SHADOWS
Which man is white?
Which man is black?
Which man is brown?
Which man is red?
Which man is Jewish?
Which man is Christian?
Which man is Muslim?
Which man is Agnostic?
Which man is an Atheist?
Which is gay?
Which is straight?
Which man is good?
Which man is bad?
Which man bleeds?
Which man cries?
Which man is kind?
Which man is loving?
Which man is which?
The New Old Testament
by
cj stegman
The New Old Testament, published by Archway Publishing from Simon & Schuster,
is now available at most booksellers (Archway, Amazon, Barnes and Noble) in hardcover, softcover and E-book editions.
is now available at most booksellers (Archway, Amazon, Barnes and Noble) in hardcover, softcover and E-book editions.
In our age of smart phones, television and world-wide airline travel…of moon landings and rockets voyaging beyond our galaxy…of heart transplants and manipulations of viruses to cure cancer…of elegant medical images of the human body produced by magnetic fields, do we make policy decisions based on age-old superstition, ignorance and dogma or by analytic thinking based on proven fact?
Can a better world be built by planting the bad seeds of Biblical testament? The history of millennia and current events provide the answer.
NO!
Scientific method has resulted in technologies that have provided enormous benefits to humanity. Critical thinking, the essence of scientific method, not delusion, is imperative to establish policies that can help alleviate human suffering. Are we more likely to ameliorate global warming, end water shortages, conquer hunger/poverty, and cure cancer by prayer or by scientific research?
With oft-sly humor and serious ethical debate, The New Old Testament addresses the all-too-seldom asked question: Where more wisely is the nobility of the human spirit found? In religion or in science?
In this story of enlightenment through compassion and critical thinking, God becomes Man and Man becomes God, consequently creating a kinder, nobler world.
You will laugh…maybe snicker. You will cry. You will question. But most of all you will think!
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And so begins The New Old Testament:
In the beginning, there was void…black…whole…and within the void was the singularity…the oneness…of the ark, an orb. And within this orb were the infinite ordered mass, energies, time and vitality…the heavenly nucleus… of the nascent universe.
And the gravity of the ark was great…binding God…within.
And God beheld the confining shells of the ark. And He could not restrain His desire to be free…but the bonds were powerful…constraining. And the mass, gravity, and dark energy locked within were all mighty. And so it was.
And God placed His trust in faith, in the Word, for He felt that faith…that the Word…could set Him free. But He was perplexed, for He knew not the unknown Word. And He waited an eternity. And still He was not free. And He was a slave to His faith.
And by faith, despairing at nature’s indifference, He realized that His chance for freedom was nil. And He was downcast, for His constrained existence was a Bohr. And bored by everything being nothing, He dreamed of something.
And God thought, by faith, in bondage, must I abide? Might the power of reason set Me free?
Review by Judy Wax Goldwasser
Ever wonder how God would re-write the Old Testament after thousands of years spent observing the people and universe He created? No need to wonder because author Cary J. Stegman has done it for him in his brilliant and uniquely creative new book, The New Old Testament. At times slyly witty and at other times unnervingly perceptive, the New Old Testament re-imagines select sections of Genesis and Exodus (Do I sense a sequel????) based on a god who is not only humane and rational – but also a Supreme Being who learns from His mistakes.
Stegman takes us through God’s primal creation, Atom and his wife Evolve in the Garden of Eat’n; the “shock and awe” of Sodom and Gomorrah; the miracle baby created by combining “a seed from Abraham and a stem cell from Sarah;” Jacob’s ladder where “every rung was but a small step for each man…but a giant step for mankind;” and more…
Stegman adds another delightful touch to his storytelling by slyly intertwining much of his easy-to-read prose with hundreds of truncated quotes drawn from current events, classic literature, musical theater and more. These quotes, both playful and profound, become a sort of “Where’s Waldo,” challenging the reader to spot and identify them. Readers can see how well they did with an end-of-the-book listing that replaces the de rigueur dry footnotes of non-fiction.
