Perspective

I was raised by fundamentalists. Sunday, go to meeting, types who tried their best to instill upon us Christian values as they knew them:
Be kind to strangers
Don't lie
Don't steal
Don't take God's name in vain
Respect your elders
Protect your children
Don't Judge unless you want to be Judged

They tried not to be judgmental, but there would be the occasional head shake, or quiet tsk, when certain community names were mentioned, or services offered. They took the King James translation of the Bible literally for the most part, but sometimes there would be a back spin put on a traditional tale. Occasionally, there would even be the hushed confession that maybe the Bible wasn't completely right, for instance Adam and Eve were not kicked out for eating fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. They were kicked out because God could no longer trust them not to eat from the Tree of Life
One quiet Sunday my very devout Aunt Vona said, "Honey, I know you have questions. I just want you to know that the Bible was written by men, and men don't always get everything quite right." This was startling to hear coming from the Auntie who would chastise us for every, "Gol Darn!" that we uttered because she, ". . .knew what we were really thinking".

Suspicious that I might be setting myself up I asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know that part where it says that Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden because they ate from the forbidden fruit?"
"Yes"
"Well, most people think it was an apple. I know that it was NOT an apple!"
"How do you know that Auntie?"
"Well, an apple is one of the most perfect foods. You can live a long time just eating apples. God doesn't make mistakes. He always intended for us to eat apples."
"What do YOU think it was?"
A very strong confident look came over her face as she boldly pronounced, "Why, I think it was a peach!"

When i started working on our family tree she was thrilled. When I told her we were cousins to Jesus she was estatic. I was a bit nervous to tell her that one legend had an ancestor marrying the Devil's daughter. Curious as to what her reaction would be I could contain my news no longer and called and told her the tale. That after marrying the devil's own daughter, Messalina, the children from this line were prone to tantrums and willful behavior. i did not expect her to take the news well , but I was shocked when she suddenly screamed, "Hallelujah! I thought when those boys were growing up it was something I did wrong. Now I know it was just bad blood!" Life is always about the perspective.