Cutting Edge
Monday, February 28, 2005
Theology and Web Comics
This strip from the Filthy Lies! web comic just screams for a commentary. Filthy Lies! is another bit of web addiction I suffer from. The tone is irreverent, and the only real display of religion (that I've read so far) is negative. A bad Christian and an anti-Christian living together for fun. The red blob in the comic was a bit of beefsteak that was given life during an "unholy experiment."
The character of Joel, however, brings up a really good point. The Bible can't really tell us what to do in every circumstance if you're looking for such specific points of advice. The same verse of the Bible was interpreted to support and deny the concept of cloning1. This is the flaw of a literal-factual interpretation of Scriptures.
The advice a true Christian should take from the Bible is best demonstrated in recent strips of GPF where a very evil woman is treated well by a stranger. Generosity, genuine care, and an attempt to heal a person's soul as well as a body is the calling of Christianity in a society full of broken people and a society that breaks them so often it's not even considered broken.
The best web comic I've seen that deals with God and religion is Sinfest. Don't let the name fool you. Check it out.
1 I'm pretty sure I read this in Lee Strobel's book The Case for Christ. The point is that even the poor quality of research Strobel uses demonstrates that conservatives don't find specific answers to specific modern day dilemmas. ¶ 9:02 AM 0 comments
The character of Joel, however, brings up a really good point. The Bible can't really tell us what to do in every circumstance if you're looking for such specific points of advice. The same verse of the Bible was interpreted to support and deny the concept of cloning1. This is the flaw of a literal-factual interpretation of Scriptures.
The advice a true Christian should take from the Bible is best demonstrated in recent strips of GPF where a very evil woman is treated well by a stranger. Generosity, genuine care, and an attempt to heal a person's soul as well as a body is the calling of Christianity in a society full of broken people and a society that breaks them so often it's not even considered broken.
The best web comic I've seen that deals with God and religion is Sinfest. Don't let the name fool you. Check it out.
1 I'm pretty sure I read this in Lee Strobel's book The Case for Christ. The point is that even the poor quality of research Strobel uses demonstrates that conservatives don't find specific answers to specific modern day dilemmas. ¶ 9:02 AM 0 comments
Monday, February 21, 2005
Is there a problem with metaphor?
I think I had a revelation about the nature of the traditional/conservative/earlier (to use Borg's term) religous outlook towards metaphor. Remember when Jerry Falwell declared that Tinky Winky from the Teletubbies was gay? What did he use: The fact that TW is purple, male, has a triangle on his head, and carries a purse. All metaphors (or at least indicators) that this silly character is 'promoting the homosexual agenda' or even worse 'telling kids that it's okay to be gay' or worst of all 'telling kids to become gay.'
I know that many people like Falwell read the Bible literally and factually, and don't allow a metaphorical understanding of any passage unless it's a parable. I'm wondering if the traditional/conservative/right-wing/earlier tradition sees metaphor and allegory mainly as a tool of the devil. It makes some sort of sense. The devil has to hide his messages and not be so blatant about his evel schemes. God can speak to us directly and tell us exactly what we need to know, and has done so completely and totally in the Bible.
Of course, those of us who watch and love Joan of Arcadia understand that God is never direct in communication with us mere mortals, even when God is standing before you in some form and appears very real and very concrete, you won't get a straight answer out of God. The liberal/progressive/emergent tradition reads the Bible as mostly metaphor. The important lessons are there, but they are generalized lessons from specific examples. Is it possible to read Jesus' view of punishment in the tale of the adulteress (John 8:1-11) to mean that only when we encounter a woman who has committed adultery we should only kill her if we are sinless ourselves? When we talk about killing a rapist or a terrorist we are free to kill them despite our own sinful state? It could be. I think it's a short-sighted interpretation. I also don't think that any Christian thinker has made this claim.
