Cartoon

This is genius…

The Bible: based on a true story…

            The Bible is possibly the most talked about and debated book in history. Many people claim that the Bible is the complete word of God, a historically accurate document that stands the test of time, while others neglected it completely, claiming it as ‘old wives tales’ and myth. Many, possibly most, on the other hand have given up caring.

 

But is it possible for the bible to be true, but not historical? Can it be relevant and not fact?

 

          I think the bible can only be understood properly (however never fully) when we have an appreciation for ancient culture and literacy genres. Yes, the bible is full of historical accounts – each with their apparent biases, like reading a newspaper – but the bible is also full of songs, poems, letters, records, stories, myths, metaphors and parodies. Appreciating this can make a world of difference – What does it mean when we read ‘Corinthians’ as a letter, or ‘Jonah’ as a Satire and ‘Job’ as an Opera? What effect does it have on the gospels if we see that they too are full of metaphor and parallels?

 

          The Hebrew Scriptures tells the unfolding of Israel’s past; it is Israel’s media – TV/magazines/newspapers/the lot, all rolled into one. These are the stories that Israelite children would have grown up hearing, the tales of their past woven together in a blur of history, metaphor, exaggeration and comedy. It’s like when you watch a Hollywood blockbuster ‘based on a true story’ – often the events actually happened but a storyline has been overlaid for entertainment (e.g. Titanic/Last King of Scotland) or the film raises real life issues but creates fictional events (e.g. blood diamond/Constant Gardner). I sometimes find that my idea of history is made up from the inaccuracies of period dramas and films.

 

The people of Israel told stories, not only for entertainment and to keep their inheritance alive, but because they knew the power behind the tales, just like when Jesus told parables. A story, especially one with a moral or meaning, can and will affect people. There is little doubt that the media uses similar ways to covey messages today, some of which have a significant influence on our worldviews. Take for example the front page of yesterdays Guardian:

Guardian Article – 14/2/09

I’ve also uploaded the current Listerine advert as I think it’s a great example of how exaggeration is used to make a point. The advert isn’t actually saying that tiny little water men will cause a massive explosion in your mouth (and log cabin) that will clean your mouth, but its using the power and comedy(?) of exaggeration to make a point of how good the product is. Will people in 1000 years time watch that advert and say ‘did they really think that happened?’ – this is probably fairly obvious to us, so shouldn’t we understand ancient media in a similar light?

          Media has a profound affect on us, and I think Israel understood this. The stories that we immerse ourselves in can easily become the stories we want to live. Israel was keen to live the story given to them by God, and so these stories became very important to them – they were central to Jesus, and hence His followers. Nowadays, I feel we rarely have an appreciation of the fact that we share in ‘God’s Story’, instead we live the stories in our media – Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Skins, South Park, these are the lives we aspire too. They aim to reflect an exaggerated culture but then culture reflects them back. The stories we’re rapped up in become ours, and I think secretly we like to have a life similar to those we hear about – even if it happens to others so we can gossip about it and say thinks like ‘ooo, you wouldn’t believe it, it was as if it was off TV’. Magazines and fashion culture are prime examples.

 

         

If the Bible were still being written then the entries into it wouldn’t just be the testimonies, songs and poems of the millions of God loving people from around the world. It would be full of some great fictions too, like Bruce Almighty, the story of the Hare and the Tortoise, or Soren Kierkegaard’s Geese Parables – plus some great stand up comics who all to often exaggerate the truth for laughs but convey a compelling message (was Jesus a stand up comic?) These would be narratives to help individuals to better understand God and/or become more like God intended – not just another advert telling you to be like everyone else.

           

In my own life I’m keen to not read the Bible at face value but to try and understand it as much as possible, taking into account history and theology, as well as testing it against my own experiences in life. I believe that the Bible is the ‘Word of God’ but not explicitly the ‘Word’s of God’ – and by that I mean I take the Bible seriously, but not, always, literally. For I’m learning to see that something can be true whether it’s historically accurate or not.

