And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

God speaks to Moses from the burning bush The Ten Commandments

By Stephen Pate – To almost 4 billion Christians, Muslims and Jews, God is the great “I AM.”

He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. He is the God that influenced the world, especially the Western world I was born into.

Last night we watched a bit of The Ten Commandments on TV. I wanted to hear God speak those words again to Moses from the burning bush.

“And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 

 

Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God…

 

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

 

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus chapter 3

For a boy of 8, those were powerful words from a a thrilling movie in 1956 when it was released.

I was staying with my Acadian Pottie (Pâté) grandparents on South Street in Halifax when The Ten Commandments came to the Capital Theater. The Capital is gone now, replaced by the  MT&T, or Aliant, building is at the foot of Spring Garden Road.

My other grandfather Camp, the one who called me his favorite grandson, died in London Ontario. My mother traveled to attend the wake and funeral with my grandmother, aunts and uncle. Grandfather Camp was a carpenter. He had been a schooner captain but the 1929 crash changed life in Newfoundland. He moved his family to Halifax and built homes for Piercey’s.

Grandpa Pottie was a small, quiet man who kept a budgie in his bedroom for company. He had been injured working for Dominion Coal and retired with a disability. I would sit in his bedroom for hours waiting for him to speak, but he rarely did. We fed the budgie bird and listened to her sing.

Bored with grandparents, I begged my father to let me see the matinee of The Ten Commandments. It was impressive, exciting and inspiring. There was Egypt, God and the Ten Plagues up on the big screen. The special effects were awesome like the parting of the red sea.

God was all powerful in the story and a man with a deep voice. Charlton Heston’s Moses was a giant of a man who walked with God.

I bugged my dad for money to see it two more times that week. Then I was shuffled across town to my aunts.

During the night my Grandpa Pottie had a heart attack. He died while I slept on the cot in the next room. To an 8 year old, it was just something that happened. There is a wake and you go to a funeral Mass. He was almost a ghost before he died and then he was gone.

My mother brought me up religious with bible study and meeting attendance at the Kingdom Hall. We had to memorize Bible quotes and argue with people at the door about the coming end of the world at Armageddon.

“I am that I am,” said God. Don’t mess with me or I will rain down fire on your head.

I don’t go to church much anymore. I can’t explain that. I became disillusioned with the Jehovah’s Witness cult of my mother. About the time I discovered girls, Zen and Bob Dylan, being a Jehovah’s Witness made no sense. I left her faith several times before cutting the cord at age 30.

I became a Roman Catholic like most of my family. I attended Mass religiously for twenty years, but don’t go much anymore. Divorce, disability and changing focus are some of the reasons but you just lose interest.

I still believe in God and get goose bumps when I hear God speak from the burning bush.

4 Billion people believe in the one god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They just like to disagree, often violently, about exactly who He is and what He wants.  Those disagreements get violent as we murder each other in the name of God.

Shia and Sunni Muslims kill each other over interpretation. Muslims and Christians kill each other. Christians have been killing Jews over belief in the same God.

Organized religion seems like a nasty business.