by Abaddon 82 Replies latest watchtower bible
Rem,
I'm at work and don't have access to my home library. So I typed in my search engine "Bible metaphors" and a lot came up some crappy, some good. Here one that seemed rather good althought I only read afew pargraphs, so I can't say for sure. I seached the site and thought you might like this.
http://crain.english.mwsc.edu/bible_as_literature/new_page_3.htm
Metaphors abound throughout the Bible, because that was the common way of speaking in the Near East back then, they didn't have words for abstract thoughts until the Greek culture and language dominated the Near East, for that reason they aways had to paint a picture, that's why they often told stories, that were not in themselves true, but the message conveyed inside story was true. That was just the way language was back 2000+ years ago. The study of ancient writtings lets us know that was the common form of communication.
So again, what's the difference between these metaphors that are "true" in some non-literal sense and the myths and legends that were made up for entertainment or by the worshippers of other gods? Clearly the labours of Hercules or Perseus' slaying of Medusa never actually happened in a literal sense. Are they any less true than your stories of talking snakes, global floods and resurrection of the dead?
Myths, also developed from this common form of communication. In fact many scholars of the Bible, beleive that God may have taken some of the common myths, and changed around some of the details to fit his purpose.
Isn't it more likely that the bible just contains myths that evolved and developed from other myths, rather than ones that look as if they were, but were actually edited and rewritten by God?
Derrick,
Here's something from the link I posted to Rem, that express simaliar veiws to my own:
"The mythology of these surrounding civilizations is significant to patterns eventually emerging in Hebrew thinking and theology. Of course, an account can only be summative in the present undertaking. Students are well advised to equip themselves where they can with an understanding of this complex and formative foundation. From it stems religious thinking. I am not particularly disturbed by the notion that mythology contributes to, more strongly, shapes religious thinking; in fact, I’m radical enough in my thinking to allow for the possibility that the Infinite speaks a variety of languages to a diverse set of capacities for comprehending; is it not possible that the Infinite reveals itself in mythology every bit as much as it reveals itself in religion? Even more radically, is it possible God spoke to the ancients in the only way they could comprehend? Who ultimately is to define what the point of intersection between the infinite and finite is? Who would want to—and why? For what purposes? Aren’t some things best left within the individual human heart and its experience of life?"
