Subject: Genesis Creation, a practical example? |
Bible Note: Contrary View, Scripture........................ Dear Hank, I don't know of any universally accepted way of determining biblical literalism and biblical symbolism either. That is the very reason why I am trying to come up with one here on the forum. As for the rest of your ideas about being objective when reading scripture, letting the Holy Spirit guide you, and just looking for the plain sense, I agree in one sense. Those all sound like great ideas, and if we all did them perfectly then there would be no problems. However, they are very subjective, and the simple truth is that we don't do them perfectly, and probably never will. Therefore, in a community there needs to be some kind of established principles that are objective and can be applied consistently. That is all we are trying to accomplish here. To look at the specific example that you cited, I believe it could be dealt with, within our current framework. Jesus said He was bread, a door, and a vine. But another scripture says that Jesus became a human (Phil 2:7). Therefore, based purely on scripture, we are forced to determine which is figurative and which is literal. Then of course it is obvious based on the vast amount of scriptures referring to Jesus that He was definately a human and not a slice of bread. The process seems to work here. |