The Bible, Fr. Paul explains, is a holy joke. 

That’s a big relief. Even hopeful. 

Looking around, I see that the current state of affairs is an unholy joke.

Truly, if the Scriptural God is not laughing at us, mocking us, and ultimately—as Fr. Paul explains—entrapping us, he is not God. 

He can’t be. 

What kind of god, what monster, would be happy with us? I mean, seriously, people? 

Look at us.

Do you think it sounds odd that God would say, “Here is a nice tree in the Garden, now don’t eat of it,” when you say to little children: 

“We love you. We do not want you to go hungry. So we will send you food, but we will not let you touch it. We will just talk about how much we care because we are not violent like the God of the Old Testament.”

May this God, the vengeful and terrible God found only in the text (the one everybody ignores and abuses), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, mock, shame, confound, judge, terrify, and entrap us without reprieve for the sake of the poor until his Kingdom comes in power.

(Episode 318)