How Nick Milton Reads the Bible

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How Nick Milton Reads the Bible

Posted by Nick Milton on 2000-03-06
Hmmmmm! Interesting!! I am not going to rise to the bait and take
offence here. We may be having an argument about semantics, as I am
sure I "believe the Bible" without taking it at face value. Or on the
other hand, maybe you DO feel that not to take it all as literal is
not to believe it? Perhaps it all comes down to what we respectively
understand by "belief" and "face value".

Let me illustrate

I do not take Genesis 1-2 at face value as a scientific description of
creation. God's own creation demonstrates that Genesis must be
allegory or poetry (or even liturgy, as Tim Jones suggests)and not
literal.

I do not take the Song of Songs at face value of the description of
the poor woman with a face like a flock of goats and boobs like
quadrupeds. I know it is poetry, and poetry is not to be taken at face
value.

I do not take the imagery in the psalms at face value; I know the
floods do not clap their hands, not the hills skip like little lambs.
I know it is poetic song, and not to be taken at face value.

I do not take the Levitical commands at face value.. I know they were
tied up in the purity laws, many of which Jesus overturned. So I read
them not as literal commands against sowing mixed seed or wering
polycotton shirts, but as part of a system that God required of the
Israelites at the time.

Now we move onto more contentious territory - 

I do not take the Joshua stories at face value as I do not believe God
(as revealed in Christ) would order genocide

I do not take Revelation at face value - I know it is a dream filled
with dream imagery and not a literal prohecy of the end times

I do not take the reported speech of Jesus at face value as
word-for-word transcription - there are enough discrepancies between
the gospels and indications of some editorial process to make this
unlikely.



With all of these, I use my reason (such as it is - a poor thing but
my own), my relationship with the Holy Spirit, and the teachings of
the Church, as a guide for looking behind the face-value to see what
lies beneath.

Now let me tell you what I DO believe

I beleive the Bible is a remarkable story of man's relationship with
God; a story that parallels in many ways our own life. It is a source
of joy, strength, inspiration, challenge, more questions than answers
(but the questions are directed at me). I believe God speaks to us
very clearly through the Bible, and he speaks to me that way often (I
read the Bible every day incidentally). I beleive it is the most
reliable eyewitness accounts and writings of the people who knew Jesus
personally, and the best record we have on his earthly life. I
treasure it, and it is of tremendous support to my faith. It is not
"The cornerstone of my faith" - Jesus fills that role - but it is one
of the four flying buttresses.