Posted on Evans Liberal Politics, by Paul Evans:
While now I am a strong Christian, and I try to live my life as I believe a Christian should, I do not believe in the strict and universal literal truth of all passages in the Bible. It is a document written down by men, and the wonderful spiritual inspiration which caused it to be written down is no less flawed than were the very flawed and human men who first wrote it down. At the same time, as a committed Christian, I do believe the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and some of the arguments I make below are derived from Bible passages that are important to me, particularly from the New Testament. However, my emphasis is on the centrality of the CARING that Jesus' life represents, as shown to us in the Gospels and through my own personal experiences of Jesus and spiritual interactions with Him.
To some extent I truly feel the Old Testament was written, yes, for all humanity, and forever, yet the rules in it were meant to apply to the pastoral Hebrew people of those times. I also think that the Gospels show that, to Jesus, the "rules" were never that important. Jesus disliked the Pharisees,the ruling Hebrew authorities of that day, whose emphasis was on strict observance of the Old Testament laws. He found them ostentatiously scrupulous as to the Laws' observance, to the point of falseness. I will have more to say on "laws versus love," you might say, shortly. One should also keep in mind, as to the Old Testament, that this was handed down orally for some 800 years, scholars believe, before it was ever written down. I really think that quite a bit of the Old Testament is more about the customs of the ancient Hebrew people than it is a reflection of the Word of God. Certainly I feel that way about certain passages of the Old Testament.
The literal truth of the New Testament seems less questionable to me, and yet I realize at the same time that it is by our own fallible human minds that various translations of the Bible in fact become available, and that Scripture is written down in the first place. In fact different translations have some different content, and if you study the Bible's content historically, it becomes apparent that to a lesser degree, the content of Bible passages has evolved over time, for example originally there were 12 spiritual gifts but since the Catholic Bible of 1909, there have only been 9 gifts. Finally that no person gets any meaning from the Bible except through the interpretations of a flawed and very human mind. God gave us a mind, a fragment of the divine spark, and we need to realize that it is only by the limited powers of our humanly fallible minds that we understand anything. And the Bible is certainly not an easy document to understand fully!
As to the Old Testament, my favorite passage from the New Testament about all that is from Luke 10:27, where it is said that the sum of all the Law and the Prophets is to "love God and love your neighbor as yourself," (paraphrase), to which Jesus replied "Yes! Do this and you will live!". Living a truly caring life is not such an easy thing, either.
The Reverend Candace Chellew-Hodge speaks about the Bible as literal truth, with an interpretation that one should never argue scripture. She says:
Those who see the Bible as "God's literal word" only know one way to read any passage, and it's usually to back up their current beliefs about God, homosexuality or any other issue. ... We have to remember that this is an ancient book. It was written at a time when people believed the world was flat and that the earth was in the middle of a three-tiered world with heaven above and hell below. It was written at a time when people believed that the whole of human reproduction was held in the sperm of a man and a woman was merely an incubator. Speaking of women, this was a time when they were seen as chattel -- property to be passed along from father to husband, from husband to brother and so on. It was written at a time when slavery was seen as God-ordained and animal sacrifice was the way to cleanse sins.
