The Gospel of Henry Kelsen

I wrote this after reading some stories of Jorge Luis Borges.

The Gospel of Henry Kelsen contains no moral dicta or spiritual teaching of its hero, no miracles or moral actions, or—for that matter—immoral ones.  It claims neither that he did nor that he did not do any such; it is silent on the subject.  It gives but a hint as to whether he was wise or foolish, compassionate or cruel, industrious or lazy.  It says nothing of his religion.  One can gather very little of the outline of his life from it.  The language that he uses is that of the 20th century American Midwest, and a few references to cars, weather, etc., are congruent with this.  It is apparent that he lived to a fairly old age, though how he dies is not mentioned.  So much could be said as to what this Gospel does not contain, that the reader might wonder what it does contain.  The first few verses will demonstrate the general tenor:

1.  The Gospel of Henry Kelsen according to Anne Bifford.

2.  One Monday Henry ate a sandwich for lunch, and the following day a casserole.

3.  He at times heard the noise of television.

4.  While he was out walking, it began to rain, but later the sun came out.

5.  He met a boy who said, "Hi."  "Hi," Henry replied.

6.  Henry crossed the street.

7.  No one knows how often Henry crossed a bridge.

And so on through four long chapters.  There is nothing particularly notable in any of these, though it does not preclude the possibility that he did something notable.  Not even the Kelsenists take any of this as metaphorical or metaphysical.  The only remarkable thing about this Gospel is that the Kelsenists consider it their sole Holy Scripture, and believe that Henry Kelsen was God.