What would the earliest stories of the Bible be like without an angry God smiting humans with floods, fire, frogs, and brimstone? They might become the story of a mother surviving a snake bite and a dangerous pregnancy. Architects and dreamers building towers and boats to save themselves from the harsh desert. A doctor who obsessively cleans. Young gay lovers seeking refuge in the sanctuary cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Estranged brothers planning ten terrorist attacks to free their people from slavery. Without an angry God, the Bible might become a fictional collection of stories about deeply human men, women, and children from a small nomadic tribe deserted in an ancient Hebrew desert.
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Nathan Roberts. Deserted
Deserted
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Cain and the Snake
Naameh and the Ark
The Unplanned City of Babel
Isaac and the Sanctuary Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
Doctor Leviticus
Aaron and the Burning Bush
Moses and the Terrorist Attacks
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Retelling Bible Stories Without an Angry God
Nathan Roberts
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During the day Adam would take Abel on long hikes, just the two of them. They’d leave early in the morning before Cain woke up. On the first of these walks Cain found a note his dad had left for Eve. Adam wrote that he had left to work on his scrolls and that she was now responsible for taking care of the house and the garden. Cain looked at his mother asleep on her bed. He put the note in his pocket and walked to the garden. He milked the cows and goats, and then swept the house. He placed a bowl of berries and a cup of milk by his mother’s bed and one on the table from his father and Abel. When Adam returned he smiled and nodded at Cain who felt tired, but proud of his work.
The next day the muscles in Cain’s arms and legs ached. But he forced his tired body out of bed. To make the walk around the garden more manageable Cain decided to use a flaming log to clear a path through the tall grass. Slowly lighting the stalks then stamping them out with his sandal.
