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NASB | John 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 12:32 "And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw all people to Myself [Gentiles, as well as Jews]." |
Subject: Kathy, Is "Lifting His name" Biblical? |
Bible Note: Searcher; I'm afraid you are flirting with an intellectual fraud called deconstructionism. You keep bringing up John 12:32. I don't know if the songwriters who have expressed the idea of "lifting up" Jesus' name relied on John 12:32 or not. You haven't shown that they did, so I suspect you don't know either. Certainly nothing in the context of the two songs I've posted remotely suggests anything beyond simply exalting or praising Jesus. But deconstructionism comes to your rescue. The theory is that words have no intrinsic meaning and they cannot reliably convey what was in the author's mind when the song was written. Therefore the critic can ignore the author's intent and attach any motive and meaming he likes to the words. The writer can now be condemned for saying something he didn't say, or, conversely, what he did say can now be twisted to mean what the critic wants it to mean. Did Pastor Jack Hayford have John 12:32 in mind when he wrote "So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King."? Did Rick Founds when he wrote "Lord, I lift your name on high"? Who cares? You have imposed your meaning on the words and now you can comfortably judge the songwriters and those who sing the songs and find them guilty of eisegesis. I can't understand why anyone would be so unwilling to simply read the songs that these two brothers in Christ have written and partake of the joy and gratitude and love of the Lord that they have expressed. Must everything be a hunt for little heresies? "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3-4) Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |