BY BOB ELLIS
DAKOTA VOICE
This is the third installment in a 8-part series examining the DVD "For the Bible Tells Me So."
Introduction - Why the DVD Deserves a Closer Look
Part 1 - Building Sympathy Without Exegisis
Part 2 - The Bible as a 'Truth Buffet'
One of the things about the Bible stressed by the clergy in "For the Bible Tells Me So" (FTBTMS) is the contention that the Bible and passages within it can be interpreted in many ways.
While it is true that each of us, due to our experiences and education, can come away with some different insights on a particular passage, a given passage really only has one overriding meaning. Or perhaps more directly, while there may be a number of truths contained within a particular passage, none of those facts or truths will present conclusions that are contradictory to other truths within the passage--or the rest of the Bible, for that matter.
For example, it is incorrect to reasonably say that one person might read, "Thou shalt not steal" and come away with the truth that "you're not supposed to steal," while another person may read it and reasonably come away with a different "truth" which says, "Thou shalt not steal unless you really need it" or “Thou shalt not steal unless it’s from a rich person” or "Thou shalt not steal unless it's Tuesday."
Reverend Richard Holloway, the retired Bishop of Edinburgh, claims in the film that "Biblical literalism," where God's instructions in the Bible are taken literally, is a modern view that only came about in the early Twentieth Century.
Rev. Holloway's assertion is at odds with the Old Testament Jewish view, who took God's word very seriously and very literally. God commanded the Jews in Deuteronomy chapter 6 to constantly examine and discuss and surround themselves with His word. The Jews came to take that so literally that they wore God's word on their heads in phylacteries, and took God's command to tithe so seriously that they even gave a tenth of the produce from their spice gardens.
Jesus also apparently took the Bible literally, since he repeatedly quoted it and taught it's application in our lives, including his statement in Matthew chapter 19 on God's design for human sexuality: "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
He didn't say, "Ahh, God didn't really mean what He said in the Old Testament about males and females, and being faithful to your spouse. He just wants you to be happy. So have sex with whoever you’d like"
The assertion that "Biblical literalism" is a recent phenomenon also goes against the people in and writers of the New Testament, who by their very words and actions indicated that they took God's word very seriously and very literally. This continued throughout the 2,000 years of Christian history, on through the Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th Centuries.
On the contrary, it is a recent phenomenon that several Biblical scholars and some who call themselves Christians have taken the position that the Bible is NOT to be taken literally, that it is only allegorical and only "contains" some moral truths.
Reverend Joan Brown Campbell of the Chautauqua Institution attempts to mock Biblical literalism: "There is a text that says 'You must take all you have and give it to the poor.'" She is referring to the passage in Mark chapter 10 where the rich young ruler came to Jesus and Jesus told him to do this.
If you’ve actually read the passage you’ll note, however, that this was not a commandment given to all people; Jesus told the rich young man to do this when that man asked him, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus was not telling him this because giving away all your possessions is necessary to go to heaven, or because all wealthy people must give up all they have to get to heaven (many in the Bible were wealthy and God never commanded it of them). Rather, Jesus told him this because the man came to Christ, proud of his moral accomplishments and was essentially looking for the good rabbi to pat him on the back in front of people for being such a good person. Jesus, knowing what truly motivated the man and what was in his heart, cut through all the pride and pretension to expose that the man loved wealth and status more than he loved God.
Like any text, the Bible must be read contextually. This is not to say, as some claimed in this DVD, that we can "adjust" the moral imperatives of the Bible to suit our modern times or our fleshly appetites. Rather, it means that we must read the entire passage to understand whether this deals with a particular instance or is a universal truth; who is the subject of the passage; what is the spiritual principle being communicated; and what is the overriding truth.
Even personal correspondence must be read contextually. You wouldn't read a love letter from a spouse who had been away for a while which said, "I'm dying to see you" as meaning, "My heart is about to quit beating and my life on earth will literally end if I don't see you."
Likewise, you wouldn't interpret someone at the dinner table who has a heart attack and says, "I'm dying" as meaning he really doesn't like the food.
As we would pervert the statements made by the hypothetical people in these examples, so we dishonor God if we try to twist the meaning of what He’s told us in order to suit our own agenda.
If you're a parent, have you ever had a child try to twist something you said into a license for behavior that you clearly did not approve? Have they ever tried to exploit loopholes and come up with tortured interpretations to justify their disobedience? Has an employee or subordinate ever done it? Did that make you angry? I wonder how God feels when we try to twist and disregard His commandments to issue a license to ourselves for immorality?
Rev. Holloway also employs a little class envy to rile viewers against Christians who have taken a stand for morality in culture by pointing out they are "capitalists" and citing figures in the millions of dollars as if that were their personal income, rather than the revenue of their ministries.
