Rainbows can mean different things to different people, so my reasons may be different from yours. Read on for a slight twist.
One of the reasons is that when I see them, I know the rain is finished. Where I come from (BC), I saw a lot of rainbows, because, you guessed it, there was a lot of rain.
Need I remind you that I used to live on the Pacific Wet Coast?
And there's something fantastic about rainbows, and I use that word correctly. In other words, there is some sort of “fantasy” associated with stripes in the sky. We see rainbow and we think pot of gold; we count the colours and we think of a cosmic paintbrush.
But most of us today have no idea as to the historical, ancient roots of this natural phenomenon, which is the real reason I like rainbows.
There is a record in the Good Book that lays it out quite simply. I assume that many readers, at least in the next generation, will have limited or no understanding of the term, the Great Flood. Well, the last time I checked, this means that over 200 legends about a global flood: That would be over two hundred various cultures and people groups throughout the world (none of them faith-based, by the way) that have recorded that a catastrophic event took place at a certain point in their history.
Not only at a certain point, but all point to around the same point in time.
The account would involve a boat, a small family, and, you guessed it, a rainbow. Not one of those cultural legends would dispute the details of this event, nor the far-reaching effect of the global flood (aka Great Flood) that covered the earth.
Got to stop there, or else I'll get preaching about how sea creatures ended up on mountains, what the connection is between the global flood and the ice age, and the seemingly inexplicable spread of dinosaur bones all over the world—all because of this deluge.
I can bet you that you likely never heard a reasonable account of the above in school or the media. Tragically enough, you may never have heard it in church, either.
Speaking of church, let me get off my pulpit and back to the keyboard.
In a nutshell, the rainbow stands for a divine promise, namely, the world shall never be overwhelmed by a flood again. Local floods, sure; global flood, never. And guess what? That promise has held true for the past 10,000 years.
Now, this historical event and divine promise has now become a symbol for something else. And not just something different, but something very opposite to its original intention. The words associated with it include diversity, tolerance, and unity. Intriguing words, but maybe just a little misleading. And I may add: quite ironic, in the sense that those words were implicit in the original expression.
My questions are: Diversity to what extent? Tolerance of whom? Unity on what basis?
As a wordsmith, I get really cranky when a word is given a different meaning, and then really cranky when it is given the opposite meaning. It's not playing fair, in my books.
Recent visitors to my home told me that there's a move afoot (no pun intended) in Edmonton to paint rainbows on their crosswalks. This would be public money used in a public venue,to honour a vocal minority, yet without public input. It's another way to “celebrate” diversity, tolerance, and unity.
I find what they're celebrating alarming.
If we believe in diversity, let's put symbols of children or crosses or cows on the crosswalks, to show the wide variety of lifestyles and worldviews. If we believe in tolerance, is there any room for dialogue on this matter, or do these initiatives get rushed through before the common citizen can discuss it? And in terms of unity, are we of one voice on this matter or does this action reflect the views of just a select few?
So now a divine promise has becomes a humanist badge; a covenant to all has become a symbol representing a few. I hope I don't sound like a so-called religious, moral bigot, which I'm not.
The rainbow speaks of a diversity of divine mercy; the promise for a flood-free world applies to all, not just some. The rainbow also speaks of a tolerance for the differences in each of us. And finally, it speaks of a unity of common race, the human race; we're all one underneath our skin.
A rainbow is indeed a wonderful symbol, but maybe not quite the one that we are now being led to believe.
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