Welcome! We are glad you are here. This is meant to be a place of interaction. Please feel free to post comments from our discussion on Sunday or on the readings posted below.
Below is a link to an artical on biblical authority. This maybe helpful in understanding our view of scripture and authority. Please read and feel free to post your comments.
http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Bible_Authoritative.htm
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A conversation Rick Wise and I had over gmail chat. Feel free to chime in. -Doug
so i have been doing some research, and i wanna how how do theologians and those that study the text of the bible explain on that deeper level the difference between the pagan"sons of god" who were "born of a virgin" around the time of the winter soltice?
10:31 AM me: I would say it depends. Some don't deal with it at all
In my understanding a lot would say that the bible was written in some ways as a polemic against the pagans
10:32 AM It shows pagan worship to be empty and misleading
Yhwh reorients their lives and worship to sustaining and enternal truth
10:34 AM Rick: Well, do you know what the oldest documented religion is? Or do we have no real idea...
10:35 AM me: well we have no real idea
the mesopotamians worshiped all sorts of Gods
I am teaching that right now in my history class
Abram came from the mesopotamian city-state or Ur and was a pagan himself
10:37 AM the city-states wheren't unified in anyway so I think they just created god's out of creational entities like the sun, rain, fertitility, etc.
scholars say that the creation account in written as a type of polemic against these creational God's using them as pawns in his grand work of creation
10:39 AM Rick: I am just trying to understand how the bible is viewed as highest authority when similar stories have taken place prior to the birth of Christ, ya know? I was unsure if there was something that theologians looked at that said definitively that says this story (within the birth idea) is above all similar stories ya know?
10:41 AM me: yea. It is something to look into more closely for sure. I will think of some resources. Post your questions on the blog! Think it is a great topic. People may be able to respond with thoughts they have had or informations they have found
10:42 AM I might just post this on myself
The whole idea of parallels with the surrounding cultures is one which quickly becomes both very personal and very complicated. It is also hard to think about what the Scriptures are trying to do because while we know the parallel stories (Enuma Elish, Gilgamesh, etc) we do not know exactly why they were written that way and how they were trying to form people's world views. We can maybe get a grasp by looking at parallels with ancient near eastern law and the law found in Scripture, like that in the Torah. Is it similiar enough to warrant seeing a parallel? What is similiar? What is different?
In talking about authority...people have encountered YHWH for at least four thousand years. And as this has happened the people have found Him in certain things, and these have pushed the community closer to Him. I don't know if this helps or at least start thinking about it.
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