Some of these ministries provide a multitude of services to thousands of people around the world, through the use of printed materials, radio and television broadcasts, service to needy people, and a legion of other expenditures--all of which can cost millions of dollars. Yet Holloway's intent is obviously to lead us to believe every cent that comes in to the organization goes into the pocket of the ministry leader.
In Part 4 next week: this film which contends to be about what the Bible says about homosexuality takes a stab at what science says about homosexuality...or is it what sympathetic researchers say about homosexuality?
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
For the Bible Tells Me So: The Real Story, Part 3
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4 comments:
bob why do you quote part of matthew 19, but ignore 11-12. jesus gives a spirit message for all time that there are those who because of how they were born were not given the word about one flesh bonding of a man and a women.
is it your intent to limit who that would be thru legalisms rather than a spirit test?
"test everything, keep the good."
"you will recognize them by their fruit(fruit of the spirit)"
I didn't include verses 11-12 because they aren't relevant to this discussion.
Do you know what a eunuch is? It's someone who doesn't have sex with women, usually because they've been castrated. Jesus is talking about some eunuchs who have been "made that way by men" (i.e. castrated) and some who were born without a desire for women. The apostle Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 7 that he may either be someone born without a desire for women, or he has come to the place where that is true.
But nothing whatsoever is said or implied by the passage in Matthew 19 that homosexual sex is permissible, or that people are born to be homosexuals; only a lack of sex with women. There is no commandment that one must get married, though it is the natural order and most people do end up getting married. But there ARE MULTIPLE commands NOT to engage in homosexual behavior, in both Old and New Testaments.
The Holy Spirit guides us, but it is very easy for us to mistake our own voice for the voice of the Spirit. That's why God gave us the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16), so that we could easily distinguish right from wrong, regardless of whether or not our own desires are whispering in our ear and masquerading as the Spirit.
God's Holy Spirit will not provide guidance that is contrary to Scripture...though our sinful hearts might. Anything contrary to the Bible is not of the Spirit (Galatians 1:6-9).
How do we test what is good? Hold it up against the "measuring stick" of the Bible. If it doesn't measure up, toss it.
I hope this helps.
jesus gives a spirit message. it is not limited by form or the understanding of the time. an enuch is one who is unable to have sex wiith women, because of the condition they were born. a spirit message is not limited to one one meaning. it has many, none that contradict the spirit.
telling a person with no legs that he has not been given the word to be an olympic runner makes no sense.
if some one has no attraction for th opposite sex BECAUSE he is attracted to the same sex does not mean that attraction should not be fulfilled, if the attraction is expressed thru the embracing of the fruit of the spirit of galatian 5. god is spirit, we are united with christ thru spirit
many homosexuals have given witness of their attraction to the same sex from early childhood. surely that would indicate a condition from birth.
But there ARE MULTIPLE commands NOT to engage in homosexual behavior, in both Old and New Testaments.
what multiple commands?
scripture points to the spirit, which is god.
christ came to earth to show us the spirit that is god.
he fulfilled the scriptures thru love, because fulfillment of the scriptures is love. when we love our neighbors as ourselves, we more than follow the law(which we receive no righteousness) we fulfill the law.
for homosexuality to be a sin it must come against loving ones neighbor as oneself........................HOW DOES IT?
feetxxxl, you seem to be desperately confused about Christian theology. I don't say this to insult, merely to describe, but you are all over the map theologically and not grounded in any solid teaching of the Bible. You seem to have glued together random parts of the Bible into an inconsistent patchwork.
The olympic runner with no legs has a message from REALITY that he can't run; he doesn't need a message from the Holy Spirit or the Bible or a policeman on the street. REALITY should tell him this.
The measure of a sin is not so much "does it come against loving one's neighbor as ones self" as it is "failure to obey God", and God makes it clear that he wants human sexuality to be expressed between a man and a woman within their marriage (and if God wants that, and one man participates in what God wants with another man, then he is assisting that other man in disobeying God, and someone who loved his neighbor as himself would not help another person to transgress against God--so actually homosexuality DOES violate the law of love).
The multiple commands against homosexuality which you seem to have somehow missed in reading all six parts in this series are here. They outline God's design for human sexuality as between a man and a woman within marriage and specifically condemn homosexuality:
- Genesis 2:24 Where God outlined his design for human sexuality: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."
- Genesis 19 where men of Sodom wanted to have sex with the male angels, and it was called a "wicked thing"
- Leviticus 18:22 "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."
- Leviticus 20:13 "'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable."
- Judges 19 In Gibeah where "wicked men" wanted to have sex with a Levite man, and it was called a "disgraceful thing"
- Mark 10:6-8 Jesus reaffirms God's design for human sexuality: "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one."
- Romans 1:26-27 where the Bible talks about "godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness" and says "Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."
- 1 Corinthians 6:9 says, among other habitual sins, homosexuals "will not inherit the kingdom of God"
- 1 Timothy 1:10 condemns "men who practice homosexuality"
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