 

 

 

Maybe it’s that nothing is new

I was on a wee bike ride earlier, listening to music as I do and although I’ve heard this song loads of times, these lyrics stood out…

‘Constantly searching to find something new
But what will you find when you think that nothing’s true?

Maybe it’s that nothing is new’

Idlewild, American English

Even though it probably has nothing to do with what Idlewild meant, my thoughts were as follows:

As we search for some thing true, we often look for new and exciting things. But sometimes what is true has always been there, and is found, not in the new, but in the old, the boring, the mundane, the day in day out, the things we take for granted, the things that are always there but we fail to see them, because although they are extra-ordinary, they are nothing new.

The Last Battle

C.S. Lewis seems to be one of the greatest theologians of the 20^th century, and is widely respected and trusted among most Christians today, across the spectrum. His fantasy series, the Chronicles of Narnia, is often used to draw parallels with the Christian meta-narrative, which is why I find it odd to find examples of theology which many Christians would surely struggle with.

In the concluding book, the last battle, Aslan (the Jesus figure) restores Narnia with a new Narnia, and some kind of judgement day takes place. Now the Christian story as I’ve always been told it said that those who believe enjoy the pleasures of this new Narnia, whilst those who don’t suffer an eternal torture of some kind. But C.S. Lewis paints a different idea of things. In his tale we follow the account of three different types of people, the creatures, the dwarfs and the Calormene, all with three different fates.

First off the creatures. The story goes that as they approached Aslan, at their judgement, they each looked him in the face. Those who knew him and loved him, although initially scared because ‘he’s not a tame Lion’, saw Aslan and loved him and passed through the door on his right. Those creatures, which never knew Aslan, were either scared of him or hated him, meaning they moved to his left, passing into a ‘huge black shadow’ and ceasing to be talking beasts anymore.

Second we come to the dwarfs. The dwarfs are found already inside the new Narnia, for what reason I’m not sure. The context behind it however is that during the last battle they refuse to choose sides and attacked everyone, they believe in nothing and no one – ‘Dwarfs are for dwarfs’ as the saying goes. However once inside they cannot see where they are, everything is bleak and black to them, they can’t smell the roses or taste the food or see anything. They are in paradise but can’t experience it. ‘“You see,” said Aslan. “They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of believe. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.”

Finally, whilst in the new Narnia the children and the creatures stumble across a young Calormene, one who served the great lord Tash, a rival to all Narnia and Aslan. He tells how he came to be in the new Narnia. Now I think it’s worth listening to part of this story, so here goes…

‘Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I (the Calormene) overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deeds accepted.’

I personally think this is rather genius. Here C.S. Lewis seems to be pointing to a theology that says that we condemn and judge ourselves, that what we do in life, the way we think of ourselves, and God and the things that we do, have eternal consequence. He certainly doesn’t leave people with the impression that to experience the new Narnia all you have to do is believe in Aslan, and that Aslan will condemn those who don’t into eternal fire.

Doesn’t that turn traditional views on hell and judgment on their head?

Does that sound more like a loving, just God?

God is a DJ

I was in a restaurant (I say restaurant, it was actually pizza hut) the other day and Pink was playing, these lyrics stuck us as we were eating…   

If God is a DJ
Life is a dance floor
Love is the rhythm
You are the music If God is a DJ
Life is a dance floor
You get what you’re given
It’s all how you use it

Think About these lyrics for a second…     

    

They offer a great analogy, one, which perhaps is often better than I give. Music, rhythm and dance flow, they move, they create and are flexible. They’re fun and full of life. Yet at the same time, it follows a pattern, a beat and if you get it wrong you create a mess or a muddle.  

A wall of sound.  

A stumble in the dance. 

May be we are supposed to dance, to celebrate and have fun with the ‘rhythm’ of God’s creation. You get what you’re given, it’s all how you use it.