Why is it so important to take the Bible as literal, historical fact and not as allegory and metaphor?
In my post Is Genesis Metaphorical or Historical?, commenter Floss asked the question that forms the title of this post. Here’s my short answer.
1. It is important to interpret literature according to its literary type
If I read, for instance, a parable or metaphor as historical fact, I will totally miss the point. When, for example, Jesus says “A sower went out into the field to sow,” he’s not talking about an actual person – he wants the listener to understand the metaphor, not try to figure out the importance of some specific person.
Conversely, if I read historical narrative only as metaphor (e.g. George Washington or Jesus didn’t really exist, but their lives are merely to be understood as positive metaphors), I again am missing something true and important, namely that these people were real and impacted human history.
Dreaming of a different kind of church experience
So, I went on my lunchtime walk today and had a ‘conversation with God.’ Do you ever wonder if such conversations are possible, or even if they are, how you can tell them from just conversations you are having with your self, perhaps your higher self? Well, that’s NOT the topic of this post, but I do plan to address that in one of my future books (sigh, when I get to them!).
Today, as God often does when I’m not sure where I’m going, like the Cat in Alice in Wonderland, He asks me “what do you want?” (a variant of “Where are you going?”). I love that conversation, which goes something like this:
`Cheshire Puss,’….`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
`I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.
`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
Jesus did something similar with the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15), asking him what he wanted – not because it wasn’t clear, but because the paralytic needed to be aware and focused on it himself.
What do I want more than other things? It’s hard to know, but what seems to be King of the Hill of my heart for many years (though sometimes it gets knocked off by my desire to write books) is my desire to lead and be part of a different, better kind of Church. So God (or higher self ;) instructed me to write it down. What would that church look like? Here’s my outline. I guess each item could be a post in itself. We’ll see if I get that far.
Christian Dream Interpretation (Part I) – The Sources of Dreams
This week, my wife had a very symbolic dream, and asked me what I thought it meant. Now, I came out of (but am not antithetical to) a Charismatic background, where dreams and dream interpretation are part of the common milieu, along with prophecy and words of knowledge. Like these latter practices, which are very subjective, and some would say doctrinally dodgy, dream interpretation can be poorly done, and sometimes with superstitious and controlling overtones.
Having been both theologically and psychologically trained, I would like to outline some simple principles of dream interpretation from a Christian point of view. This post addresses the possible sources of dreams.
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Guide: Roku Channels and Help
I recently purchased a ROKU XD for my bedroom. I’ve got a 1st gen AppleTV downstairs. I don’t love the ROKU, but am trying my best to configure it to my liking. Here’s what I’ve found.
Last Updated: 9.3.11
1. Private Channels
In addition to the official Channel List, there are many third party channels, called “private channels,” which you can add. Check out the pretty up to date lists below:
- Private Roku Channels List at AlmostAccurate
- Roku Channel Database (roku-channels.com)
Four Stage Model for Creating Public Policy from Faith
I just found this 2 hour (!) 2009 lecture on politics and religion, and it has some really good content, especially towards the end. The speaker, Nicholas S. Lantinga, is a PhD, and obviously knows more than he can talk about in a 2 hour lecture. But here’s a couple helpful things I learned from the lecture.
He lays quite a historical foundation for why we should NOT omit religious world views as a foundation for morality and public policy, and that secular assumption are just as ‘religious’ in that they make philosophic and theological assumptions.
Additionally, having religious assumptions does NOT require that you have religious laws or a ‘theocracy’ unless you skip step 3 – defining the limits of governmental authority before legislating public policy. Here are the four steps he outlines in the second half of the lecture (starting at 40:21).
Guide: Best Atheist / Secularist / Anti-theist Podcasts?
I love the whole debate scene, and I have listened to a lot of Christian and non-Christian news podcasts, and narrowed down my favorites to Guide: Favorite Podcasts for Christians. Now, I want to venture out into the land of my ideological opponents. Here’s my list so far. Most of these I got from the list at Podcast Alley.
