"Quick! More Footings in the Bog!"
(Shifting-Sand-Box Deconstruction)
"In the real world you can't measure an eel with another eel. You need
a rigid ruler to measure a squirming thing---a thing like the modern
world."--- Peter Kreeft
*****************
In a recent e-mail discussion with a minister (who also "moonlights" as
an opinion columnist), I was informed that 2 Timothy 3: 16 ("All
scripture is God-breathed....") has in fact been mistranslated by scholars and students of the Bible for centuries.
However, he told me that this egregious error of translation has now,
at last, been addressed and corrected, and that we may be grateful that the
updated, proper and acceptable translation
is being taught almost uniformly in all of the reputable and more
sophisticated institutions of theological learning.
The revised translation reads:
"All God-breathed scripture is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the
man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Of course, this revised and...[ahem]... 'corrected'
translation implies that all scripture is not God-breathed
at all and therefore cannot be considered authoritative in any
real sense of the word. After all, the new, corrected translation
of 2 Timothy 3:16 suggests that some scripture
certainly may be God-breathed, but also that some other passages of
scripture certainly are not. Some verses may be "God-breathed" (ie., truly
true)...but some verses may not be so true at all. Some scripture may be
useful...some may not be useful. Some passages should be reverently
regarded, heeded and obeyed, but others really ought to be questioned or
even crossed out and removed if need be. And since nobody really knows for
sure which passages are really God-breathed and which are not, we
are left in a deconstructed spiritual fog-bank of speculation and
post-modern theological guesswork. In the end, we are invited to trust our
feelings and our intuition about the Bible and what it has to say
to us. Ultimately, spirtual authority rests not with God's Word to man but
with Man's feelings about what God may (or may not have)
have spoken to humanity in the Bible through the prophets and the apostles.
In other words, according to the deconstructed revisionist
version, each autonomous individual becomes the final arbiter of what true Truth is for him or her.
In the process and in essence, Man becomes "like God".....
(Genesis 3:4)
(Now that's
a temptation to die for!)
**************
"Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of
Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never
had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were
carried along by the Holy Spirit." --2Peter 1:20,21
******
"The....new-look 'Christian' theology, in its extreme but logical
_expression, defiantly pulls the Biblical God of creation and redemption
from his throne and puts him to death on the altar of egalitarianism. Human
redemption is achieved at the price of death---not the death of Christ on
the cross, but the assasination of God, the Creator of heaven and earth. At
the same time that old serpent, masquerading as 'liberator', slithers up the
royal steps to take command." --Peter James
"Quick! More Footings in the Bog!"
(Shifting-Sand-Box Deconstruction)
Man, those verses you've been reading...
We're not sure how they got wrote.
Firm foundation's turned to quicksand...
What's the Truth?
Man, take a vote!
Now the Word's been deconstructed
On this slope we're slipping down;
Put your faith in Intuition,
And then fashion your own crown!
Everything is always changing...
Ebb and Flow's the latest thing!
Hey, Man, Revelation's morphing...
Can you hear those Sirens sing?
The Panentheists are happy...
Gnostics have a Brand New Bag!
It's OK to worship Nature,
(Mama Gaia's
God in drag!)
******
Join us in this New Age Garden
Where in shifting sand we play.
Taste the Fruit of Humanism...
Man! What
DID God really say?
Pick 'n' choose your 'God-breathed' verses...
If you like, throw out the rest!
What You think's authoritative...
Hey, Man,...
You decide what's blessed!
In this Garden Seminary,
New Age Seed is cast about;
See the Sandy Soil a-Shifting...
Watch the heresies that sprout!
We've got Loopy-Fruit aplenty
Three-Ring Circus....
Take a bite!
If God really hasn't spoken,
Man, Who Sez what's "wrong" or "right"?
"Father God"?
Man, don't be
silly!
(Such a patriarchal gaffe!)
Yes, The Brights have fixed that problem
Then were added to our staff!
All our teachers have credentials!
Shifting-Sand-Box Scholarlies...
They've examined all the data....
Hey, they're
hot!...
Man, High Degree!
New Age PhD-constructors
Working hard into the night,
Pouring over Gnostic Gospels
Where they all have seen the light!
Higher Critics have discovered
Holes within God's Holy Word...
Now the Flexi-Sexy Scripture's
Catching on.....
And much preferred!
"God-breathed" Word?
You must be kidding!
Some words...maybe...
Who can tell?
It's a toss-up...
It's a crap shoot...
Heaven knows, ...
Man, what the hell!
Fundamentals are a no-no!
Man, Tradition's just not cool!
Grab a shovel....
Here's your bucket!
Back to Shifting Sand-Box School!
It's the latest School of Wisdom!
It's the greatest!
It's a breeze!
You can major in "Marshmallow"...
Or in "Jell-O", if you please.
You can audit New Age courses...
Man, like "Quicksand 101".
We've got Seminars on Jesus
And "Massage"...
(That's always fun!)
We've got Slipp'ry Slope Solutions
Tailor-made, Man, just for You!
"Tickle-Ear" class dissertations...
Now that "everything's made new"!
Dig it, Man!
We're liberated!
Orthodoxy's quite passe'.
Pick the "truth" that's up your alley;
You're the Boss, Man...
You're OK!
Like...., Man, New Age Grace is groovey!
Guilt and Shame are just not "in"!
Hey, Man...You decide what's kosher...
Hey, Man, You decide what's "Sin"!
Be subjective!
Mull it over!
What you feel is right is cool!
Hey, Man...Nothing's really settled...
We've
outlawed all rigid rule!
******
There's the spring.....
But where's the water?*
There's the well....
But, Lord, it's dry!
Legalists of Humanism
Twist the Word that they deny.
*****
Lord, have mercy...
Please forgive us
For this ditch we've fallen in!
In this Fog of Speculation,
Lib'ral theologians spin.
Things get cloudy in this darkness!
Lord, we've stumbled in the fog...
But we're building New Foundations:
Quick! More footings in the bog!
"Without the ultimate warrant of Divine Revelation, all claims to
authority are vulnerable to the 'Grand Sez Who'."---Arthur Leff
**************
"The fundamental issue.....is the authority of scripture which the
church defends. Is Scripture God's words about us or our words about
God?"---Peter Kreeft
***************
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and in righteousness, so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work." --2Timothy 3:16
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