Things Worth Writing Home About
“The corollary is that no writer will take all of his or her editor’s advice; for all have sinned and fallen short of editorial perfection. Put another way, to write is human, to edit is divine.” ~Stephen King, On Writing
This may be one of the best quotes I’ve ever read. It definitely tops the 2007 list. The moral of this story? Read this book!
I’m going to keep this as brief as possible.
I just finished reading The Gospel of Judas as translated by Karen L. King with commentary by Elaine Pagels. As I mentioned yesterday, the commentary is certainly compelling, particularly to someone who has little-to-no grounding in Scripture as it is. In fact, if I didn’t know anything about Scripture and what it says I would most certainly be inclined to believe every word of Judas. This concerns me from a spiritual perspective because while the work should be considered an important piece of Christian history, it is not as authoritative as it comes across and I’m afraid that it will not only lead the Christ-less world astray but also that it will tip the scale for people who are experiencing a crisis of Christian faith. Indeed, it won’t even be renouncing Christianity but, rather, teaching it wrongly which is arguably a more serious problem.
The gospel itself is a difficult read. The Coptic text that was salvaged was hardly salvaged and as a result, there are many things missing (one chapter estimates lacking an entire eighteen consecutive lines). This makes it incredibly difficult for those of us with limited theological background when Jesus allegedly recounts the creation of the entire world in vivid detail (less of “On the First day” and more of “A great angel named Autogenes came and…”). Essentially we are being introduced to new, non-Biblical characters who go on to create other new, non-Biblical characters without a coherent timeline of events.
Maybe the most concerning thing about The Gospel of Judas is that it suggests that the Twelve Apostles were actually worshipping the wrong god and leading others to do the same. Judas says that Jesus recognized only Judas Iscariot as having a deeper understanding of God and because he was killed (by the way, this gospel also suggests that Judas was the first martyr) only the worship of a false god has been imparted to subsequent Christians unless God Himself imparts divine intervention as He supposedly did with Judas.
Reading Judas is only worth reading if you are grounded, really grounded, in your Christian faith. I, myself, only embarked on this read because Pastor Sam thought it would give me more credibility in a conversation I will soon be having with someone who was interested in discussing this gospel in relation to Christian theology. I would not suggest this book to anyone who is seeking The Truth nor anyone who has been recently questioning God’s absolute goodness and justice. The gospel text itself is seductive and the author of the commentary spends too much time quoting The Gospel of Judas as fact while taking every pain to convince the reader that the canonical gospels as they exist (in conjunction with much of the rest of the New Testament) are biased, misleading, and likely not the Word of God.
A man charged with stealing 1,500 garments of women’s underwear from apartment laundry rooms told police that he “has a problem”. You think?
There’s a woman who rides in the same subway car as me just about every day. She’s cute and she’s always listening to her iPod. Today she sat next to me and I thought about saying hello but I didn’t. As soon as she’d gotten off, I wished I had. I think that if I could have seen what she was listening to on the iPod screen it might have made a difference but I couldn’t because she has one of the third generation which still had the old Gameboy-style screen which is hard enough to read but even harder when it scrolls. Anyway, that’s the justification I’m going to use today. I’ll probably have something equally as weak tomorrow.
And finally, it’s a BEAUTIFUL day! I’m thinking about playing hooky around lunchtime…we’ll see 
I met someone yesterday who was telling me about her apartment on Broadway and 11th Street (yes, that is right above Bon Vivant ::jealous grumble::) and so when I finished being productive at work today (say, around, lunchtime) I started browsing through apartments in The Village just for kicks. Grant it, for my price range the options aren’t particularly numerous but as I found an occasional diamond in the rough I started to get depressed. So I stopped looking. For the time being, I’ll just have to hope that something awesome comes around in December because truth be told, Harlem is boring. Everyone is like “Harlem is up and coming”. Don’t listen to them. They lie.
With great hesitation, and some spiritual concern, I picked up a copy of Elaine Pagels’s “Reading Judas” which includes a new translation of The Gospel of Judas (which, by the way, I’ve apparently been inaccurately referring to as Gnostic…it seems that they aren’t sure that the Gnostics wrote it, rather it is written in the “Gnostic style”). I won’t lie; so far, the book is reasonably compelling. The only thing I have a major problem with at this point is the apparent attack on the four canonical gospels within the first thirty pages of the book. While Pagels doesn’t outright accuse the gospels of plagiarizing the Scriptures (though she does explore this idea) she does make the rather bold statement that the latter three gospels (Matthew, Luke, and John) used Mark’s Gospel as a base. This is concerning because it suggests that the three authors were not recounting their own experiences but, rather, that they were embellishing on the account of Mark. Of course, Pagels also suggests that we have no idea who wrote any of the four canonical gospels but that the authors likely were not the men for whom the books were named after. With that in mind, I’ll be finishing this book by tomorrow with a very very tiny grain of salt.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me but it has finally reached a degree of heightened concern. You see, not only did I forget to put my belt on today but I didn’t realize it until just now. And not to provide more details than you’d like but I have actually been to the bathroom three times today and I still didn’t figure it out. It was only when I went to clip my iPod onto my belt that I realized my mistake. The worst part is that I have a job interview this afternoon and I was thinking all day about how put together I looked. I even went and got new laces and a shoe shine. Fortunately, I’m resourceful. I’ll just re-tie my tie long and then button my blazer. Still, the narcissist in me is a little disappointed right now.
It is my duty to inform you that some of the names on the Fount of Mercy Benefit Concert page are wrong. However, I cannot do anything about it until I get to a computer where I can convert the revised .tiff image into a .jpg. The most important thing to know, as far as I’m concerned, is that I’m still playing and the concert is still for orphans who still live in Africa and it’s still $7 which equals muy cheap in NYC so be there or you might get coal in your stocking this Christmas.
I’ve been looking for new work recently which hasn’t been going all too well. This doesn’t surprise me; I read a recent report stating that payroll jobs have decreased by nearly 50% from last year, dropping from 187,000/month to just 100,000. With so few jobs and so many people looking for work, employers can really do whatever the heck they feel like. I wouldn’t be so cranky about it if I had health insurance. But I don’t. And that really only bothers me right now because I finally decided that it’s time I start exercising but I’m terrified to go running in this city for fear that I’ll hurt myself (since I have a track record of being clumsy) and I can’t afford to join a gym.
I gave a guitar lesson to my friend Cat last night which was fun because she is one of those people who gets really serious about completing a task she starts, no matter how long term. That and I can’t help but get a kick out of bending people’s fingers for them and then watching the really confused, slightly uncomfortable look on their faces. On a side note, someone pointed out yesterday the irony in that Cat’s name is “Cat” while her cat’s name is “Wendy Diana”. It makes me smile.
And lastly, the publication of Dark Island is on hold because I have no money. None. At all. Ever. Any leads on financing or jobs paying more than crap wages would be muy appreciated.
Hey kids.
Just wanted to tell you about the benefit concert I’ll be participating in on April 14 at Stain Bar in Brooklyn (L to Grand Street). The concert is to benefit orphans in Africa and it’s going to be an amazing time. There is a link at the top of the page as well as on the sidebar which will remain until showtime. There is a list of awesome artists playing (and I’ll be playing, too 
) and it’s only $7 and it’s for a good cause! Please come and support the orphans and the artists. Oh, and I’ll be unveiling a new song or two
I put this up last year and think it’s fun enough to repeat it this year
In March, July, October and May
The Ides fall on the fifteenth day
The Nones the seventh, but all besides
Have two days less for Nones and Ides
Beware the Ides of March!