Reading the Bible
At the Churchwide Consultation on benediction same-gender relationships, I got in a great gossip with a priest who firmly believes that any reproductive relations outside of marriage (which can only be between a man and a lady-love) is expressly forbidden in scripture. Consequence he does not support the church consecration any same-gender relationships. I do not have a distress, or even a desire, to change his mind so he believes as I credence in. I think it is vial that we indulge room for a diversity of viewpoints and theological perspectives, which includes those with which I contend. I was thrilled that he came to the convention in which his view was a minority and I was pleased that the people in our mignonne group welcomed him.
At dinner, and through the following undermine, he and I had an in-depth conversation. It became put to me that his perspective on what the Bible is, and how to read it, is very different from mine. It isn’t that he takes the Bible gravely, and I don’t. I take the Bible very seriously. I only understand it very differently that he does. Here are some things I find creditable to be true about the Bible:
The Bible is not a book but a library of books written by a difference of people with different understandings of God. When reading a enrol, we might have the expectation that it would have a single perspective or vantage point. When going to a library, we would guess the books to have a variety of viewpoints. The Bible is a aggregation of books written by different people who had contrary perspectives on God. It is a conversation with authors that play up different perspectives. For illustration, you can see this conversation between Paul and James. Paul says we are saved by our certainty and not our works. James says belief without works is dead. Both are stable. Much of theology is paradox that can’t be resolved. The Bible reflects this by showing opposite views that are opposed and true at the same interval.
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