> That being said, I think two things have led to the present situation. First, the people in the pews do not generally buy the line of
reasoning that the Bible can be historically false in Genesis and yet
true theologically or true in some mystical fashion.
Many people in the pews - or at least those I preach to - are
able to be more sensitive to the variety of biblical literature than
this remark would suggest. Ask yourself the following questions:
1) Is the 23d Psalm being declared "historically false" and
interpreted in a weak sense if the expositor recognizes that people are
not sheep and that God doesn't feed them grass?
2) Does the truth, in the deepest sense which Jesus intended, of
the story of the good Samaritan dependent upon it being "historically
true" - i.e., in principle verifiable from the Jerusalem police blotter?
3) Does anyone in his or her right mind think that PILGRIM'S
PROGRESS is "historically true" - or that it's not true at all because
it's allegory?
4) Should a person who can't tell the difference in TYPE
between a love letter and a letter from the IRS be let out on the street
alone?
After all this, it shouldn't be so hard to see that the Genesis
creation accounts CAN be profoundly true without being accurate
historical accounts.
This isn't to say that all biblical accounts are of that sort.
The Succession Narrative in II Sam.-I Kg., e.g., is clearly intends to
be straight historical writing. The Bible contains many different types
of literature. Any attempt to run it all through a hermeneutical
sausage grinder which turns out uniform weenies of either "history as it
really happened" or spiritual allegory will result in grievous error.
It takes some intentional work on the part of the church's
teachers to convey this. Too many are apologetic (in the bad sense)
about critical study of Scripture, or don't get into it at all, figuring
there's no point in upsetting folks. What they don't realize is that a
lot of people get upset because preachers won't speak honestly and
intelligently about these matters.
George L. Murphy