What If God Told You to Build an Ark? Or to Drink More?

As a teenager, I didn't like being told what to do. And as a teenager who attended a Presbyterian church every Sunday, I didn't like being told what to believe. I struggled with parts of the bible and what Sunday school teachers sometimes tried to sell me. 

Like, how did the authors of Genesis know God flooded the entire earth and killed all people and animals except for Noah and the pairs of animals on the ark? The writers weren't there or they would have drowned. And no one back then knew for thousands of years that North and South America and Australia and Antarctica even existed. Were those continents flooded? Did all the plants die underwater? Did God let the fish live, since they couldn't drown?

If it says so in scriptures, that means it has to be true, including a talking snake tempting Eve. Did Noah let every kind of snake onto the ark, and if so, what about the evil talking snakes?

I have heard from many that one of the attractions of AA and the Twelve Steps is that no one tells us what to believe. There is no right or wrong. It's all about the God as we understood him, in Steps Three and Eleven.

In yesterday's post I quoted from I Want What God Wants. The book is too biblical for my tastes, but the authors do make some good points. "Maybe like me, you have struggled with religion and it's left you feeling disappointed and let down. Maybe for you a relationship with God feels more like an exercise program than a friendship. Just quit! I'm serious, quit religion and tell God you want a relationship. Throw away your rulebooks and lists that were handed to you by well-intentioned people and instead invite God to search you, test you, critique you, and lead you."   (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29957590-i-want-what-god-wants)

A relationship with God is essential to conquer any kind of addiction. Build that relationship with God as you understand him.