And don’t miss the book’s closing heartfelt thank-you from God to the reader for taking time to read “this much-needed second edition” and admitting that even God is not perfect!
Told with deep insight, charm, passion and humor, this book is a must-read for anyone willing to explore a new perspective on the Bible and on humanity.
The biblical stories and Ten Commandments of The New Old Testament undeniably stray from every denomination’s Sunday School texts, but they’re no less useful – and possibly even more practical in today's world.
Stegman takes us through God’s primal creation, Atom and his wife Evolve in the Garden of Eat’n; the “shock and awe” of Sodom and Gomorrah; the miracle baby created by combining “a seed from Abraham and a stem cell from Sarah;” Jacob’s ladder where “every rung was but a small step for each man…but a giant step for mankind;” and more…
Stegman adds another delightful touch to his storytelling by slyly intertwining much of his easy-to-read prose with hundreds of truncated quotes drawn from current events, classic literature, musical theater and more. These quotes, both playful and profound, become a sort of “Where’s Waldo,” challenging the reader to spot and identify them. Readers can see how well they did with an end-of-the-book listing that replaces the de rigueur dry footnotes of non-fiction.
And don’t miss the book’s closing heartfelt thank-you from God to the reader for taking time to read “this much-needed second edition” and admitting that even God is not perfect!
Told with deep insight, charm, passion and humor, this book is a must-read for anyone willing to explore a new perspective on the Bible and on humanity.
The biblical stories and Ten Commandments of The New Old Testament undeniably stray from every denomination’s Sunday School texts, but they’re no less useful – and possibly even more practical in today's world.
Cary J. Stegman Revises Biblical Stories in New Book
‘The New Old Testament’ refashions Old Testament stories.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. (PRWEB) SEPTEMBER 03, 2015
Author Cary J. Stegman has been disturbed since childhood by biblical stories he found to be demeaning to God and man. Compelled by what he felt was the lack of censure of the abject cruelty of many biblical stories, Stegman recast some of them, culminating in “The New Old Testament” (published by Archway Publishing).
Starring notable biblical figures, “The New Old Testament” provides a new perspective of Old Testament stories, rooted in historical and contemporary knowledge and modern humanistic values. Stegman focuses on the first two books of the Bible. He revises the archetypal stories of the Creation, Noah’s Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Exodus, as well as several others.
“Human intellect and reasoning are the truly divine and religious superstition is the profane,” Stegman says.
An excerpt from “The New Old Testament”:
“And Abraham wept and looked unto his son. And Abraham knew. And Abraham called unto God answering, ‘NO! This I will not do. I will not sacrifice my child, or any living being, for that which you command is evil and unconscionable. I defy Thee! I will not obey. I will not commit such a loathsome act. You should know that which is in my heart without testing me thusly! Who are you? I know not! I despair of your virtue.”
“The New Old Testament”
By Cary J. Stegman
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 162 pages | ISBN 9781480818668
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 162 pages | ISBN 9781480818651
E-Book | 162 pages | ISBN 9781480818675
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Cary J. Stegman received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree and then went on to earn his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Michigan. He had a 40-year career as a diagnostic radiologist and nuclear medicine physician. Readers can learn more at http://www.jigsawpuzzlings.com.
Archway Publishing is a supported self-publishing alliance between leading global publisher Simon & Schuster and Author Solutions, LLC. For more information about publishing your book with Archway Publishing, please visit archwaypublishing.com or call 888-242-5904. For the latest news, follow @ArchwayPub on Twitter and “Like” us at facebook.com/ArchwayPublishing.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. (PRWEB) SEPTEMBER 03, 2015
Author Cary J. Stegman has been disturbed since childhood by biblical stories he found to be demeaning to God and man. Compelled by what he felt was the lack of censure of the abject cruelty of many biblical stories, Stegman recast some of them, culminating in “The New Old Testament” (published by Archway Publishing).
