3/5/96
I must painfully retract the proposal I presented to Madonna in my article "A Second Proposal". I, while writing the article, was ignorant. The Bible needs no translation nor does it need to be spread by Madonna. Madonna, by all means, if you have a burning desire to translate The Bible, do so. However, I, as of now, will no longer pressure you to undertake such an enormous task.
Most of those reading this are no doubt wondering what caused my change of mind. The answer is simple: The Bible is readily available to all those who want it. Not only is it available in virtually every language used in the postmodern world, it is also easily understandable by any who would care to read it. Sadly, there are many who have come to believe that they cannot fathom or understand The Bible without having it interpreted to them by a high priestess such as our leader, despite her many attempts to get people to think for themselves.
I was prompted to write this article after my renewed interest in The Bible intensified after prolonged exposure to Madonna's work. I found myself looking up texts in my old Bible which had remained largely unopened since childhood. When I needed to look for specific words in verses, I found the small concordance contained in the back of mine to be incomplete and insufficient for my needs. Therefore, I took to doing interactive searches using some of the online Bibles contained on the web. These were wonderful, and I was amazed at the large selection of formats available over the Internet. It was not enough. I found myself often forgetting what I had intended to look up by the time my dial-up connection was completed. I tried downloading html-ized portions of The Great Book. They were nice, but still insufficient. I wanted more and more. (See "I'm Breathless", track 8) So, I just spent three hours (I'm still at 14.4) downloading WinBible.
I haven't started using it yet. However, it looks like it will be all I will need to get going with my embryonic studies of the history of religion. If you're interested in this awesome looking piece of shareware, check out its home page.
When I, just hours ago, began my search for a copy of The Bible, WinBible was far from being the only downloadable version available. Indeed, I was presented with a lengthy list of Bibles which I did not have time to read. Indeed, there is no urgent need whatsoever for Madonna to make The Holy Book available to the masses. That has already been done through the hard labor of many committed souls of the past and present. She can spend her life, as Solomon did, experimenting in the many debaucheries of the world. The efforts she makes to give The Bible to everyone are unnecessary, although since she obviously gains pleasure from doing so, I say more power to her.
Before discounting completely Madonna's effect in passing the scriptures on to us, I must express my gratitude to her. Indeed, she does not spoonfeed God's message to the world nor should she do so. She, as any good mother, will only give a hungry population its spiritual food until people learn to garner for themselves what they need. Most people do not remember learning to use a fork, and so it will be with our collective consciousness. Unacknowledged. Unremembered. But without such training, we'd all be eating like apes, as we did a few million years ago.
I'll remember the way that you saved me.
I'll remember.
I was not your man.
I was not your friend.
But you gave me something to remember.
Love yourself.