Results tagged “bible” from the prodigal sheep

For God so loved the world that she gave her one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

It's not an easy scripture to inclusify which is why I balanced the 2000 years of God's male image by affirming the divine female. Kinda gets our attention hearing it differently.

Scripture contains many gender neutral metaphors for God such as shepherd, rock, or Holy One. The rediscovery of the complementary female and male metaphors in the Bible and the literature of the early church encourages Christians not to settle for literary poverty in the midst of literary riches.

Inclusive language is far more than an aesthetic matter of male and female imagery; it is a fundamental issue of social justice.  Language that is truly inclusive affirms sexuality, racial and ethnic background, stages of maturity, and degrees of limiting conditions.  It shows respect for all people.  Scripture proclaims the world is created, redeemed, and sustained by the Word of God, and the church attests to the power of language and words, recognizing that words have the power to exploit and exclude as well as affirm and liberate.

An article concerning the religious right by Alexander Zaitchik on AlterNet got me thinking about biblical literacy. And about the religious right’s ongoing efforts to substitute a form of studied ignorance variously referred to as ‘absolute values’ or a ‘Christian worldview’ in place of a genuine program of biblical literacy.

Zaitchik points to the growing acknowledgment among luminaries of the right concerning the ‘systemic crisis’ of ‘functional Biblical illiteracy among the flock.’ He quotes recent research by the evangelical polling outfit, the Barna Group:

In August of 2005, Barna reported that less than ten percent of born-again Christians held what he termed a "Biblical worldview." Based on his survey, very few grasped the nuances of scripture or believed in "Absolute Truth" any more than their secular counterparts; the "Body of Christ" had been infected with the virus of relativism, a wasting disease.

"Although most people own a Bible and know some of its content," reported Barna, "our research found that most [professed evangelicals] have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life."

This is not particularly startling, in that it confirms my own experiences as a youth in various evangelical and pentecostal churches, as well as my current experience in a liberal church. Not a lot of people actually read the Bible in any depth, let alone study it or develop an ability to engage in critical conversation about its contents.

The latter ability is what I would define as genuine biblical literacy. Knowledge of proof texts and so-called ‘biblical values’ (i.e. dogma) does not, in my mind, constitute literacy, any more than the ability to memorize multiplication tables or recite prime numbers constitutes numeracy.

Of course, conservative Christian leaders mostly want their flock to be fluent in carefully prescribed ‘values’ and ‘worldview’, dogmatic assertions which are taken by faith (and by aid of proof-texting) to rest on a ‘biblical’ foundation. Anything that suggests the use of critical method or non-circular hermeneutics is seriously frowned upon. The vast majority of evangelicals don’t know their Bible largely because they’re brought up to read it not as sacred literature but as a source of proof texts and magical formulas for spiritual success. Little wonder ignorance abounds.

I think another reason for the lack of interest is that under such dogmatic oversight, faith becomes largely cultural for so many people. In an environment where every question is already decided, where the Bible is the source of all authoritative dogma and not a living conversation with and about God, really reading the Bible becomes a chore, like high school poetry.

Hear the air of desperation in the following comments by James Dobson, who has now invented a Bible ‘boot camp’ to try to anchor conservative Christians into a more dogmatic approach to their faith:

"Only by understanding the immutable truth claims of Christ," says Dobson in The Truth Project's promotional video, can Christians successfully defend against the "postmodern worldview" in which "God does not exist," "the family is defined as any circle of love," and "homosexuality is the moral equivalent of heterosexuality."

"If we capture and embrace more of God's worldview and trust it with unwavering faith," says Dobson, "then we begin to ... form the appropriate responses to questions on abortion, same-sex marriage, cloning, stem-cell research and even media choices." But the real prize is bigger than any one issue. By fully embracing Truth, religious conservatives can "recapture Western Civilization," which they "invented but have lost."

Hmm… God doesn’t have a ‘worldview’, Dr Dobson. It’s just your view of the world superimposed upon God.

Confounded by wall-of-separation rulings prohibiting sectarian religious displays in the public square, religious conservatives in Texas have turned to kitsch.

Is the object pictured on the right:

1. A toursit map?
2. A trashcan?
3. An ATM?
4. An outdoor grill?
5. A stone monument featuring a Bible lit up with a red neon sign?

You would be correct if you chose 5.

As noted by Street Prophets,

On August 15, 2006, a federal appeals court ruled that an open-faced Bible must be removed from the monument because a district judge changed the 50-year old monument from a secular monument into a religious one when he restored it (and uglified it by the addition of a neon light) around 10 years ago.

The "reasonable observer would conclude," the majority opinion stated, "that the monument, with the Bible outlined in red neon lighting, had evolved into a predominantly religious symbol."

This history would also force an objective observer to gag. No longer is neon just for flashy come-ons to a cheap motel, pool hall, dive bar, or Krispy Kreme "Fresh Hot Donuts" sign. This is how conservative Christian nationalism practiced today, Texas-style. It apparently includes idolatry and the glorification of kitsch in the name of Christ.

The Bible has indeed become an idol in the hands of Christian 'conservatives', especially those of a reconstructionist bent. They are those who believe that the ancient prescriptions of the Hebrew Torah should form the basis of civil law and government in this country. While hard core reconstructionists are few in number, their influence is widespread within the US religious right, and their idea of Christian 'dominion' has replaced the Rapture as the number one dangerous idea being promoted in evangelical circles these days.

Idolatry involves replacing the worship of God with the worship of objects, the elevation of religious (or commercial or political) artefacts to the realm of the sacred. It is the worship of an image, idea or object, as opposed to worshipping their Source. When one values the Bible more highly than the command of its presumed author to love one's neighbor as oneself, one is an idolator.

As noted by Jonathon Hutson in Talk to Action, it is hard not to view a monument such as the Texas neon bible without recalling the words of Leviticus 26:1: "Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God."

Perhaps the Levitical authors or redactors forgot to add the corrollary commandment: "Avoid ye especially those graven images flanked by neon, for these are reserved for harlots and gamblers." But then they had never been to Vegas.