TownieDeac
words are futile devices
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
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So I fully expect this, like all religion threads, to tank HARD.
But I wanted to talk exegesis with rev and thunderbolt, and the brilliant, articulate Christian posters we have on the boards that aren't necessarily biblical literalists, but who otherwise rely quite heavily on the words of a book pretty heavily in their daily work.
I think as a topic of first discussion, I wanted to talk about a common verse for discussion (1 Corinthians 13:12) - βλεπομεν γαρ αρτι δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι; from KJV "For now we see through a glass, darkly..." Other translations, like NIV "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror..." share the same thought.
The full phrase (KJV) says "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
This has always been an epistemological fulcrum for me as not only a way of deciphering how to see God (on Earth), but as a textual cipher for reading the Bible on the larger whole. In many ways, it serves for me as THE quintessential metaphor for Christian faith. The best understanding we could hope to have of God is beyond our mortal epistemological reach in this life. I think for lots of jaded and practiced atheists (like myself), this becomes a great way to attack the entire text as a cop out, reading like "serve and love God, but don't expect to fully understand why" or more reductively "don't ask why, you'll never know, just do." I do find this a complicating and problematizing verse, but I love it as an abstract concept. Our human perception of the world around us really is somewhat of an illusion anyway, as many scientific discoveries have since pointed out, and we can't fully understand the world around us just yet.
Later, I'd love to get into Hebrews, my favorite book.
Otherwise, I expect this thread to be a good place to post your favorite absurd bible stories, like:
2 Kings 2: 23-24
23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Or just people yelling.
But I wanted to talk exegesis with rev and thunderbolt, and the brilliant, articulate Christian posters we have on the boards that aren't necessarily biblical literalists, but who otherwise rely quite heavily on the words of a book pretty heavily in their daily work.
I think as a topic of first discussion, I wanted to talk about a common verse for discussion (1 Corinthians 13:12) - βλεπομεν γαρ αρτι δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι; from KJV "For now we see through a glass, darkly..." Other translations, like NIV "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror..." share the same thought.
The full phrase (KJV) says "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
This has always been an epistemological fulcrum for me as not only a way of deciphering how to see God (on Earth), but as a textual cipher for reading the Bible on the larger whole. In many ways, it serves for me as THE quintessential metaphor for Christian faith. The best understanding we could hope to have of God is beyond our mortal epistemological reach in this life. I think for lots of jaded and practiced atheists (like myself), this becomes a great way to attack the entire text as a cop out, reading like "serve and love God, but don't expect to fully understand why" or more reductively "don't ask why, you'll never know, just do." I do find this a complicating and problematizing verse, but I love it as an abstract concept. Our human perception of the world around us really is somewhat of an illusion anyway, as many scientific discoveries have since pointed out, and we can't fully understand the world around us just yet.
Later, I'd love to get into Hebrews, my favorite book.
Otherwise, I expect this thread to be a good place to post your favorite absurd bible stories, like:
2 Kings 2: 23-24
23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Or just people yelling.
