Sunday, May 18, 2025
Letter To Elaine Pagels - Part 1
5/17/25
Francis William Bessler
1746 Fetterman Drive, Unit 2, Laramie, Wyoming 82070
307-742-7428; willieb@wyoming.com
una-bella-vita.com & francisbessler.com (if one is offline, try the other)
Dear Elaine Pagels!
Thank you so much for your most recent book you named MIRACLES AND WONDER – The Historical Mystery Of Jesus! Like another of your books I just finished for probably about the 12th time or so called BEYOND BELIEF, I am much impressed with your latest book. It is Wonderful! It is so good to see someone attempt to review the gospels of the BIBLE and speculate on their content – and very importantly – why they were probably written. In short, they were probably written to confirm or endorse what has been written before – namely prophecies found in the Old Testament about an expected realization, so to speak, of a Jewish Messiah.
I am not going to go into any of that for this letter, however, Elaine; but I want to offer some of my own speculation about the first book of the BIBLE because it can be considered to be the root of the entire BIBLE. The Jewish religion based its entire concepts on that book as if all in it is unquestionably true – and so also does traditional Christianity believe the same; however, this Christian does not agree. I have come to believe that the author of GENESIS was caught in a quagmire of confusion due mostly to “his” misimpression about God.
Let me explain. The author of GENESIS was probably of a mind that God can be located in one place and not another. Otherwise, he would not have made up a story about God being in a garden called Eden, but not outside of Eden. When his first human creations called Adam & Eve suited Him, they could stay in that garden with Him, but once they betrayed Him, they could be cast out of His garden. What is that to imply? Very simply that God belonged to a garden called Eden and was restrained by it. That is, He could cast out a couple where He was and they would have to go to someplace where he was absent. Otherwise, why did He cast Adam & Eve out of His garden if where He cast them He also was?
What is that to say about the mindset of the author of GENESIS? Obviously, he was of a perception that God can be located in one place, but not another. I used to believe that too, but when I was just 22 in 1964 (though I am now 83) while studying for the Catholic priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado, I asked myself how it could be that God could dismiss someone or something from His presence. I meditated about that notion a lot, but eventually decided it cannot be so. Therefore, GENESIS got it wrong in the first place – and that is why we have all got it wrong since then because we have all generally believed that the author of GENESIS could not be mistaken. That author told a tale he probably believed, thinking that God must be a person like he was. Otherwise, he would not have claimed that God made Adam & Eve out of His own image of Himself – a Person that could be one place and not another. Thus he could only imagine a Person God being in one place and not another – just like any person has to be.
But can an Infinite God be a “Person”? I do not think so. Why? Because when we speculate about “infinity,” it is almost impossible to decide that an Infinite God can be one place and not another. Therefore, the author of GENESIS was mistaken in claiming it could be so – and can be so; but the author of GENESIS was probably ignorant of the Universe and could not see himself clear to imagine anything beyond what he could see.
For instance, he did not know the Earth is a planet going around the Sun. He was living on a flat land, beneath which he knew nothing; but when I was 22, I knew far more than he did – and that is why I could imagine far more than what he could imagine. I know that the Earth is a round planet and not a “flat land” – and my science tells me that my planet is only one among a zillion and that space probably never ends. What does that imply? The entire world is Infinite without ending – and it makes no sense to imagine there can be a Personal God roaming about it or a Personal God outside of it. There can be no “outside” of it because it cannot end. Thus, God cannot be “outside” of it – or outside anything at all.
Sorry, author of GENESIS, you got it wrong - offering a tale of God Who can dismiss anyone or anything from Its Presence. I cannot understand the “mystery” of it – but I can KNOW that whatever God is, It can only be a HOLY PRESENCE inside of everything and not a “Person.” God, then, must be a Presence from within which Creation mysteriously happens – not a Person that Creates.
But Abraham did not know that, did he? His god could be in one place and not another and could choose one over another – and so it has gone down through history. A Person God can be influenced because He is outside of us – and therefore, Abraham concluded his god could be influenced and pacified. Thus, he imagined his god, named Jehovah, could be pacified if he “sacrificed” a lamb in his honor. That meant that lamb had to spill out blood in order to die on behalf of Abraham and his attempt to pacify his god. Sacrifice became the main tool Abraham (and Moses and others) would use to appease their Jehovah – and later, that is why Jewish minded Christians would consider the death of Jesus to be a “sacrifice” to appease their god.
It would eventually be written that Jesus claimed he would “sacrifice” himself and his giving his flesh and blood would be a token to appease God – and then God would be satisfied and let believers come and be with Him forever more; but that is again to assume that God can be a Person Who can be appeased. Again, Elaine, I don’t believe in a Personal God that can be appeased. I believe in An Infinite Presence God, present in everything and everyone. I could be wrong – like any of us can be wrong – though I admit I can be wrong and lots of others are sure they can’t be wrong; but for what it’s worth, consider my thoughts something to consider and enjoy a bit of a speculative essay I wrote in 2018 called ONE WORLD/ONE FAMILY that I am including in this letter. OK?