As for myself, I know that many conservative Christians have "problems" about those who are spiritually gifted, and say that the Old Testament power of prophecy (basically, mediumship) is in some way evil or wrong to practice. I can only say that I have prayed spiritually and interacted with Jesus many times, and he told me to quote you a verse also from Luke, in this case Luke 10:16 - "Then he (Jesus) said to the disciples, 'Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.'" I have a very close interpersonal relationship with the Lord. If you will judge me for my liberal beliefs and the sinners I associate with, that is on your head. Here I would cite a truly wonderful passage, Romans Chapter 3, particularly verses 21 through 24: (New Living Translation):
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard (some versions read, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"). 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
It was Jesus himself who warned us, in Matthew 7:1-2, "1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." And I, Paul Evans swear to you, Jesus has let me know (during spiritual prayer and that communion with Him) that we are to love one another, and never judge anyone. For loving one another pleases God and removes the penalties of the Law that hold from the Old Testament. It is by CARING for one another that we please God while here on earth. For me, God is a God of love, not the angry God of the Old Testament, but the God who came to earth and showed us God's will by his life of a caring ministry and sacrifice in the person of Jesus
The Book of Revelation particularly within the New Testament is, besides being controversial, is the least credible to me of New Testament books as to it's literal truth. I find it an allegorical work and one that is very useful to growth and development, yet somehow I question it's literal truth in that I have a hard time believing that God, in his totally loving nature, would subject mankind to that sort of ordeal. Did he not promise, in the Old Testament (if you believe in the literal truth of the Bible), after the Flood, never to again destroy the world? The Book of Revelation has always troubled me, and I believe that thinking it literally true has caused a great deal of trouble in the world, as it inspires neocons (right wing militaristic Republicans) to work towards it's fulfillment, which I find rather evil. I believe in full co-existence with other world religions, while personally having strong yet liberal Christian beliefs, a strong spirituality, and a strong faith in God. Call me a very faithful and spiritual Christian liberal.
Passages in the Bible which strain our credulity as to their literal truth are all too easy to find. One need look no further then the wonderful and poetic Genesis Chapter 1, the story of Creation (New International Version). Here each day of creation ends with something like "morning came and evening came, an 'nth' day," there being seven days of creation. Notice the sequence of creation (and here it does not matter if you interpret the "day" as literally 24 hours or as in the original Hebrew, "a period of time." Look at the very first day. Here God created light and darkness and called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And here and for each of the remaining days of creation, that day's creation ends with something like "And there was evening, and there was morning--the (first) day."
Yet the sun and the moon were not created until the fourth day. I'm sorry: we are rational, thinking human beings. By what stretch of the imagination is the creation illuminated and does morning come and evening come on days one through three without a sun even existing (until day four)? If words and logic mean anything, the Creation story CANNOT be literally true. That does not mean it is not moving, and it does not mean it is not poetic and important. But if you believe that is literally true, you have not thought the matter through or words and logic mean nothing to you, in which case, why bother with reading? God Bless us all, anyway.
What is important to me is mainly the New Testament, although the Old Testament is a wonderful chronicle of the history of the Jewish people, God's people at that. And what is important to me in the New Testament is the example of strong CARING that Jesus showed for us to follow, by his whole life. Jesus showed us that God desires that we CARE for one another, and he also showed us how high the cost of true caring can be. But a life lived in caring for others is a happy, joyous life, and that is how God meant for our lives to be.
Another line of evidence of the nature of God and his will for us can be found in the pre-Socratic philosophical concept known as "Logos." If you investigate this term, you will see that there are many nouns and adjectives associated with it -- the nature of God, examined philosophically, the logic or order of the universe -- but that Logos has only one value associated with it, and that value is caring. In fact, the early Christian church came to associate this pagan philosophical concept with the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, or Jesus. Thus, for me, Logos and Jesus are all about CARING and living caring lives, and I believe this is in harmony with the order of things, with the whole order of the universe. I also think the reason mankind suffers so much in the modern world and feels so alienated is because of how far we have got away from leading truly caring lives. To not be caring is thus outside of the whole natural order of things, and leads to pain and alienation. God meant for us to be caring people.
Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Even while I find the Bible to not be literally true throughout (and many Bible scholars will agree with me), certain Bible passages are very illuminating. One such is Matthew 17: 1-13: The Transfiguration. So far as Bible scholars can tell, the Gospel of Matthew was the earliest of the four Gospels, written about 50 A.D. The Gospels of Mark and Luke followed in about 70 A.D. and John is believed to have been written perhaps about 90 A.D. Some liberal Christian theologians have commented that John is the only Gospel which affirms that Jesus is really God, and remark that the earlier church did not claim such a thing. Whether or not you may believe that Jesus is God, such a passage as Matthew 17: 1-13 surely seems to affirm that Jesus is God's Son, and not simply a prophet, and that this belief infused the earliest Christian church's writings. In fact, the early Church existed as a sect within Judaism, and it was not, scholars believe, until about 170 A.D. that this faith actually called itself "Christian," as distinct from Judaism. (You do realize, Jesus was a Jew, right?) The nature of the passage above, which is from Matthew and thus an early writing, is such as to make the fact that the early church believed in the divinity of Jesus clearly apparent.
