Far too often the Faithful read the Bible as "The" word of God instead of the "Inspired" word of God. When this happens, the reader finds himself/herself bogged down in a story (historical, alegorical or otherwise) that becomes only "another" biblical story. There may be many ways to read the Bible, but literally is NOT the best way. People need to examine the Scriptures from the perspective of "the message." That is, God is teaching us something about Himself or about His eternal and abiding love of and for His creations ... and "formations" (I use the word "formations" here because God did NOT "create" mankind; He "formed" man from something He had "created" earlier). And these teachings extend into the New Testament and His life on earth as Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, and second part of the Holy Trinity. God did not "create" or "form" anything "in vain."  He did pronounce these things as "very good." In essence, that which He performed was done for the happiness of mankind. But He also gave us "free will." And He did this to "perfect" his creations and formations so that we could experience and share in the physicality and the spirituality of His being. It seems to me, this should make us all very joyful, and we should be very glad to have the Old Testament and the New Testament to remind us of these blessings.

Pat  Siebert
First United Methodist Church, Deltona