Bad Theology Kills- Poetry

"But the bible clearly says..." -Idiots

If I have a clear understanding of anything, its that the bible doesn't clearly say anything. Not when it comes to the hot topic issues that are usually being debated fiercely when someone pulls out that line. (Women in ministry, LGBTQ+, hell, etc.) Whenever I'm in discussion about theology and someone pulls out "the bible clearly says" I just think to myself "Well that person is clearly in idiot.".

The bible isn't clear.

It was never supposed to be.

If it were clear,

it would ruin it.

Jesus used parables.

The prophets used analogy.

Everyone used poetry rife with allegory.

Its beautiful writing. Stunning. It stirs the heart and challenges the mind.

I've heard it said somewhere "Some things are so true they can only ever be captured in the form of a story." The storyteller in me loves that line.

The purpose of using poetry and story and allegory is to communicate truth, not facts.

Problem is that somewhere along the way we forgot that something can be true in the realest sense and not be factual. Somewhere along the way we forgot that poetry can be true without being literal.

This causes LOTS OF PROBLEMS.

I once knew someone who calculated out how many people they figured would die in the apocalypse by calculating how many bodies would have to be drained of blood in order to make a river waist high through Jerusalem as described in Revelation. He figured there would literally be a river of blood waist high.

It clearly says it will happen, right?

Riiiiiight.

But maybe, actually, probably not.

Could it be that when we hear things like "rivers of blood" or "talking snake" or "breasts of pomegranates" we can conclude that just maybe we are reading a poem and not a literal description?

Maybe, just maybe, this book is more difficult to read than we thought. Maybe relying on the unchallenged, uneducated, face-value reading of scripture for our theological basis is dumb.

Mark 4:12

"The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, 'So that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding'..."

This Book Is Filled With Colours

This book is filled with colours,

Of many hues and shade.

But to the blind, of narrow mind

All the colours fade.

Though they stare, day and night

Its pages turn black and white.

What's wrong is wrong,

What's right is right,

All the colours fade.