Bible Study Cover to Cover

Transcendancy is pretty important in establishing the power, or magnitude, or scope of God. It would seem odd to think of a God who was not in some manner transcendent.To me it is slightly more interesting that such a personal God would be established in Genesis. If that story was indeed written first, it may be a reflection of a revolution in worship. What was the catalyst for the new 'God'?Why does no one bother to tell us what God is like? Pretty possibly there were other stories at one time, but if you look at Genesis as pure myth, why are there no tales of how God came to be, as there are in many other religions? Why is it so incomplete and mysterious?

No, it's not what I wanted to hear. I know about the mystery cults, and they were pretty bogus, at least compared with a religion that HAS a text to base itself on.I was raised Byzantine Catholic. ALL of the churches have a set of doors before the altar which recall a time when only the 'initiated' were admitted to the mysteries of the Eucharist. The part where the celebrant flags the catechumens by closing the doors is written into the liturgy to this day.Christianity itself is not a mystery religion,even if it picked up some of the antics. I am well indoctrinated, and I still do not know why Genesis does not start with 'in the beginning was a man with a long white beard'.I am being stupid, I know, but if you look at other cultures, there are plentiful elaborated stories of how a person achieved god status. I don't see that Genesis didn't WANT us to have all the answers, but it is more likely they got lost or were never remembered at the end of an oral tradition. We aren't, but we can look it up. Jewish people are not interested in knowing God through Jesus, and it is time I knew how THEY picture God. Take something like this, and it appears the same wall has been erected for Jewish people. Since the Bible is silent on the origins of God, do we for want of information conclude that God had no beginning? If we start to look at Scripture as only literature, is there not the temptation to 'write in' the missing parts?Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.

I don't agree with the 'technically' part. The most you can say is that Catholicism has retained a little of the ceremony of mystery, but all of the doctrine is pretty well continued Judaeism. I just moved, and I was living right down the street from an orthodox synagogue. Call me strange, but I am one of those strict believers in attendence at one's own church, and since I don't do that often now, I highly doubt I will go to a synagogue or a Bible study.I am in a joking mood, my bad, but I am pretty familiar with the Jewish God concept. The problem is that Jewish people are making the same extractions from the same texts as we are, and it doesn't go far in determining the original intent or view of the writers of Genesis.