Subject:
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Re: 22/7 & infinities (was: Re: The nature of the JC god, good or evil?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 31 Aug 1999 07:21:21 GMT
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Reply-To:
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johnneal@uswestSPAMCAKE.net
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Viewed:
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1487 times
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Simon Robinson wrote:
> John N> Answer Larry's charge that you are being inconsistent.
> You said that the story of Job didn't really happen.
> If - as I assume you
> do - you believe the Bible is the word of God, then how can you justify
> believing
> bits of it but not other bits?
Here's what I believe about the Bible. It is a collection of books edited
together by many people at different times in history. It is a historical
document which can be scrutinized in any manner of ways (historical criticism,
literary criticism, redactive,etc) It tells a story, a rather disjointed one, but
it tells the story of God's pursuit of Man.
And, to be honest, I think it is rather unintelligible to the lay person without
critical study, and even then it is obscure to the scholar. It is not a Proof
Text. It was inspired by God I believe, but written by men with all of their
failings. Much of it, I believe, reflects an understanding of God that is
incomplete until the Gospels, which even themselves reflect different
Christologies. And the letters of Paul are exactly that-- letters to specific
communities about specific problems-- applicable to us only when a hermeneutic
jump is employed.
I don't think I'm being inconsistent when I say that Job or the creation account
in Genesis is a story. To me the Bible is not an infallible record of events that
occurred in the past, but rather a record of the relationship between God and His
people. *Whether* or not stuff occurred in the Bible is not the issue. *Why*
stuff occurred in the Bible is. If you get hung up on the details of how or
whether something could or did occur, you will miss the point of what the text is
saying.
Now in my way of thinking, if a Christian says that one must believe that
everything occurred in the Bible as the Bible says it did or not be a Christian, I
say poo. One doesn't even *need* the Bible to be a Christian (to follow Christ).
Putting *so* much emphasis on the Bible is rather to me like shooting the
messenger-- *it* should not be the focus. The way we treat one another is. Which
doesn't say much for Christian denominationalism. Christians are humans, and
humans aren't perfect.
-John
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