From: John Burgeson (burgythree@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Apr 28 2003 - 11:30:45 EDT
>>It feels a little bit strange lecturing a Christian
about the Bible. Christians get locked into a
certain mentality and have a hard time escaping.>>
Jim -- I have to agree with your last sentence. What I suspect is that the
god you have rejected is also the same god I rejected. That god is, of
course, a straw god and its attributes do not conform to The God I know,
love and worship.
"God" is, of course, not God's name. It is just the name we place on the
mystery of the force that created us. When we talk about God, we are
constrained to use whatever metaphors come to mind -- we can do no better.
Yet, many of us are quite aware of having been grasped (Tillich's term) by
the divine, and that contact, being part of our personal knowledge, must be
part of our religious stance. See Polyani's book PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE for an
exposition of how such knowledge is neither subjective nor objective, but is
of a different kind.
The Bible, which is a record of persons in the past speaking about their own
understanding of the divine, is, of course, a key document to the Christian
faith. Yet millions of people have lived and died as Christians w/o ever
reading it. Yes, there are some who regard it as sort of a "manufacturer's
handbook," and think that within its pages they can find all the ethical and
moral knowledge they will ever need. And some, even on this list, regard it
as "inerrant." I can't understand that myself, any more than I can
understand the YEC position. But YECs, and inerrantists, and many more will
someday enjoy the heavenlies, for it is the relationship with the divine
that counts, not the accuracy of one's beliefs.
I placed on my web site about a month ago a set of notes on the inerrancy
question, based on a book by Davis. You may find it interesting. Look on
page 2, section 11, 5th entry.
Best
Burgy
www.burgy.50megs.com
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