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%LITERAL INTERPRETATIONS ANCIENT SCRIPTURES BIBLE 970809
Many people are inclined to interpret the scriptures
of the Bible literally and to regard such interpretations
as entirely adequate for fulfilling their God-given
potentials in the present age. An open and honest
consideration of such inclinations would look at how
difficult it is to do so with integrity --- in the light
of the following developments since the times the
scriptures were first written down:
1. The planet Earth is now recognized as a sphere
which orbits around the sun which is an average star;
around which all the other planets also orbit. The
concept of a "heaven" which is "above" the earth does not
make the same kind of sense as it did when the scriptures
were first written down. Earth is now recognized not to
be the focus of the solar/stellar system. Our perspective
of our place in the universe is radically different than
that of long ago.
2. The age of planet Earth is now recognized to be
about 4,500,000,000 years --- unimaginably longer than is
implied by the accounts in the Bible.
3. There are now fairly detailed scientific accounts
of the kinds of processes which have intervened between
the coming into existence of the universe (by whatever
means) and the present day --- and while there are some
interesting parallels between the Biblical accounts and
the scientific accounts, there are significant
differences.
4. Refrigeration, chemical preservatives and nuclear
radiation have made the physiological risks of eating pork
far less than many other risks which are not forbidden in
the Bible --- so injunctions against touching or eating
pork are regarded as quaint and are regularly ignored
without adverse health consequences.
5. Modern understandings of the roles of micro-
organisms which play central roles in human diseases have
rendered quaint many Biblical injunctions about human
health and diseases --- so such injunctions are
regularly ignored without adverse health consequences.
6. The traditions of making animal sacrifices upon
alters with fire have all but totally died out --- so
commandments related to the making of such sacrifices are
virtually always ignored without adverse consequences.
7. Modern means of transportation which are far
faster, more comfortable and safer than ancient means ---
and have made Biblical injunctions about not traveling on
the Sabbath seem quaint --- are rarely taken seriously.
8. Fathers are no longer the unchallenged rulers of
their households and their daughters are no longer their
unchallenged property to be given away as as fathers may
be disposed to do --- so many injunctions about
relationships between fathers and their daughters no
longer make the same kind of sense today as they did long
ago.
9. The lines between what activities are work and
what are not work have become blurred --- and so it is
difficult to take literally injunctions against working on
the Sabbath and do so with personal and communal
integrity.
10. The explosion of kinds of threads which can now
be used in making clothing has rendered quaint the
Biblical injunction against mixing threads in making
clothing --- so it is regularly ignored without adverse
consequences.
11. The democratic revolutions in the governing of
most nations has radically changed the nature of the
relationships between private citizens and the ruling
powers --- making quaint the injunctions regarding the
relationships between citizens and governments.
12. Most modern people do not live nomadic lives in
deserts, so injunctions designed to deal with the
problems and dilemmas of nomadic people are quaint to most
modern people.
Of course there are other relevant revolutionary
changes between when the scriptures were first written
down and today --- and many of them carry profound
implications for interpreting with integrity what the
ancient texts should mean to modern people. The texts
were first written within one context, to address the
situations faced by people within that context ---
situations which no longer exists for many people today.
Given that reality of modern life it is often quaint to
try to interpret such texts literally---if not outright
dishonest to try to do so.
Of course many of the ancient scriptures still point
to important truths which bear careful consideration and
respect. It is dishonest, however, to pretend that all
ancient scriptures can be interpreted literally with
personal and communal integrity.
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
www.essayz.com Search for Integrity and Honesty
(On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)
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