The Tooners have been looking for a new drummer to replace the great Pat Meehan who recently moved to Idaho (I don't know, don't ask) for the live Rock & Roll Rehab Show. We placed some ads on Craig's List where I often look at the job listings although I don't know why. Nine out of ten times when I inquire about a job being advertised on Craig's List it turns out to be something that wants me to PAY THEM! Really, I don't know why I even bother. Another thing that bothers me about the ads on Craig's List, although it comes in a very distance second, is how many ads are asking for "Rock Stars", as in; "Rock Star Programmer", or "Rock Star Dog Groomer". What does this mean? Are they really looking for an employee that sleeps all day, gets loaded and doesn't know how to count change?
Another term that bothers me is "Rock God". Being a Rock Star makes sense as Rock & Roll is a form of music which is a form of entertainment and being a Star is a designation in the world of show business, but a God? Are there any "Actor Gods" or "Director Gods" or even "Sports Gods"? I've never heard of any. This leads to the question of just what these days, is a God?
God today is very different than the God portrayed in the Bible. In the New Testament God is Jesus' biological father and like a lot of those he's nowhere to be seen. These days we in the West seem to view God as all-seeing and all-powerful, in fact, God is a part of us, within us and not separate from us. God knows all and sees all, at least God knows what we know and sees what we see, but that certainly isn't the God of the Old Testament. In the Book Of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament God creates Adam and Eve and tells them not to fornicate with the animals, I mean, not to eat the "fruit of knowledge" aka, an apple. This, of course, is a set up as God, who the Bible tells us created Adam for companionship (he's lonely and the angels are a bunch of suck-ups), could have put the "apple tree" on an island in the middle of an active volcano on another island a thousand miles from Eden, where Adam and Eve lived if he really didn't want the apple eaten.
God sends his right hand angel, Lucifer, to go tell Eve she should eat the apple, which she does. Eve then gets Adam to do it as well which is the most believable part of the story, and then the two of them "run away" as they are ashamed of disobeying God and afraid of his retribution. The Bible then tells us that God went looking for them and couldn't find them. He even calls out, "where are you?" This is not the God of today. This Old Testament God not only couldn't keep his produce from being eaten (I know, a test of free will) but he couldn't find the only two people living in a garden. Adam and Eve were both on foot and barefoot and how large could the Garden Of Eden of been? This was a God you could hide from?
Some people believe in a far distant past where beings from other planets came to planet Earth, altered the DNA of the indigenous species and created the first modern humans. Many Central and South American ancient cultures believed in Gods as bearded white men (same as the Christian God!) who came from "the skies" or from across the oceans. These gods sound quite human, or perhaps alien, but not exactly the Super Hero God of modern Christianity from whom no one can hide.
Albert Einstein, often called a genius, once said that the term genius is like the term centipede. It's not that the little creature has a hundred legs, it's just that most people can count past ten. Maybe the term God has evolved into something entirely different than the Bible version. I think our version is probably closer to the truth, whatever that is.
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