Authored

Authored? Authorized?

I’m thinking about having a co-author for this book I’m writing.

However, I’ve not yet decided.

***

Assuming you are holding in your hands right now the very book that I’m writing, makes something interesting.

You, beloved reader—who exists outside of me and the time and space in which I live—can have knowledge that I do not have.

Which is true, but maybe not important. Like how the letter “W” is spelled with a “D.”

But, you with knowledge and existence apart from mine makes you an interesting stand-in for God. No?

Living outside of time and space, having knowledge that I don’t have? Sounds like a classic descriptor of God.

I bet you and God have much in common.

***

Not based on changing even one word inside this book, just putting the my BFF’s name—Minister Laurence Charles Keene—on the cover of the book would change the whole book.

So would it be different if I added Afia—my young African-American friend’s name.

The meaning of the book changes based on what we know about who wrote it.

Woah.

***

How about God’s name?

If this is a religious work, and it is, oughtn’t God be listed as a contributing author?

***

Is God credited as the author of the Bible?

I wondered and then asked that question on my library’s web portal.

It seems the alphabetically-sorted “Armstrong, Karen” is listed as the first author, if you search “Title: Bible.”

So, then, I thought, “What has God written?”

My search of “Contributor:God” resulted in a 2004 CD, in Korean, by “G.o.d. (Musical group).”

***

People wrote the Bible.

***

It’s actually only with the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible, that the Bible even purports to be the word of God.

Isn’t that interesting?

That scroll begins with the words, “These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan.”

Four-fifths of the way.

The first four books don’t have a forward: “This is God. I wrote this book.”

The scroll of Deuteronomy was found by King Josiah in the seventh century BCE—while cleaning up the temple.

Like the woman who doth protest too much, this book—written in a different style than books one through four—seems eager to make itself known as God’s word.

Hmmm. Wonder why?

***

You might think that if God used to reveal God’s self to humanity—corporeally, auditorily, or otherwise—that it wouldn’t have stopped.

You’d assume God’s revelation would continue.

Right?

Funny thing.
About that.
Many religious groups tell us that God’s most perfect revelation was given to them at a specific time and that there have not been, nor would there be, future epiphanies.

Although, they all seem to figure out a way proprietary to their understanding.

***

Do me a favor? Take a look at the spine of the book.
Is God a co-author?

Authored? Authorized?

I’m thinking about having a co-author for this book I’m writing.

However, I’ve not yet decided.

***

Assuming you are holding in your hands right now the very book that I’m writing, makes something interesting.

You, beloved reader—who exists outside of me and the time and space in which I live—can have knowledge that I do not have.

Which is true, but maybe not important. Like how the letter “W” is spelled with a “D.”

But, you with knowledge and existence apart from mine makes you an interesting stand-in for God. No?

Living outside of time and space, having knowledge that I don’t have? Sounds like a classic descriptor of God.

I bet you and God have much in common.

***

Not based on changing even one word inside this book, just putting the my BFF’s name—Minister Laurence Charles Keene—on the cover of the book would change the whole book.

So would it be different if I added Afia—my young African-American friend’s name.

The meaning of the book changes based on what we know about who wrote it.

Woah.

***

How about God’s name?

If this is a religious work, and it is, oughtn’t God be listed as a contributing author?

***

Is God credited as the author of the Bible?

I wondered and then asked that question on my library’s web portal.

It seems the alphabetically-sorted “Armstrong, Karen” is listed as the first author, if you search “Title: Bible.”

So, then, I thought, “What has God written?”

My search of “Contributor:God” resulted in a 2004 CD, in Korean, by “G.o.d. (Musical group).”

***

People wrote the Bible.

***

It’s actually only with the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible, that the Bible even purports to be the word of God.

Isn’t that interesting?

That scroll begins with the words, “These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan.”

Four-fifths of the way.

The first four books don’t have a forward: “This is God. I wrote this book.”

The scroll of Deuteronomy was found by King Josiah in the seventh century BCE—while cleaning up the temple.

Like the woman who doth protest too much, this book—written in a different style than books one through four—seems eager to make itself known as God’s word.

Hmmm. Wonder why?

***

You might think that if God used to reveal God’s self to humanity—corporeally, auditorily, or otherwise—that it wouldn’t have stopped.

You’d assume God’s revelation would continue.

Right?

Funny thing.
About that.
Many religious groups tell us that God’s most perfect revelation was given to them at a specific time and that there have not been, nor would there be, future epiphanies.

Although, they all seem to figure out a way proprietary to their understanding.

***

Do me a favor? Take a look at the spine of the book.
Is God a co-author?