Last Update: 06.13.11
BOOK: Christianity & Liberalism – Intro
NOTE: This post is part of a series – I am ‘reading the classics together’ at Challies.com, and blogging my way through J. Gresham Machen‘s Christianity and Liberalism (1923)
1. Machen employs a cool, evaluative, intellectual, dialectic approach
My first observation is that I love the cool intellectual style of the book – this is no mere name-calling polemic, this is an attempt at a logical explanation of the differences between orthodox, biblical Christianity and the more liberal form it can take.
The purpose of this book is not to decide the religious issue of the present day, but merely to present the issue as sharply and clearly as possible, in order that the reader may be aided in deciding it for himself.Read more at location …. Clear-cut definition of terms in religious matters, bold facing of the logical implications of religious views, is by many persons regarded as an impious proceeding.
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Are you grandiloquent?
Some fun with words and definitions – big words are very useful, but big words, not to mention copious words, can obfuscate rather than clarify. Here’s some fun words related to words. Got more?
bombastic
grandiose but with little meaning, ostentatiously lofty in style
grandiloquent
pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, esp. in a way that is intended to impress
fustian
pompous or pretentious speech or writing
hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
fear of long words!
macroverbumsciolist
1) a person who is ignorant of large words
2) a person who pretends to know a word, then secretly refers to a dictionary
pleonasm
1)The use of more words than are required to express an idea; redundancy.
2) A superfluous word or phrase
sesquipedalian
given to using long words
Horace’s phrase was verba sesquipedalia which would mean “words a foot and a half long’ – like ‘sesquicentennial’ means the 150th anniversary.
turgid - (of language or style) tediously pompous or bombastic
Making fun of Scientology
In case you missed the hilarious scientology episode of South Park, you can watch it here (WARNING: Explicit Language). You can also learn all about scientology through this funny flash dealio (WARNING: Explicit Language). And of course, you can find even more fun stuff like anti-scientology t-shirts (“Free Xenu”) at scientomogy.com.
Sevens Meme
Prosthesis tagged me to answer these questions.
A. Seven things to do before I die
B. Seven things I cannot do
C. Seven things that attracted me to [my spouse or significant other or best friend]
D. Seven things I say most often
E. Seven books (or series) I love
F. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time)
G. Seven people I want to join in, too
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Is Genesis Metaphorical or Historical?
One of the more informative podcasts I listen to regularly is Issues Etc. Recently, they interviewed Joel Heck, who’s written a very inexpensive book entitled In the Beginning, God: Creation from God’s Perspective, which examines the questions surrounding the historicity and interpretation of Genesis.
I was impressed with his answers, and learned some new reasons why Genesis should be interpreted as history, not metaphor, and that Chapter 2 should be seen, not as a recapitulation, but as a detailed examination of the 6th day (the creation of man). His explanation of why the verbs in Chapter 2 should be interpreted as past tense (God “had planted”, not God “planted”) easily clears up the ‘problems’ with chronologies. Download the mp3 here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Effectiveness of zero tolerance policies
After much of the violence and deaths at school campuses across the nation, school boards began enacting zero tolerance policies for things such as weapons on school grounds. While this sounds reasonable on its surface, it has become an escape for teachers and administrators allowing them to not make a tough decision. They simply point to the policy and apply a one-size-fits-all brand of justice.
While everyone should be treated fairly, that does not mean that every student accused of bringing a weapon to school deserves to be punished equally.
Take a recent case in Georgia where two girls were suspended for 10 days because of a butter knife. The even more amazing thing is they didn’t even bring the butter knife to school.
NYT is ready for a Brave New World
The New York Time (as always) is advocating controversial science with no need for public debate.
In an editorial yesterday, the Times editors attempted to calm any doubts or fears about the creation of chimeras (animal-human hybrids).
There’s no problem they assured us. Researchers just want to try to find cures for all our diseases. Stem cell research using chimeras will solve every health problem we’ve ever had. All they want to do is implant human brain stem cells into mice and see how they react. That’s all. Who knows what would really be going on there, but don’t worry just let the scientist do their jobs.
Sorting out the Civil War’s causes
With the upcoming Sesquicentennial (150 years) of the Civil War, a lot of discussion is occurring around racism in America, as well as the role of religion and politics in the making and unmaking of slavery and racism in America.
