One of the things that churches and individual Christians are known for is biblical gimmickry. By this I am referring to the way they use the Scriptures to make it mean what they want. They will resort to either just quoting Bible texts without taking the social context of those texts into consideration, or giving the text a meaning which was never intended by either the Holy Spirit or by the writers themselves.
A perfect example of this is when the Old Testament is "Christianized," meaning, that people read passages from the New Testament retrospectively, and then subsequently give the Old Testament text a Christian meaning. Instead of utilizing Old Testament revelation as a foundation for sound Christian theology, they read the Bible backwards by interpreting the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. This is most, I believe, irresponsible, and easily lends itself to bungled biblical hermeneutics.
A specific example of this type of gimmickry is when Christians read the book of Genesis and find God mentioned in the plural. For example, the word for God in Hebrew (one of the languages of the Old Testament) is Elohim, which literally translated means "gods." So in essence, in Genesis it says in the original language "In the beginning Gods created the heavens and the earth." Say what? How many gods are there? Is the writer of Genesis promoting polytheism indirectly? Absolutely not! The writer is using the name "Elohim" in the way that God in His/Her multiple attributes is spoken of in the culture of the Middle East. But there is definitely no intention of advocating for or promoting polygamy.
Another example is when God says in Genesis "Let us make humankind in our own image and likeness." Christians who are not familiar with the use of the multiple attributes of God in that culture, are quick to see a "Trinity" in that conversation and conclude that there was a dialogue taking place within a triune deity, i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So the matter is settled for them by establishing a Trinitarian god in that conversation, and finding justification for the doctrine of the Trinity, one, which was not even officially established by the Church until the fourth century.
We are guilty of both eisegesis (reading into the text something which is not there) and gimmickry, i.e. pulling tricks "out of the hat" in order to compensate for our inability to explain the passage in question otherwise.
We become very irresponsible in our haphazard use of Scripture.
What is the solution therefore? There is no one perfect solution to these conundrums, but we can certainly follow certain steps:
1. Acquaint ourselves with the original languages of the Bible (Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek).
2. Acquaint ourselves with the socio-cultural context in which the Bible was written.
3. Acquaint ourselves with the various translations of the Bible in whatever language we speak.
4. Acquaint ourselves with the various Bible commentaries that can help shed some light on the meaning of the text.
I wish you well on your journey of avoiding resorting to biblical gimmickry.
In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen!
Dr. Juan A. Carmona
Some fun passages below re Father, Son and Spirit. There are a ton of them, including the apostles quoting the old in the new testament. Wish I had more time. It is obvious you have engaged in extensive historical, social, cultural, linguistic, hermeneutical, and theological research. But in matters of faith and salvation, I tend to lean toward the witness of Jesus and the apostles. I am funny that way. You already know the references so I don't need to list them:
ReplyDelete1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
I Cor 1:18-25
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
God bless you dear brother of my heart - I desperately wish we were brothers in Christ.
Love,
Gary
The witness of Jesus and the Apostles does not in any way contradict whas has been posted here.
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