“Glory, Fall, and Judgment”

Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

In God’s Image and Likeness 2 Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel: Genesis 9: Glory, Fall, and Judgment

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in In God’s Image and Likeness 2: Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel (2014) by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and David J. Larsen.

Abstract: The story of Genesis 6-9 is structured into a grand chiasm illustrating the themes of creation and covenant. The covenants made by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden are made again, with some modification. The rainbow becomes a symbolic token of the new covenant.

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You might want to consider including one or both of these items in your Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File:

“Utah’s unique advantages against COVID-19”

From National Public Radio:  “Mormons Have Long Preached Preparedness — Which Is Coming In Handy Now”

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At a very minimum, you’ll want to lament the Church’s notorious “rainy day fund,” and to complain about it and wax indignant against it.  After all, no “rainy day,” no economic crisis, is ever actually going to occur.

“Unemployment claims due to COVID-19 continue to spike in Utah”

“A record 6.6 million seek U.S. jobless aid as layoffs mount”

And, even if some sort of hobgoblin “financial downturn” or “economic crisis” were to occur, it certainly wouldn’t cause a “rainy day” fund to lose value.  It will never make any sense to save more than one might actually need in the event of a major shock to the markets, on the silly assumption that, as the markets fell, the numbers in that emergency fund would also fall.  A recession or depression surely wouldn’t result in a spike in unemployment and, therefore, in higher demand for Church welfare.  (What lunacy even to imagine such mythical beasts!)  It was foolish and greedy for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints not to have immediately spent everything that it received in donations.

Instead, the Church should be in a budgetary crisis and should be seeking federal aid right now, as other religious groups and charities apparently are:

“The coronavirus is pushing charities to their limit. Should Congress do more to help? Some policy experts argue the $2 trillion stimulus package doesn’t do enough for social service organizations”

“More prayer, fewer donations: How the coronavirus is changing people’s religious habits: Here’s what the latest research on the coronavirus and religion uncovered”

“A new religion debate: Is it wrong for the government to send stimulus money directly to churches? The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the status quo when it comes to church-state separation”