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   %AUTHORITY TEXT SCRIPTURE CONFESSION LAW COMMAND+981228                                                                     
%TRUTHFUL INTERPRET DISCERNMENT RELIABLE UNDERSTAND 981228                      
                                                                                                                               
     Religious  leaders  face a dilemma when it  comes  to                                                                     
dealing with important texts:                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                               
     1.  Humans  discern meanings in texts in  ways  which      
depend  upon  their  own  previous  experiences,   use  of                   
language,   fears,   hopes,   expectations,   aspirations,                                                                     
beliefs, prejudices, confusions, and convictions.             
                                                                                                                               
     2.  Attempts  to assign "authoritative meanings"   to                                                                     
texts  as  parts  of programs of  discipline  and  control                                                           
invite  conflicts  among contending  authorities  who  are                
interested  in using the texts to their own advantage  ---                   
in keeping with their own differing understandings of  the                   
texts.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                               
     3.  Simple people who are targets of controllers  are                                                           
usually  not  stupid  people.   They  are  likely  to  see                                                                    
through  the  devices  and  desires  of  controllers  more          
completely than controllers allow themselves to recognize.    
                                                                                                                               
     4.  The   truly   profound  insights  and  modes   of                                                                     
understanding cannot be contained and controlled by texts;                                                    
only  simple-minded notions,  insights and commands can be                                                                     
contained and controlled by texts.                                                           
                                                                                                                               
     5.  Simple  people are able to recognize  that  over-                                                                    
simplified  texts  cannot  possibly deal with  matters  of                                                                     
ultimate  concern  ---  and discern that  controllers  are                               
preoccupied  with  their own devices and desires;   rather          
than  with  discerning what is essential to  personal  and                  
communal integrity and integration.                                                                
                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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