Part 220. Following Jesus

We can love God as a concept, as an ideal  beyond human understanding. The authors of the Bible attempted to understand God,  just as we do today.  God in beyond our comprehension; the evangelical mantra  that the Bible is God inspired is a myth. On what basis is the claim made that an individual's writing is inspired by God rather than the author's attributing his thoughts as God inspired? It follows that we should not read the Bible in a literalist, fundamentalist way: the premis that the Bible is God's "truth" is nonsense on stilts. However  we should not be entirely dismissive. The Old Testament provides an invaluable record  of some of humanity's thinking and how it was applied in the life and society of the time.

Well, that puts me beyond the pail of evangelical doctrine. It debars me from becoming a Salvation Army soldier, but given the Army's current homophobic stance on soldiership based on a woeful interpretation of the Bible, it is highly unlikely I would seek to be one.

The importance of our reading the Bible is to secure an understanding of the teaching of Jesus and its application, not through literal interpretation, but through our understanding of the principles enunciated and actions recorded.  Postmodernism holds that the meaning of a text is discerned by the reader, which may differ from the intention of the author.  Thus the principles of Jesus should be understood and applied in a current context. Such an approach makes the teaching of Jesus relevant today: to love all our neighbours, to seek transformation,  justice and systemic change for the poor, excluded, marginalised and discriminated against.