Comments on: Z-Theory #14: the bible http://www.nakedpastor.com/archives/4241 David Hayward is a pastor artistically stripping to the essential. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:52:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: pt http://www.nakedpastor.com/archives/4241/comment-page-1#comment-127015 pt Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:19:51 +0000 http://www.nakedpastor.com/?p=4241#comment-127015 for me, some of it is to be taken literally, and some is to be taken allegorically, but there is truth in both. i don't mean a personal truth, but an absolute. the best way i have found to cope is that the closer you get to the "center" (matthew chapter 1) the more literal it can be, even if christ's stories are allegories and parables; and the more i get to the edges (genesis and revelation), the more it gets into non-literal areas, where the bible itself is allegory and not a literal Man who talks in allegory -- i fully do not expect a four headed monster or what have you to sprout from the sea, godzilla like, and bring about armageddon. although i have discovered that maybe god has enough of a snarky sense of humor to make it happen that way just to mess with fundies. i discovered that there could be a difference between a truth and an absolute, and i discovered that difference doesn't have to be "moral relativism." sometimes i don't know where the line is, and that is where i have had to learn faith. faith is sometimes terrifying for me, and i am sure others. i like when people are honest about their fear and their faith, how their fear can be stronger than their fatih sometimes. i also am still trying to live in a world where there are things i cannot comprehend, and there are things i simply am not allowed to know on this side of the silence. i want proofs, facts, and absolutes, and it seems to me that from what i can tell, god likes bridging impossible paradoxes and grey areas and infinity and eternity, and all sorts of things "too wonderful for me to comprehend." i can handle that god is absolutely sovereign. it is more difficult and evidence of my flaws, that i find it difficult to handle the absolute goodness and absolute love of god, that god doesn't just love, but he is love -- it is often hard to stop believing in, and start believing god. i still have my fears, but i fall in love with god, and i do so because of the bible, which is many things, a beautiful, sublime work of art. like all great art, it challenges me to the core. and at the very core of the bible, i try not to forget that it's not about a book, but about Christ, a literal Christ who walked this earth. still, i'm thrilled and scared, yet somehow at peace and in anticipation. there is something in me that is beyond me, that much i can deduce. and that something is stirred when i study the bible about christ. enough blabber, jesus was evidently terrified the night before his crucifixion, so perhaps it's ok if i am scared too. and i try to still walk forward in faith. for me, some of it is to be taken literally, and some is to be taken allegorically, but there is truth in both. i don’t mean a personal truth, but an absolute. the best way i have found to cope is that the closer you get to the “center” (matthew chapter 1) the more literal it can be, even if christ’s stories are allegories and parables; and the more i get to the edges (genesis and revelation), the more it gets into non-literal areas, where the bible itself is allegory and not a literal Man who talks in allegory — i fully do not expect a four headed monster or what have you to sprout from the sea, godzilla like, and bring about armageddon. although i have discovered that maybe god has enough of a snarky sense of humor to make it happen that way just to mess with fundies.

i discovered that there could be a difference between a truth and an absolute, and i discovered that difference doesn’t have to be “moral relativism.” sometimes i don’t know where the line is, and that is where i have had to learn faith. faith is sometimes terrifying for me, and i am sure others. i like when people are honest about their fear and their faith, how their fear can be stronger than their fatih sometimes. i also am still trying to live in a world where there are things i cannot comprehend, and there are things i simply am not allowed to know on this side of the silence. i want proofs, facts, and absolutes, and it seems to me that from what i can tell, god likes bridging impossible paradoxes and grey areas and infinity and eternity, and all sorts of things “too wonderful for me to comprehend.”

i can handle that god is absolutely sovereign. it is more difficult and evidence of my flaws, that i find it difficult to handle the absolute goodness and absolute love of god, that god doesn’t just love, but he is love — it is often hard to stop believing in, and start believing god.

i still have my fears, but i fall in love with god, and i do so because of the bible, which is many things, a beautiful, sublime work of art. like all great art, it challenges me to the core. and at the very core of the bible, i try not to forget that it’s not about a book, but about Christ, a literal Christ who walked this earth.

still, i’m thrilled and scared, yet somehow at peace and in anticipation. there is something in me that is beyond me, that much i can deduce. and that something is stirred when i study the bible about christ.

enough blabber, jesus was evidently terrified the night before his crucifixion, so perhaps it’s ok if i am scared too. and i try to still walk forward in faith.

]]> By: Lynn http://www.nakedpastor.com/archives/4241/comment-page-1#comment-126964 Lynn Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:45:01 +0000 http://www.nakedpastor.com/?p=4241#comment-126964 I agree there are beautiful parts in the King James Version. But I don't find the Old Testament horrors or Jesus talking about hell to be beautiful. I agree there are beautiful parts in the King James Version. But I don’t find the Old Testament horrors or Jesus talking about hell to be beautiful.

]]> By: thebutler http://www.nakedpastor.com/archives/4241/comment-page-1#comment-126947 thebutler Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:38:53 +0000 http://www.nakedpastor.com/?p=4241#comment-126947 How you come to a book determines what you make of it. How you come to a book determines what you make of it.

]]> By: Fred http://www.nakedpastor.com/archives/4241/comment-page-1#comment-126887 Fred Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:44 +0000 http://www.nakedpastor.com/?p=4241#comment-126887 "It isn’t meant to be taken literally, or converted into a book of rules, or read as an historical document. Although all these things find expression in the bible, it is first and foremost a beautifully inspired work of art." I agree with the second statement, but I think it's also meant to be taken literally where it's meant to be taken literally, read as a historical document where it documents history, and some parts of it are by definition about rules, but I agree completely that it's not "a book of rules," even though strictly speaking it is, since there are rules in it. Okay, I think I even lost myself in there... “It isn’t meant to be taken literally, or converted into a book of rules, or read as an historical document. Although all these things find expression in the bible, it is first and foremost a beautifully inspired work of art.”

I agree with the second statement, but I think it’s also meant to be taken literally where it’s meant to be taken literally, read as a historical document where it documents history, and some parts of it are by definition about rules, but I agree completely that it’s not “a book of rules,” even though strictly speaking it is, since there are rules in it. Okay, I think I even lost myself in there…

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