Here’s two really good resources, both podcasts.
First, in Evangelical Fervor and the Crisis of the Civil War: A Conversation with Historian David Goldfield, Albert Mohler interviews historian and award winning author David Goldfield on his new book America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
What good does eternal punishment accomplish?
In my last post, I discussed the various defenses of the eternality of hell – this time, I would like to compare the role of punishment in the temporal world (our current temporal time frame) and in eternity (eternal time frame).
1. What does EARTHLY punishment accomplish?
a. Protecting the Innocent
If we either incarcerate or execute criminals, we remove them from being a threat to the general population.
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Why eternal punishment?
Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins is a modern reformulation of Christian Universalism, that is, the idea that all are saved from judgement by the works of Christ. Not a new idea, but controversial coming from a supposed evangelical.
One of the questions the problem of eternal hell brings up is, “is eternal (infinite) punishment a just recompense for temporal (finite) sins?”
To my knowledge, there are three orthodox answers. I suspect these may all have names and have been discussed by famous theologians, but alas, I have not found them yet. Let me know if you know of good representatives of each view.
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10 Questions Your Pastor Can’t Answer – Answered
Recently, Stewart from Insulted proposed a list of what he called 10 Questions Your Pastor Can’t Answer. I’m not sure how difficult these questions would be for my pastor, but they were rather difficult for me. That being said, I do have answers to each of Stewart’s questions.* (I am also in the process of preparing my own “10 Questions Your Local Atheist/Agnostic/Skeptic Can’t Answer”)
The Room
Here’s some interesting Christian inspirational spam that I received – decent enough to put up.
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“THE ROOM” as written by a 17 Year Old Boy.
This is excellent and really gets you thinking about what will happen in Heaven.
17-year-old Brian Moore had only a short time to write something for a class. The subject was What Heaven Was Like. “I wowed ‘em,” he later told his father, Bruce. It’s a killer. It’s the bomb It’s the best thing I ever wrote.” It also was the last.
Brian’s parents had forgotten about the essay when a cousin found it while cleaning out the teenager’s locker at Teays Valley High School in Pickaway County, Ohio .
Brian had been dead only hours, but his parents desperately wanted every piece of his life near them, notes from classmates and teachers, and his homework. Only two months before, he had handwritten the essay about encountering Jesus in a file room full of cards detailing every moment of the teen’s life. But it was only after Brian’s death that Beth and Bruce Moore realized that their son had described his view of heaven.
It makes such an impact that people want to share it. “You feel like you are there,” Mr. Moore said. Brian Moore died May 27, 1997, the day after Memorial Day. He was driving home from a friend’s house when his car went off Bulen-Pierce Road in Pickaway County , Ohio and struck a utility pole. He emerged from the wreck unharmed but stepped on a downed power line and was electrocuted.
The Moore ‘s framed a copy of Brian’s essay and hung it among the family portraits in the living room. “I think God used him to make a point. I think we were meant to find it and make something out of it,” Mrs. Moore said of the essay. She and her husband want to share their son’s vision of life after death. “I’m happy for Brian. I know he’s in heaven. I know I’ll see him.
Here is Brian’s essay.
Pascal’s Wager – Part II: debunking the ‘all religions are equally improbable’ ruse
In Part I, I generalized that, since the impact of being wrong about God is high, it doesn’t matter how unlikely it is, it is still a high risk.
But that oversimplification is not entirely true. If it was, that would mean that all unconfirmable claims about the life to come, by any and all religions, would be equally binding, or just as important or risky.
If the Biblical God makes demands with consequences we can not confirm with empiricism, are they any different from the claims of Buddhism, Islam, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
What we really need is a better measure of how likely such claims are to be true. Can that be done without direct empirical evidence? YES. We must not ignore historical, ethical, and logical support for or against faith claims, and in so doing, discriminate between pretenders and contenders.
Below, I address this objection, which can be stated The lack of empirical support for faith means ALL FAITHS ARE EQUALLY IMPROBABLE and on par with fairy tales.