However it is Christ's very life here on earth, in particular the emphasis this shows on the centrality of CARING, a caring for each other, much as Martin Luther King, Jr., envisioned in his concept of the Blessed or "Beloved Community," which has caused me to devote so much effort to promoting liberalism. I highly recommend that you take a look at the collection of The Sermons and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Wikipedia. I see a liberal political agenda for society as central to Jesus' wish that we "feed his sheep," and I find his last words to Peter very telling. Just before he ascended into heaven Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Peter said, "Lord, you know I love you." To which Jesus replied, "Feed my sheep." Jesus was no hypocrite. Jesus meant BOTH figurative AND literal feeding of his sheep. Surely he meant that we must be our brother's keeper, and liberalism and a progressive vision fulfills that idea for me.
Leading caring lives may fit in well with liberalism, conceptually, for me, yet I am only a Democrat and not a Republican because, to a slight degree, they are more about "feeding Jesus sheep" and about society taking care of its less fortunate citizens than is the G.O.P. I want to see crack babies and crack mothers have a minimum standard of living, and not have to live in homeless shelters. I want to see elderly retires maintain their Social Security benefits and Medicare. We have recently seen what Paul Ryan and the House Republicans would do with these benefits. So yes, I am a Democrat, but for me, the Democratic Party does not even go far enough. I'd like to see universal health care for all, and guaranteed work, and in these bad economic times, I'd like to see something like the old W.P.A. brought back to help the unemployed help themselves. I also want to see a progressive tax structure where the fortunate help the less fortunate and where corporations pay their fair share and are not allowed to export jobs oversees and use foreign sweat shop labor. To me, all of this is involved in having a caring society. But NOT because they are Democratic ideas, rather, because they are the right thing to do. And I do believe that Jesus would like to see that sort of society. That's why I am a liberal.
Also see In Defense of the Christian Liberal, Democratic Underground, October 12, 2002, by Frank Lovato.
A Bible Passage the Religious RightWon't Like or Acknowledge
(Could This Be Socialism??)
Acts 4:32-35 NIV
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Here I want to make note of something many of you will find very controversial and dislike. I have always felt that Jesus whole life here on earth was one that only a basically liberal person could have lived. His strong emphasis on CARING, the way he loved everyone he met, regardless of what they believed, the way he lived for others and did not care about money, or power, just about helping one another, always struck me as a very liberal sort of life. So anyway, below is a symbol a friend of mine made describing Jesus as a liberal. Many of you won't like this.... Jesus said to tell you that he did not TELL me to put the graphic there, but that he DID give me his permission to put it below. I always thought that Jesus is, in fact, very much a liberal. What do you think about this? As if this article weren't going to be controversial enough, I pressed Jesus about this in prayer (I am somewhat spiritually gifted and I have interacted with Jesus in prayer rather often lately), and he did give me his permission for me to put the graphic image below. Deal with it.
For those who find my particular sort of faith in Jesus repugnant or doubt my spiritual gifts, at least you'll never hear anything like what showed up on Daily Kos today from me: See Breaking! Evangelical Christians actually announce date of Rapture, (January 3, 2010, by change the Be). If you're wondering, the "end" is supposed to be May 21st of this year. Personally, I am convinced that we do not even KNOW the true nature of God, much less his plans. Why not try to make the world a better, more livable place instead of planning for its end (which has been done throughout history).
Visit our well known Guide to Liberal News & Politics on the Web , where you find out where to find out the truth.
