"The Year of Living Biblically" - part one
Monday, February 23, 2009 at 11:03AM 
What would it be like to live out, as literally as possible, every command in the Bible -- including the command to stone adulterers and the one about not wearing garments with mixed fibers? Or, to never trim your beard. (Ladies, you can opt out of this one.) Well, my friend, you've come to the right place. A.J. Jacobs has written a very funny book, The Year of Living Biblically, about his attempt to live out those hundreds of commands as literally as possible, for one year.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we're dividing this book into four chunks. Chunk one is this week. What I'm particularly after in our discussion is: What are the assumptions the author has about how a person becomes "good?" What is the point of being good? And, what is God really after?
Part One (First 3 months of Jacob's biblical year)
First off, what was your favorite anecdote from the first part of the book? I particularly enjoyed Jacob's hunt to pick up tips on the internet for blowing his new shofar ram's horn:
- "Separate the lips as if you were making a raspberry."
- "Keep your jaw in the position you would if you were spitting a watermelon seed."
- "If you do wet them [your lips] too much, spittle is best removed from the shofar by a coffee brush or an aquarium brush."
Good tips.
Preparing for his biblical year:
In preparation for his "biblical year," Jacobs said, "I type into my PowerBook every rule, every guideline, every suggestion, every nugget of advice I find in the Bible. When I finish, I have a very long list. It runs seventy-two pages. More than seven hundred rules." Jacobs does say that, obviously, not every rule in the Bible can be acted upon literally -- like gouging your eyes out if they offend you. Or the one about becoming a eunich for Christ. You'd lose a lot of body parts that way. Instead, he's looking for the original intent: "If the passage is unquestionably figurative -- and I'm going to say the eunich one is -- then I won't obey it literally. But if there's any doubt whatsoever... I will err on the side of being literal."
- As Jacobs pours over his list of over 700 "rules," he says, "But plenty of other rules [other than the common ones like no lying, love your parents, etc.] don't seem like they'll make me more righteous at all." (p. 8) What assumptions do you think are behind Jacob's statement here, or his biblical year project as a whole?
- So far, in the first quarter of the book, Jacobs contends that, although there are benefits of trying to live biblically, he still remains agnostic. In fact, one of his spiritual advisors, Robert, warns him, "You're going into this thinking that it's like studying the sumo wrestlers in Japan," Roger says, "You're saying to yourself, 'I won't really become one [a true follower]. I'll maintain my distance.'" (p. 36) What's the problem with Jacob's approach to living biblically?
- On page 15, Jacobs says, 'I can't do anything without fear I'm breaking a biblical law." And on page 17, "I was so busy obsessing over the rules..." Has there been a time in your journey with God that you felt captive to rule-keeping?
- Jacobs tells us his plan is in keeping with the theory of cognitive dissonance he learned about in college: "This says, in part, if you behave in a certain way, your beliefs will eventually change to conform to your behavior....If I act like I'm faithful and God loving for several months, then maybe I'll become faithful and God loving." (p.21) Do you think this approach works? Does it work at all?
Reader Comments (4)
Okay, Jim. Here's goes.
My favorite anecdote: I really enjoyed Jacob's attempts to stone someone for breaking the Sabbath. He wasn’t sure how to do it but on his first attempt, he saw the guy from Avis working on a weekend and decided to stone him. Since the Bible doesn’t specify the size of the stones, he decided to use pebbles. He pretended to be clumsy and dropped a pebble on the guy’s shoe. He apologized profusely and, when it was over, he felt very unsatisfied. There was also another attempt that was equally as funny.
1) He was assuming or hoping that following these rules would make him more righteous.
2) He’s mechanically trying to follow a bunch of rules. He doesn’t understand that it’s not about rule keeping; it’s about relationship.
3) For years, my life as a believer was built around rule keeping . . . going to church, Bible reading, praying, fasting, tithing, etc.
4) It may have limited success in certain situations but I think it wouldn’t work in things regarding the heart. We can’t act ourselves into love and faithfulness because those come from the heart. All we’ll end up with are actions with no substance.
Dead on, Aida. I like your thoughts here. Trying to follow the stoning command was pretty hilarious.
I like what you say here: "We can’t act ourselves into love and faithfulness because those come from the heart. All we’ll end up with are actions with no substance."
Acting like something isn't really the point. God looks at the heart, as you suggest. What's more, Jesus has addressed the real problem -- replace the diseased heart with a new one, and teach people to live there.
I agree. Changing our behavior won’t help. What we need is a new heart and that will in time result in new behavior.
I think the anecdote about the shofar is interesting. I know musicians usually play more than one instrument and I was wondering if you plan to add the shofar to the list of instruments that you play. LOL
I do find it interesting how attached the religious spirit seems to be to the blowing of the shofar or any other Old Covenant tradition. I’ve been in a number of services where the meeting was started by the blowing of the shofar. Actually, I enjoy hearing it but I think we need to understand that God is not more present or active because it’s blown. He’s there because we’re there.
BTW, I’ll be starting the second part in a couple of days so I’ll let you know when I’m ready for part 2.
Jim, I finally finished chapters 4-6. I'm ready any time you want to discuss them.