translated as 'virgin', that it was better translated as 'a young woman.'

"Now, it wasn't mentioned on the evening news, but they did mention some of the other new translations. Did they chicken out? I think they must have. When the Catholics stated it publicly, they never mentioned the obvious, and that is their worship of the Virgin Mary. In other words, Jesus' birth was not a virgin birth, and The Gospel According to Matthew is wrong. This you can check on easily on the internet, or scan your local paper's archives, and you'll find where this admission was written up.

"Do I expect the Vatican to finally say that there is no Virgin Mary? Don't hold your breath, cause I'm not holding mine. They're pros at stalling, and deceit. Forgive me that personal opinion, but it's also the truth, and all of those pedophile priests they've finally had to admit to knowing about says it all. Foundation, remember. This all goes to their foundation, their veracity, or the lack of it, I should say.

"But we're on Textual Criticism, so let's get back to that. Somewhere in the 1100 hundreds, there was another Jew, Abraham ibn Ezra, and he compared the writing of the book of Isaiah, and said that it had to have been written by at least two different people. All of these guys could be said to have started the Textual Criticism thing that's evolved into Historical Textual Criticism.

"What we're seeing here is that what is in this bible that is said to be the inerrant word of God, is not his word as written, couldn't be his word if he is God. There are too many errors.

"Errors? So why weren't these errors seen before? Remember, the people were ignorant, illiterate, and there were no texts until after Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450. Till then, there were scrolls. Is that the only reason? No. In Alexandria, Egypt, it is said that seventy Jewish scholars came together and translated the Hebrew bible into Greek for many of the people only spoke, or read, Greek—that's the Septuagint, meaning the 70 translators. After Rome fell, and even before, Greek was the universal language for most of the Western world, even in the Middle East. But in translating it, they, too, were said to have made errors in how to put it into Greek.

"It's been a mess, a mish-mash for ages. Early scribes after Jesus' death were said to be illiterate too, but knew how to copy. Some of the scribes who could read changed things here and there. Yes, this has to be a guess, but knowing humans, it's probably a good one. They have found mistakes by scribes later on, and some apparently intentional. The big thing about those times just after Jesus is that there are no originals of what the writers of the New Testament wrote, and those writers are also unknown, never mind the names on the gospels, and on some of the other writings. We only have copies of copies, of maybe copies. But does it matter? In the long run, as you'll see, maybe it doesn't because not only is the foundation shaky, but when the original Old Testament was written, that's very shaky too.

"Think back to what I said about ibn Ezra, as is in Karen Armstrong's book. What he is said to have found is that the second writer wrote things that were only known in later years, and not of the real Isaiah's time. Yes, Historical Textual Criticism is opening up our eyes—but will we take time to notice? That's the question. 'The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.' Remember me saying that, quoting R. D. Laing?

"As I said in last week's class just before we ended, this is a golden age in books. If any of you looked, you may have seen that Bart Ehrman has written loads of books on Christianity and the bible. For as much as he's written, you'd think we'd all be questioning our Christian faith. But Martin Luther is also stated to have said that 'Reason is the biggest enemy of belief.' The Catholic church never wanted their parishioners to read the bible, they wanted them to go through their priests so that they could control what was believed, and never to have that belief questioned from reading the bible.

"Zeitgeist! That's going to crop up in this class many times. That has been the Zeitgeist for thousands of years, so it's no wonder that we have a hard time questioning our religions. One writer, Niles Eldredge, calls himself an Evolutionary Biologist, has written a book stating that 'Zeitgeist, culture', is probably just as big a reason for natural change in us as genes are. I don't know if that's true, but it's quite fascinating to consider. If so, we have a reason to have a hard time in changing how we see our specific religion. What has been taught and preached for thousands of years is powerfully in us. That's one of the reasons I said to think 'There is no blame, there is no shame.' Ladies, it's been shoved at us since almost forever.