While Fr Joseph didn’t cotton much to this Newsweek article, about A J Jacobs’ attempt to live all the 700 or so rules of the Bible for a year, I actually found some interesting tidbits in it. Tidbits which, I think, back up Fr Joseph’s suspicions that Mr. Jacobs didn’t read much, if any, of the New Testament. Granted, it’s all couched in the typical irony and sarcasm that is rife in modern culture. But even so, there are, I contend, significant glimpses into some important truths.
For example:
NEWSWEEK: It’s been a little over a year since your experiment ended and you shaved your beard. How’s the life of sin?
A. J. Jacobs: It’s all right. I miss my sin-free life, but I guess I was never sin free. I was able to cut down on my coveting maybe 40 percent, but I was still a coveter. Flat-screen TVs, the front yard of my friend in the suburbs, a better cell phone, higher Amazon rankings. And that’s not to mention coveting my neighbor’s wife. I live in New York, I work in publishing, so there’s a lot of coveting, lying and gossiping.
This is quite in keeping with the New Testament teaching: we cannot, of our own efforts, cure ourselves of sin. We might, because of the image of God in us, strive in our own strength to conquer some sin, but we will never rid ourselves of all sin by our own strength. Only by God’s grace can we be free of sin’s power, and only God can take care of the debt of sin we incur. For even if it were possible to come to real and perfect sinlessness on our own, we are still powerless to pay the debt of our sin, nor can we undo the mortality which is the consequence of sin, both Adam’s and our own.
Another example:
What, if any, rules are you still following?
I’m not Ghandi or Angelina Jolie, but I made some strides. The experience changed me in big ways and small ways. There’s a lot about gratefulness in the Bible, and I would say I’m more thankful. I focus on the hundred little things that go right in a day, instead of the three or four things that go wrong. And I love the Sabbath. There’s something I really like about a forced day of rest. Also, during the experiment I wore a lot of white clothes, because Ecclesiastes says let your garments always be white, and I loved it, so I look like Tom Wolfe now. Wearing white just made me happier. I couldn’t be in a bad mood walking down the street looking like I was about to play in the semifinals at Wimbledon. One thing I learned is that the outside affects the inside, your behavior shapes your thoughts. I also really liked what one of my spiritual advisers said, which was that you can view life as a series of rights and entitlements, or a series of responsibilities. I like seeing my life as a series of responsibilities. It’s sort of, “Ask not what God can do for you, ask what you can do for God.”
The body and the soul are one. Which is why the Orthodox cross themselves a million times during the service. Why we bow and prostrate, why we fast and abstain. Our bodies and our souls are inextricably linked. A woman cannot dress provocatively without it having an affect on her soul, and the souls of men around her. A man cannot consume with his eyes countless icons of sexualized women without it having an affect on his soul and the souls of women around him, including and most especially his wife and daughters.
More:
What rule was the hardest to follow?
Two kinds of rules were hard. Avoiding sins we commit every day like lying, gossiping and coveting was hard, and then there were the rules that were hard to do in modern life, like stoning adulterers.
Irony aside (and come on, irreverent, yes, but still darn funny!), but Jacobs notes an important point. It is not enough to avoid doing (the sins of commission), but it is also truly more difficult to avoid failing to do that which is required (the sins of omission). It is, that is to say, easier to refrain from calling your neighbor “Raca!”, than it is to love your neighbor as yourself. Avoiding sin is only partway there. We must go on to do real good.
Finally:
Once the experiment ends, you write about being feeling unanchored without your list of rules. Were you comforted by the restrictions of living Biblically? And do you think that’s part of the attraction of organized religion for many people?
Oh, absolutely. We all talk about freedom of choice, but there’s something very attractive about freedom from choice. Religion provides structure, mooring, anchoring. Should you covet? No. Should you give 10 percent to the needy? Yes. It really structures your life. After my year I felt unmoored, overwhelmed by choice. I have adjusted, but I’m still overwhelmed by choice, as we all are in America.
No more really needs to be added. There is freedom in restriction, true wisdom in discipline.
An interesting and short review of the book (as well as a site that has lots of helpful reviews of Christian books):
The Year of Living Biblically
in which the reviewer makes this interesting observation (I corrected a couple typos):
“One thing that a traditional minded Christian or Jew might find unsatisfactory is Jacobs’ off-the-cuff approach to Scripture. Since I fall into the latter category, I noticed such things myself but I think it does serve as an excellent illustration of why “restorationist” (”let’s get back to the Bible alone”) movements end up in failure. It is impossible to properly understand the Church’s book (or the Synagogue’s Book) without understanding what the Church (and Synagogue) teach. It is in the context of the life of the community of believers that the book was written and is to be understood. Going it alone to interpret Scripture may be a very American thing to do but it is neither a very Jewish nor a very Christian thing to do.”
jacob:
I completely agree, and point well taken.
I think Jacobs unintentionally communicates the points I’ve made and that of what you point out.
The whole thing’s very interesting, but one thing struck me as really really odd: “I’m not Ghandi or Angelina Jolie.” He’s equating Ghandi with Angelina Jolie? Really? One lived in great personal poverty even while he had a great deal of political power while the other is an extremely wealthy movie star. Granted she does a number of “good works” but she’s still nothing at all like Ghandi.
Sorry for going off on a tangent there.
If you’d like to hear A.J. Jacobs talk about his new book, “The Year of Living Biblically,” check out this audio interview link.