Why It's Heresy to Read the Bible Literally: An Interview with John Shelby Spong
Why It's Heresy to Read the Bible Literally: An Interview with John Shelby Spong
Security sells. That's why, says retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, despite his best-selling controversial books and popular speeches, his position on Jesus and the Christian church will never be the majority opinion, because he believes Jesus is not the Savior of the world and that the
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21033452
I never thought someone could take the clear prophecies pointing towards Jesus throughout the old testament and distort them to think "yeah this means Jesus isn't literally real". Also the quotation where he claims Christians are still holding onto fourth century beliefs as if it's a bad thing- does that mean Morality is subjective? That what was moral 1600 years ago isn't moral now?
There's also undertones of white supremacy to this attitude as well. Suddenly, what white society sees as moral is morally correct. Taking the Bible seriously (or "literally"), we have the justification that we have the inspired word of God (which it claims to be, 2 Timothy 3:16). So we could take what the Bible says is wrong and have confidence that it is objectively wrong. The writer of this article claims they helped ordain someone in a homosexual relationship, when the Bible is clearly against this within the Church (Romans 1:27). So it seems he isn't taking that part literally. This is all fair and good, but if morality is whatever society says is okay and not the Bible, is it okay to refuse to give to the poor? In China homosexuality is seen as largely not okay, but giving to the poor is also frowned upon. Charity is non existent. For someone like the writer to say that the Chinese are wrong and need to learn to give to the poor and affirm homosexuality, they wouldn't be preaching from Christianity or objective morality, they would be preaching from their white supremacist mindset.
Just a thought.
I never thought someone could take the clear prophecies pointing towards Jesus throughout the old testament and distort them to think "yeah this means Jesus isn't literally real"
He never said that Jesus wasn't real?
Also the quotation where he claims Christians are still holding onto fourth century beliefs as if it's a bad thing- does that mean Morality is subjective? That what was moral 1600 years ago isn't moral now?
His argument is not about morals, it's about the Bible. If something is from the 4th century, then it can't be biblical.
There's also undertones of white supremacy to this attitude as well. Suddenly, what white society sees as moral is morally correct.
Are.you implying that non-whites people are necessarily homophobic? Because it's not the case, just look at Taiwan or Thailand which recently adopted homosexual marriage; and historically, colonial France and Great-Britain introduced anti-homosexuality laws in regions where homosexuality was accepted.
Taking the Bible seriously (or "literally")
Literally and seriously are absolutely not synonymous.
we have the justification that we have the inspired word of God (which it claims to be, 2 Timothy 3:16)
Inspired doesn't mean that it should be read literally.
if morality is whatever society says is okay and not the Bible, is it okay to refuse to give to the poor?
To cite the author of the text, “the opposite of not being literal is not that it’s not true. The opposite of literal is to be interpretive”. There are just a handful of not perfectly clear verses about homosexuality (the author of Leviticus or Paul spoke about a reality very different than ours), while there are thousands of absolutely clear verses about solidarity. If you interpret the Bible, you can't treat these two subjects equally.
The author implied strongly that Jesus didn't literally feed the 5000, was born of the Virgin Mary, etc. Doing so would strip Him of His most important aspect- His divinity.
Taiwan and Thailand are the only countries in Asia to allow same-sex marriage. The likes of Mainland China and Japan escaped colonisation. The Middle East adheres to Islam, not Christianity, which has the same moral rule regarding Homosexuality (if not made harsher under Sharia)
The justification of Homosexuality doesn't come from any objective standard of morality- just from culture.
While the verses in the Bible about Homosexuality couldn't be clearer.