Starring notable biblical figures, “The New Old Testament” provides a new perspective of Old Testament stories, rooted in historical and contemporary knowledge and modern humanistic values. Stegman focuses on the first two books of the Bible. He revises the archetypal stories of the Creation, Noah’s Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Exodus, as well as several others.
“Human intellect and reasoning are the truly divine and religious superstition is the profane,” Stegman says.
An excerpt from “The New Old Testament”:
“And Abraham wept and looked unto his son. And Abraham knew. And Abraham called unto God answering, ‘NO! This I will not do. I will not sacrifice my child, or any living being, for that which you command is evil and unconscionable. I defy Thee! I will not obey. I will not commit such a loathsome act. You should know that which is in my heart without testing me thusly! Who are you? I know not! I despair of your virtue.”
“The New Old Testament”
By Cary J. Stegman
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 162 pages | ISBN 9781480818668
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 162 pages | ISBN 9781480818651
E-Book | 162 pages | ISBN 9781480818675
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Cary J. Stegman received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree and then went on to earn his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Michigan. He had a 40-year career as a diagnostic radiologist and nuclear medicine physician. Readers can learn more at http://www.jigsawpuzzlings.com.
Archway Publishing is a supported self-publishing alliance between leading global publisher Simon & Schuster and Author Solutions, LLC. For more information about publishing your book with Archway Publishing, please visit archwaypublishing.com or call 888-242-5904. For the latest news, follow @ArchwayPub on Twitter and “Like” us at facebook.com/ArchwayPublishing.
PERDITION FOUND
Yom Kippur 1940
Day of Atonement
Ledger, Book of Life, Book of Death
Tombstone-thick, rests open wide…
On odious altar to human sacrifice
To be read upon its shroud-like vellum, ghostly white,
Glazed with blood which cannot hide
The hand of God on its pages
Chronicle of pain filled ages
Where in cursed font (“Hell est vita”) He writes
With out-stretched arm
Assigning line by line
His decree of life or death…His proclamation of genicide
Macabre title embossed upon its skeletal spine:
Volume 5700-Nineteen Hundred Forty:
Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die
Blood stains upon His inky hands…
Divine?
As He scribes in endless rows, consigns
Souls
Who shall live; who shall die.
As shuddering war-ravaged earth
Quakes with tortured sighs.
Mortals to the Angel of Death assigned,
To God determined Fate
Inextricably tied
Resigned?
Time and place of death assigned,
And How?
How?
Shall each life end by His gruesome design?
By divine psychotic approbation
Each ordained
Condemned to die?
Deciding…
Who will live?
Who will die?
Absolute power
Corrupts…even…God on high!
Condemned by what iniquity?
Where is God’s sanity?
Fetuses
Innocent…unborn…
Neither by sin of deed nor sin of seed,
Needs atone?
Yet by divine decree find their tomb,
In their mothers’ cold dead womb
And for what transgression are babies and toddlers doomed?
Their offense, their sin
To be born
By senseless hate their lives consumed?
How does God in sadistic fiendish decrees decide?
That 4 year-old Abraham by poison gas shall die,
That 8 year-old Isaac will by razor-sharp blade be sacrificed,
Baby Jacob beaten...battered to eternal rest
And little Joseph, sweet little Joseph
plunged
Into the nightmarish pit of sadistic “medical” experiment.
And anguished souls gasp in concrete shower cells
Gas of death in man-made Hell
By God’s decree, will by evil die,
And in apathy He does scribe
In never ending rows
Million by millions of endless lives…
Innumerable souls
Whom He condemns to die.
Is human misery...
God's intended legacy?
For in his lack of mercy
Is his earthly hell
Are lost innocent souls.
Does he cry...
"For Whom The Bell Tolls?"
Bankrupt of Devine empathy
In need of psychotherapy?
Oh ! Shall we pray that He decide,
To commit His own decide?