In the end: Is metaphor only a tool of the devil? I don't think so. I think metaphor is the language that moves us beyond our limitations and towards God. It can also move us beyond our limitations to evil as well. Perhaps this is one reason why discussions between the two traditions of Christianity can be so difficult. ¶ 12:14 PM 0 comments
I know that many people like Falwell read the Bible literally and factually, and don't allow a metaphorical understanding of any passage unless it's a parable. I'm wondering if the traditional/conservative/right-wing/earlier tradition sees metaphor and allegory mainly as a tool of the devil. It makes some sort of sense. The devil has to hide his messages and not be so blatant about his evel schemes. God can speak to us directly and tell us exactly what we need to know, and has done so completely and totally in the Bible.
Of course, those of us who watch and love Joan of Arcadia understand that God is never direct in communication with us mere mortals, even when God is standing before you in some form and appears very real and very concrete, you won't get a straight answer out of God. The liberal/progressive/emergent tradition reads the Bible as mostly metaphor. The important lessons are there, but they are generalized lessons from specific examples. Is it possible to read Jesus' view of punishment in the tale of the adulteress (John 8:1-11) to mean that only when we encounter a woman who has committed adultery we should only kill her if we are sinless ourselves? When we talk about killing a rapist or a terrorist we are free to kill them despite our own sinful state? It could be. I think it's a short-sighted interpretation. I also don't think that any Christian thinker has made this claim.
In the end: Is metaphor only a tool of the devil? I don't think so. I think metaphor is the language that moves us beyond our limitations and towards God. It can also move us beyond our limitations to evil as well. Perhaps this is one reason why discussions between the two traditions of Christianity can be so difficult. ¶ 12:14 PM 0 comments
Friday, February 04, 2005
Biblical Weight for standing tall
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Calling Christians to some sort of movement. Fr. Jake offers a selection of passages from the 23rd chapter of Matthew that gives us a Biblical basis for standing up against the Christian "Right" who have given Jesus and God a bad name. It is important to remember that while Jesus preached universal love, he also taught his followers to have a spine.
Having a spine, according to Jesus, does not mean punching back when punched. Having a spine does not mean 'an eye for an eye' but means 'don't the the bastards get you down,' as my father said.
As a child I was taught that it was okay for boys to cry, and I apparently found a lot to cry about. For years I was picked on because I would cry as soon as I was hurt. Finally I heard my parents advice, which they'd been feeding me for years, and that was to not give in to the bullies. Don't play the game by their rules. By the sixth grade the bullies had stopped bugging me. Once I got into middle school I was attacked by a different kind of bully, but I had learned to ignore them.
What I didn't learn (and I'm still learning this one) is how to turn those bullying moments around. Jesus seemed to be a master at it, looking a bully in the eye and saying something that stopped the bully dead in their tracks. That's a skill I still need to learn.
When would I use that skill? Any time I heard a self-proclaimed 'holier-than-thou' Christian say something like 'SpongeBob Squarepants is a tool of the homosexual agenda.' When an athiest says something anti-Christian like 'all Christians hate gays.'
I hope to have more on this in the future.
¶ 9:41 AM 0 comments
Having a spine, according to Jesus, does not mean punching back when punched. Having a spine does not mean 'an eye for an eye' but means 'don't the the bastards get you down,' as my father said.
As a child I was taught that it was okay for boys to cry, and I apparently found a lot to cry about. For years I was picked on because I would cry as soon as I was hurt. Finally I heard my parents advice, which they'd been feeding me for years, and that was to not give in to the bullies. Don't play the game by their rules. By the sixth grade the bullies had stopped bugging me. Once I got into middle school I was attacked by a different kind of bully, but I had learned to ignore them.
What I didn't learn (and I'm still learning this one) is how to turn those bullying moments around. Jesus seemed to be a master at it, looking a bully in the eye and saying something that stopped the bully dead in their tracks. That's a skill I still need to learn.
When would I use that skill? Any time I heard a self-proclaimed 'holier-than-thou' Christian say something like 'SpongeBob Squarepants is a tool of the homosexual agenda.' When an athiest says something anti-Christian like 'all Christians hate gays.'
I hope to have more on this in the future.
¶ 9:41 AM 0 comments
